Blue Note Discography Book

[Soul Stream]

I'm eyeing the Blue Note Discography Book hardcover for nearly 200 bucks online and wonder if it's any different from the online source of jazz discography.com? Can anybody chime in?

[Fer Urbina]

I'm eyeing the Blue Note Discography Book hardcover for nearly 200 bucks online and wonder if it's any different from the online source of jazz discography.com? Can anybody chime in?

Hi

If it is the Michel Ruppli - Michael Cuscuna book, you'd rather wait for the new edition on CD-ROM, which is about to be published by Names&Numbers in Holland. Do remind me if I forget to post the price and contact details to get it (they do PayPal). I have checked Ruppli's new Capitol and ABC-Paramount/Impulse discographies on CD-ROM (also by Names&Numbers) and they're very good, and comparatively cheaper than the books.

F

Edited March 3, 2008 by Fer Urbina

[The Magnificent Goldberg]

I assume this is the book by Michel Ruppli & Michael Cuscuna. I have the 1988 edition. I know there is a more recent edition and suppose that that's what you're looking at.

The trouble with the books is that they get out of date. Oh, and they're expensive (But I seem to remember paying about £90 for my edition back in 1990 or thereabouts, so the price doesn't seem to have gone up much, despite serous inflation since then.)

The good thing about the books is that you can find all the recordings on which, say, Leon Spencer, played. I can't see any way of searching JazzDiscoOrg for that type of info. Another good thing about the books is that there's a conversion table giving equivalent issues on foreign labels - particularly useful for Japanese releases BUT quickly out of date since the Japs seem to issue new versions of stuff every third week.

MG

[Fer Urbina]

Hi again

The new edition of THE BLUE NOTE LABEL 1939-1999 by Michael Cuscuna & Michel Ruppli on CD-ROM is €60, including p&p, registered priority airmail (you can order direct from Names&Numbers) . The discography is presented in searchable .pdf pages, simple but effective enough IMHO.

F

[The Magnificent Goldberg]

Hi again

The new edition of THE BLUE NOTE LABEL 1939-1999 by Michael Cuscuna & Michel Ruppli on CD-ROM is €60, including p&p, registered priority airmail (you can order direct from Names&Numbers) . The discography is presented in searchable .pdf pages, simple but effective enough IMHO.

F

Yes, a searchable CD-ROM is fine for finding things that JDO can't. And it's a lot less than $200

MG

[Soul Stream]

Thanks for all the help!!

I still have a question though. Other than the ability to cross-reference artists on sessions...Is it the same information (maybe just updated) that jazzdiso.com has on the sessions? Or is it more detailed than that? Seems to me there has to be more completed takes than they show on jazzdisco.

Edited March 3, 2008 by Soul Stream

[Fer Urbina]

Thanks for all the help!!

I still have a question though. Other than the ability to cross-reference artists on sessions...Is it the same information (maybe just updated) that jazzdiso.com has on the sessions? Or is it more detailed than that? Seems to me there has to be more completed takes than they show on jazzdisco.

Hi

Jazzdisco.org are unlikely to be better than the Ruppli-Cuscuna books, and the latest edition on CD-ROM is very likely to improve on the previous books (from what I've seen in the Capitol and ABC-Paramount/Impulse CD-ROMs).

Are you interested in a particular musician or session? I'll have the CD-ROM soon, we can run a few searches and compare if you want.

Best,

F

[Soul Stream]

Thanks for all the help!!

I still have a question though. Other than the ability to cross-reference artists on sessions...Is it the same information (maybe just updated) that jazzdiso.com has on the sessions? Or is it more detailed than that? Seems to me there has to be more completed takes than they show on jazzdisco.

Hi

Jazzdisco.org are unlikely to be better than the Ruppli-Cuscuna books, and the latest edition on CD-ROM is very likely to improve on the previous books (from what I've seen in the Capitol and ABC-Paramount/Impulse CD-ROMs).

Are you interested in a particular musician or session? I'll have the CD-ROM soon, we can run a few searches and compare if you want.

Best,

F

Cool! Thanks alot F, just post back up on this thread when you get it and we can run one two.

Mike

[Fer Urbina]

OK, here it is. According to Ruppli, this 2008 edition "updates the [2000] book with many corrections and additions". He explains that this is Michael Cuscuna's research, who deserves all the credit for it (other contributors are thanked too). Cuscuna also signs an 8-page history of Blue Note.

The index:

Preface iii

Acknowledgements...................................................v

The Blue Note Story................................................vii

List of Abbreviations Used.......................................xvi

Part 1 The Original Blue Note Sessions (1939-1967).....1

Part 2 The Liberty/United Artists Era (1967-1979).....205

Part 3 The EMI Era (1983-1999)..............................303

Part 4 Purchased Sessions......................................447

Part 5 Reissues from EMI Labels..............................459

Part 6 Leased Sessions...........................................637

Part 7 Single Numerical Listings...............................663

Part 8 Album Numerical Listings...............................691

Part 9 Compact Disc Numerical Listings....................757

Index of Artists......................................................855

Addendum.............................................................902

Let's run a couple of searches.

F

[The Magnificent Goldberg]

OK, here it is. According to Ruppli, this 2008 edition "updates the [2000] book with many corrections and additions". He explains that this is Michael Cuscuna's research, who deserves all the credit for it (other contributors are thanked too). Cuscuna also signs an 8-page history of Blue Note.

The index:

Preface iii

Acknowledgements...................................................v

The Blue Note Story................................................vii

List of Abbreviations Used.......................................xvi

Part 1 The Original Blue Note Sessions (1939-1967).....1

Part 2 The Liberty/United Artists Era (1967-1979).....205

Part 3 The EMI Era (1983-1999)..............................303

Part 4 Purchased Sessions......................................447

Part 5 Reissues from EMI Labels..............................459

Part 6 Leased Sessions...........................................637

Part 7 Single Numerical Listings...............................663

Part 8 Album Numerical Listings...............................691

Part 9 Compact Disc Numerical Listings....................757

Index of Artists......................................................855

Addendum.............................................................902

Let's run a couple of searches.

F

LOVE your new avatar, Fer.

(This post dedicated to The Fast Show)

MG

[mjzee]

Referring to the Alfred Lion era, what will be improved in the new edition? Are there errors or incorrect information in the last edition?

[The Magnificent Goldberg]

Referring to the Alfred Lion era, what will be improved in the new edition? Are there errors or incorrect information in the last edition?

Two billion compilations, recycling (mostly) the same dreary old classics

MG

[Fer Urbina]

Referring to the Alfred Lion era, what will be improved in the new edition? Are there errors or incorrect information in the last edition?

To be honest, I don't know. But, for instance, in the Capitol and ABC-Paramount/Impulse CD-ROMs, a quick search gave new (more complete and precise) information about around half the sessions (out of, say, 10) I checked.

The Blue Note discography done by Cuscuna is a singular case: he not only has had access to the Blue Note files, but he has listened to the tapes, sorted them out, has reissued stuff, has actually produced things... this is probably as good a piece of research as it can get. In any case, the offer is still up if anyone has a session they want to check (the more tricky or controversial, the better).

F

PS Thanks MG... For anyone interested in the Fast Show's Jazz Club, check

[The Magnificent Goldberg]

PS Thanks MG... For anyone interested in the Fast Show's Jazz Club, check

Thanks Fer. I think, for our American friends who probably didn't see the show, you could start a thread for this. Few will look at this one.

MG

[Indestructible!]

OK, here it is. According to Ruppli, this 2008 edition "updates the [2000] book with many corrections and additions". He explains that this is Michael Cuscuna's research, who deserves all the credit for it (other contributors are thanked too). Cuscuna also signs an 8-page history of Blue Note.

The index:

Preface iii

Acknowledgements...................................................v

The Blue Note Story................................................vii

List of Abbreviations Used.......................................xvi

Part 1 The Original Blue Note Sessions (1939-1967).....1

Part 2 The Liberty/United Artists Era (1967-1979).....205

Part 3 The EMI Era (1983-1999)..............................303

Part 4 Purchased Sessions......................................447

Part 5 Reissues from EMI Labels..............................459

Part 6 Leased Sessions...........................................637

Part 7 Single Numerical Listings...............................663

Part 8 Album Numerical Listings...............................691

Part 9 Compact Disc Numerical Listings....................757

Index of Artists......................................................855

Addendum.............................................................902

Let's run a couple of searches.

F

Hi F,

Thanks for the update. By any chance does the CD-ROM have pictures of album covers? I doubt it does, but it should!

It seems to me that a "complete" CD-ROM discography would include all album covers and liner notes. If this one does, I'll buy it in a heartbeat! If not, I guess I'll stick to my printed discography for now.

Cheers,

Shane

Edited March 9, 2008 by Indestructible!

[mjzee]

It seems to me that a "complete" CD-ROM discography would include all album covers and liner notes.

I wholeheartedly agree! If the world is going to electronic transmission of music, covers and liner notes are the components still missing.

[The Magnificent Goldberg]

It seems to me that a "complete" CD-ROM discography would include all album covers and liner notes.

I wholeheartedly agree! If the world is going to electronic transmission of music, covers and liner notes are the components still missing.

A CD-ROM almost certainly doesn't have enough room for all those pics and sleeve note scans as well as the info. Maybe a DVD does, but I guess price is also a consideration.

MG

[Fer Urbina]

It seems to me that a "complete" CD-ROM discography would include all album covers and liner notes.

I wholeheartedly agree! If the world is going to electronic transmission of music, covers and liner notes are the components still missing.

The way I see it, at least in the case of Blue Note, the covers and the liner notes are, at least partially, covered in the CD reissues. On top of that, there have been books devoted to the Blue Note covers, which are anything from iconic to nice to look at, but hardly revealing as to what was recorded, and , where, when and by whom. Personally, I also appreciate the fact that the discography would be more expensive if it carried images... and if IIRC, at least in Japan there was a Blue Note discography which included record covers, although in black and white.

F

[Indestructible!]

It seems to me that a "complete" CD-ROM discography would include all album covers and liner notes.

I wholeheartedly agree! If the world is going to electronic transmission of music, covers and liner notes are the components still missing.

A CD-ROM almost certainly doesn't have enough room for all those pics and sleeve note scans as well as the info. Maybe a DVD does, but I guess price is also a consideration.

MG

Nah, all this information could be added easily for a minimal additional cost. I'm not suggesting that the album covers need to be full-size or "premium" quality (although I'm sure some would complain if they weren't), so the file sizes could be pretty small. And, the file sizes for liner notes would be small as well.

Hell, if the New Yorker can place ALL of their publications dating back some 80 years onto a few discs, I know it would be easy for the BN Discography to fit!

F, I see where you're coming from... but wouldn't it be nice to have ALL this information in one source rather having to jump from one publication to the next (assuming, of course, that the addition of covers and liner notes would only add a few dollars to the cost)? I agree that the covers don't add much in the way of information, but the liner notes often do.

Oh well... I guess I have something to look forward to in the next iteration of the BN Discography.

Cheers,

Shane

[mjzee]

Probably the big hurdle is that EMI owns the rights to the covers and liner notes. They probably can't charge for the discographical information, but can charge for the rest (if they would even grant permission).

I think a better solution is to make each release's cover and liner notes a file, to be sold at the per-track charge when an album is downloaded. So for a 6-track CD, the 7th track would be the cover and liner notes.

[Bluerein]

It's so simple.......

http://gokudo.co.jp/Record/BlueNote1/

[The Magnificent Goldberg]

It's so simple.......

http://gokudo.co.jp/Record/BlueNote1/

Sokay for Blue Note (only up to a point) but have you tried finding a Prestige or Riverside sleeve there? They're there, mostly, I think.

MG

[Bluerein]

We were talking about the BN disco so pictures of other labels are a different discussion I guess......

[andybleaden]

It would not take up too much room even if they are pdf files (should not at least) If you download all the piccies at gokudo ...they are not that big are they?...Mind you it is not so much effort to go there directly I guess.

On the earlier point I have the 2nd version of the discography which is excellent.I would have love an electronic version though but pdf version....hmmm....cannot add notes etc...hmmm

[blajay]

I just noticed in an e-mail from True Blue Music that the Ruppli/Cuscuna Blue Note CD-Rom is out. Does it piss anyone else off that this information is not free on the internet? Of course it must have taken a lot of work by Ruppli and Cuscuna, I appreciate their dedication, and they have to be rewarded somehow. But I just get annoyed at how perhaps more so in Jazz than in most communities, the power-knowledge grid is so heavily determined by socio-economic status. I find it frustrating that capitalism has restricted my search for Jazz knowledge so much. I don't understand buying these in CD ROM. How do they come up with such prices? I guess they are cheaper than the previously-issued books, but they still seem expensive to me.

DISCOGRAPHYS ON CD-ROM

The Blue Note Label 1939-1999 (CD ROM) ($89.98)

http://www.truebluemusic.com/prodinfo.asp?number=ROM01

Newly Revised Blue Note Discography on CD Rom by noted discographer Michel Ruppli and Blue Note producer Michael Cuscuna, expands upon the previous book editions and includes comprehensive documentation of personnel, recording locations and dates, and master and issue numbers for every recording made or issued by the label from its inception through 1999. It also includes all reissues released through 2004.

The Capitol Label Discography (CD ROM) ($179.98)

http://www.truebluemusic.com/prodinfo.asp?number=ROM03

This Capitol Discography on CD Rom by noted discographer Michel Ruppli with Ed Novitsky and Bill Daniels, includes comprehensive documentation of personnel, recording locations and dates, and master and issue numbers for every recording made or issued by the label from its inception in 1942 through 1986. The set is divided into six volumes and each has its own numerical listings and index.

The ABC Paramount / Impulse Labels (CD ROM) ($89.98)

http://www.truebluemusic.com/prodinfo.asp?number=ROM02

This ABC Paramount/Impulse Discography on CD Rom by noted discographer Michel Ruppli and Bill Daniels, includes comprehensive documentation of personnel, recording locations and dates, and master and issue numbers for every recording made or issued by the labels from its inception through 1979 and the rebirth of Impulse (1995-98).

Edited September 30, 2008 by zanonesdelpueblo