Prestige Profiles

[GA Russell]

Last year Fantasy issued a series of Best Of albums, some of which have been available from BMG/Your Music.

Ten of the Prestige artists are being re-released October 25 in a new series entitled Prestige Profiles. These ten are: Miles Davis, Red Garland Quintet with John Coltrane, Sonny Rollins, Coleman Hawkins, Eric Dolphy, Jackie McLean, Kenny Burrell, John Coltrane, Eddie "Lockjaw" Davis and Lightnin' Hopkins.

The list price is low, 11.97. It looks like CD Universe will sell them for $9.79. Their pre-order price is only $8.38.

Now here's what I find appealing about this: Each CD comes with its own free sampler CD of other Prestige artists who would probably appeal to the fan of the artist in question. Each sampler will be 40+ minutes long.

I received an email today which states that "a major marketing campaign will kick off upon the release of the series next week, with print ads in the Los Angeles Times, the New York Times, the San Francisco Chronicle, the New Yorker, ICE magazine, Down Beat, Jazz Times, Jazziz, and other publications; a national cable TV ad campaign running between Thanksgiving and Christmas on outlets including Discovery, B.E.T., BBC America, CNN, and Fox News; NPR underwriting on Weekend Edition and Fresh Air in the same holiday time slot; a direct mail campaign in the L.A. and New York markets; and substantial retail point-of-purchase promotion, including full-size posters."

Television ads for Prestige??? Direct mail??? Maybe they will use their mailing list for the old Fantasy catalogue.

Looks like Concord/Fantasy is going all out for these to be Christmas presents for those who are starting to get into jazz and those who know they won't be buying all of the OJCs of an artist already available.

For example, most of my Coltrane is on Impulse! I have only two Prestige Coltrane LPs. Before I spend a lot of money on Prestige Coltrane, I will probably pick up more of his Atlantics. But a Prestige compilation I expect I will enjoy.

I have three on the way: Coltrane, Red Garland and Kenny Burrell. After I have a chance to digest them, I'll report back and let you know what I think of the compilations and also the free samplers, which I am curious about.

Anyway, I think it's great news that Concord will be spending money to promote Prestige for Christmas.

Edited October 18, 2005 by GA Russell

[Man with the Golden Arm]

Thanks for posting. Some of those bonus comps look rather intersting ... esp the Lightnin Hopkins.

Here's the company take:

Fantasy Main List

[GA Russell]

The three I wanted have arrived. I have a better idea now of what the situation is, now that I have them in hand.

The Prestige Profiles CD is a single CD, merely a reissue of a Best of released late last year. Same CD, apparently same liner notes.

The free bonus disc is called Profiles Collector's Edition Volumes 1-10. Each of these comes packaged in its own cardboard sleeve, and is then shrinkwrapped together with a Prestige Profile.

The arrangement has the look of being temporary. There is nothing on the Prestige Profile to indicate the presence of the free bonus disc.

All ten of the Best of discs now re-released as Prestige Profiles have been discontinued. However, all of the ones that I checked are still available at Your Music.

Concord is referring to this series as being for the "jazz curious". So I suppose they should be judged in that light. Personally, I have my own criteria:

The first is whether the Prestige Profile disc is something worth having, in which case I would spend the six bucks at Your Music.

The second is whether the bonus disc is worth spending the extra couple of bucks for by buying the set from CD Universe.

I usually like samplers, so long as they don't cost more than five bucks. I think that the purpose of a sampler should be to introduce the listener to artists and their albums, to generate further purchases. So I think charging real money for a sampler is something I'm not going to go along with. But if one of these Collector's Edition CDs is worth having in the house, it will be worth the couple of extra bucks CD Universe charges over the My Music price.

I'll get back with a report on the music I have.

[GA Russell]

The Red Garland Quintets Featuring John Coltrane - Prestige Profiles

This album is available from Your Music here:

http://www.yourmusic.com/browse/album/The-...tets-61018.html

If this CD were a normal OJC (the product of a single recording session, originally issued as is when the recordings were new), it would be considered a gem.

Don't be fooled by the marketing emphasis on Coltrane. This album is piano with accompanying horns, not the other way around.

The group of Donald Byrd, John Coltrane, Garland, George Joyner and Art Taylor went to the studio twice - November 15 and December 13, 1957. From these two sessions four tracks have been selected.

In 1961, Garland recorded once with four other musicians including Oliver Nelson, and from that session two tracks have been selected.

So there are only six tracks, 54 minutes of music. Most are pretty laid back.

The accompanying bonus disc is Profiles Collector's Edition Volume 2. Since Garland plays the piano, this disc focuses on pianists.

Two tracks are by Garland (with Coleman Hawkins or Miles and Coltrane), and one each by Billy Taylor, Tommy Flanagan (with Coltrane and Burrell), Monk, Mose Allison, Ray Bryant and Cedar Walton's Ugetsu (a hidden track!).

This bonus disc is as enjoyable as the Profiles disc, and well worth the extra couple of bucks it costs.

I can recommend this set.

[chris olivarez]

I saw some interesting things in here. Not necessarily the Prestige profiles but other reissues in here that I hope to purchase> Thanks for the heads up.

[GA Russell]

John Coltrane - Prestige Profiles

This album is available from Your Music here:

http://www.yourmusic.com/browse/album/John...rane-66096.html

This is a good but not great album.. There are eleven songs, from nine different albums, totalling 75 minutes of music. One song I particularly like; one I particularly don't like; and the rest I like, but not particularly. (Boys and girls, can you say "particularly" three times in one sentence? )

My first Coltrane LP was Atlantic's Best of. If the purpose of the purchase is to introduce Coltrane to the "jazz curious", I still think that that's the way to go.

If you decide to pick up this album despite my lukewarm opinion, I absolutely recommend that you get the set with the sampler, which is Profiles Collector's Edition, Volume 9. I really like the sampler. It has a broad range of styles, including songs by Coltrane with the Miles Quintet, Sonny Rollins, Hank Mobley, Steve Lacy, Yusef Lateef on oboe, two by Eric Dolphy, and a Red Garland piano trio.

edit for typos

Edited November 1, 2005 by GA Russell

[Brad]

This sounds to me like rebaked material that one would be better off grabbing in its original format.

While we're speaking of Prestige, what happened to the Fantasy web site? It seems to be gone. Is there a link to the new site, which I assume is Concord.

[GA Russell]

For the "jazz curious":

http://www.fantasyjazz.com/

[Brad]

Found it. Thanks.

[GA Russell]

Kenny Burrell - Prestige Profiles

This is available from Your Music here:

http://www.yourmusic.com/browse/album/Kenn...rell-61015.html

This is a solid album. It starts off good, and gets better as it goes along.

There are 8 tracks, totalling 61 minutes of music. The selections are from two periods: 12/28/56-3/7/58 and 9/14/62-1/8/63.

Tommy Flanagan is on five of the tracks. Others include John Coltrane, Mal Waldron, Doug Watkins, Art Taylor and Jack McDuff.

The bonus disc is Profiles Collector's Edition Volume 7. It has 7 tracks, totalling 43 minutes.

Jimmy Raney and Tal Farlow play mainstream jazz. The other five tracks are organ combos by Pat Martino, Rusty Bryant, Boogaloo Joe Jones (remember him?), Jack McDuff and George Benson.

The bonus disc is pleasant enough, but the Benson and McDuff tracks are subpar.

I recommend you get the main disc from Your Music for six bucks.

[GA Russell]

Here is the cut and paste of the list above of cable and broadcast networks which will carry the commercials for the Prestige Profiles series:

Discovery, B.E.T., BBC America, CNN, and Fox News; NPR underwriting on Weekend Edition and Fresh Air.

The ads were supposed to start Thanksgiving or so. Has anyone seen or heard them yet?

Any good?

[Parkertown]

G A Russell,

The links you provide for yourmusic.com are for the "Best Of" discs, not the Prestige Profiles discs. The "Best Ofs" do not come with the bonus disc, though yes, they are the same discs before being repackaged...

Sorry for nitpicking, but I want it to be clear...

Edited December 10, 2005 by Parkertown

[GA Russell]

No problem, Parkertown! As I said...

Personally, I have my own criteria:

The first is whether the Prestige Profile disc is something worth having, in which case I would spend the six bucks at Your Music.

The second is whether the bonus disc is worth spending the extra couple of bucks for by buying the set from CD Universe.

... But if one of these Collector's Edition CDs is worth having in the house, it will be worth the couple of extra bucks CD Universe charges over the My Music price.

[GA Russell]

After eight weeks, I'm still digging the Red Garland!

[GA Russell]

I've been listening to the Coltrane a great deal since the first of the year; especially in the last month since I made a copy for the car. I've been skipping the first two songs (I especially don't like the second) and listening to the rest.

So I'd have to say that I've changed my mind, and am no longer lukewarm about this one.

Since I like the sampler so much, I still think that CD Universe is the way to go for this one. But if you don't want the sampler, the main CD for six bucks at Your Music is a steal.