BN Original Release Question

[mjzee]

I've often wondered about something, and was reminded of it while listening to the RVG of Lee Morgan's Delightful-lee. Before the RVG came out, I had never seen a copy of the album, and had only known of it through one of the BN Cover Art books. Now, I know that some BN titles have always been in print: Somethin' Else, many Blakey titles, Cool Struttin', Song For My Father. But those were the exceptions. Many titles never went back for a second pressing, and even some major artists, like Lee Morgan, had some titles continuously in print but not others.

So, my question: How long was the average BN album in print? For example, Delightful-lee: It was recorded in April & May 1966. I don't know the album release date. After it was released, how long was it available in stores before it was out of print - 3 months? 6 months? A year? 2 years?

[JSngry]

FWIW, I used to have a Schwann catalog from somewhere in 1970 or 71 that was chock full of Liberty/Blue Note/Pacific Jazz/Etc titles that were "black diamond-ed" (i.s. -being placed OOP), so my assumption would be that they had been in print before that. Thing is, There were also titles that weren't even present in that catalog, so some had gone OOP before that. But something big happened at the turn of decade (TransAmerica/UA takeover, maybe?) that led to a really, really big catalog purge. So for an album like Delightful-Lee, that was about a 3-5 year run in print.

If I still have that catalog, I don't know where it would be. But I do know that when I started "collecting" jazz records in genral and BN in particular, it was an invaluable resource as to what there was to be found that I otherwise knew nothing about.

[Chuck Nessa]

There was a big purge in 1967/68 when major labels (including Liberty) stopped the dual inventories of stereo and mono. Lots of mono only releases went straight to the cutout bins.

[chewy-chew-chew-bean-benitez]

i would of bought them all!

[JSngry]

At list prices of $3.98 & $4.98, you'd have had a damn good chance to, eventually....

Chuck, I was aware of the 67-68 purge, but wasn't there another one a few years after as well?

[mjzee]

Does that mean that the average BN release was available for a few years? Maybe it took that long for an initial pressing to sell out. Didn't Al Lion complain about how some releases didn't sell? He probably wouldn't do a second pressing of slow-moving titles, especially if he could devote his energy to a new Horace Silver or Herbie Hancock. I'm thinking of titles such as Little Johnny C, Basra, Hootin' and Tootin', Stop and Listen, My Hour of Need.

If they were available that long, then that's great. I was just wondering.

[JSngry]

What you're asking is for how long did rack-jobbers had access to titles like this in case some geek like me walked into a mom & pop and placed a special order and the jobber's usual channels didn't have any stock on hand.

That's a good question!

[mjzee]

What you're asking is for how long did rack-jobbers had access to titles like this in case some geek like me walked into a mom & pop and placed a special order and the jobber's usual channels didn't have any stock on hand.

That's a good question!

Or even just how much interest there was in many of these titles. Could it be that a Delightful-lee, say, sold its first pressing in not-so-great a time span, and BN simply didn't re-press it? It looks like they were releasing Lee Morgan albums right and left those days. Instead of repressing Delightful-lee, they might have devoted all their energies to Caramba. Or did they keep a steady stock of Delightful-lee for 2 or 3 years? And I'm just using Delightful-lee as an example. I'm just curious.

[Chuck Nessa]

I don't think anything was deleted without 4 or 5 years in the marketplace.

[JSngry]

Instead of repressing Delightful-lee, they might have devoted all their energies to Caramba.

That's another one that was a real bear for me to find to find in the 70s. Charisma, too. Seems like those three came and went w/o much residue...

[JSngry]

did they keep a steady stock of Delightful-lee for 2 or 3 years?

I'm wondering how much of an original pressing run they kept on hand at HQ, and how much they sent out straight to distributors. There's also gepographic consideratins as well...I'm sure that the urban northeast distributors got more up front than did other parts of the country.

[sidewinder]

Sometimes, some of these deletions held out suprisingly long. I bought 'special import' cassettes of 'Sixth Sense' and 'Caramba' back in 1976 when a damn big list of titles available was published in an advert in the UK Melody Maker magazine. There were quite a few 'Liberty' blue notes in that list. Also lots of Atlantics - I bought some of those too. Shipment must have come in to Liverpool docks from the Last Chance Saloon..

Edited September 14, 2009 by sidewinder

[DMP]

When I first began buying albums in the early '60's there were big holes in all the jazz labels catalogs - Blue Note, Prestige, Contemporary, Riverside, Pacific Jazz, Atlantic - it wasn't 'til the CD era that many titles resurfaced. (Try buying Lennie Niehaus' "Zounds!" in 1962.)

[kh1958]

Instead of repressing Delightful-lee, they might have devoted all their energies to Caramba.

That's another one that was a real bear for me to find to find in the 70s. Charisma, too. Seems like those three came and went w/o much residue...

I believe I found copies of Charisma and Caramba at one of the old Melody Shops here in Dallas. I must have gotten there first.

Delightfullee I never saw until the DMM reissue in the 1980s.

[JSngry]

Finally found those two in FW, late '70s.

Delightful I got thru mail-order. Ten bucks or something like that.

[sidewinder]

My 'Delightfulee' is a Liberty blue/white stereo LP. Never realised this one was sort of scarce. First time I heard the session was on a French Pathe Marconi DMM LP from about 1985 (which I still have as well).