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Harlequin CD issues


mikeweil

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I wrote a list of all CD issues of vintage jazz, Cuban, South American, Carribean etc. music that the British Harlequin label issued. The label's web pages list only CDs currently available; I added CDs from my collection and those listed on doscogs, but there still are some gaps - I'd be much obliged if some board members could help me close them:

Harlequin CD Listing

 

HQCD 01 Spike Jones: Riot Squad

HQCD 02 Sike Jones: Louder and Funnier. Transcriptions and V-Discs

HQCD 03 Charlie & his Orchestra Volume 1

HQCD 04 Coleman Hawkins & Ben Webster: Bean & Ben 1944-1945

HQCD 05 Tubby Hayes: Live 1969

HQCD 06 Don Barreto 1923-1935

HQCD 07 Lecuona Cuban Boys Volume Two

HQCD 08 Township Swing Jazz 1954-1958

HQCD 09 Charlie And His Orchestra Vol. 2 - I Got Rhythm 1941 - 1944

HQCD 10 Don Azpiazu

HQCD 11 Lecuona Cuban Boys Volume One

HQCD 12 Valaida: Volume 1 1935-1937

HQCD 13

HQCD 14 Xavier Cugat: Bim Bam Bum 1935-1940

HQCD 15 Edmundo Ros and his Rumba Band 1939-1941

HQCD 16 Various: Trinidad 1912-1941

HQCD 17

HQCD 18 Valaida: Volume 2 1935-1940

HQCD 19 Una Mae Carlisle - Savanna Churchill - Maxine Sullivan

HQCD 20 Don Barreto: Volume 2

HQCD 21 Lecuona Cuban Boys Volume III

HQCD 22

HQCD 23 Various: Hot Music from Cuba 1907-1936

HQCD 24

HQCD 25 Various: San Francisco Jazz - Flexo Recordings 1930-1932

HQCD 26 The Music of Puerto Rico 1926-1941

HQCD 27 Septeto Anacaona & Ciro Rimac 1936 - 1937

HQCD 28 Various: Tickling the Strings

HQCD 29 Xavier Gugat with Dinah Shore

HQCD 30 Spike Jones: Com's A-Poppin'

HQCD 31 Rico's Creole Band 1931-1937

HQCD 32 Antonio Machin: Volume 2

HQCD 33 Carmen Miranda: The Brazilian Recordings

HQCD 34 Various: Tango Ladies

HQCD 35 Lecuona Cuban Boys: Volume 5

HQCD 36 Don Marino Barreto 1936-1943

HQCD 37 Various: Cubans in Europe Volume 1

HQCD 38 Xavier Cugat: Unheard Transcriptions & Airshots

HQCD 39 Miguelito Valdes with the Orquesta Casino de la Playa

HQCD 40 Trio Matamoros 1928-1939

HQCD 41 Rico's Creole Band: Volume 2

HQCD 42 Don Barreto: Volume 3

HQCD 43 Dinah Shore: Mad About You, Sad About You

HQCD 44

HQCD 45 Various: Instrumental Tangos of the Golden Age

HQCD 46 Various: On a Coconut Island

HQCD 47 Orquesta Tipica Select 1920 - Argentine Tango

HQCD 48 Havana Cuban Boys

HQCD 49

HQCD 50 Edmundo Ros: Tropical Magic

HQCD 51 Orquesta Casino de la Playa

HQCD 52 Se Va La Vida – Tango Ladies 1923-1954

HQCD 53 Sexteto Habanero 1926-1931

HQCD 54 Lecuona Cuban Boys In Venezuela 1940 (Volume 6)

HQCD 55 Xavier Cugat: The Early Years

HQCD 56 Various: Cubans in Europe Volume 2

HQCD 57 On The Beach At Waikiki 1914-1952

HQCD 58 Antonio Machin 1933-1934 Volume 3

HQCD 59 Armando Orefiche & his Havana Cuban Boys

HQCD 60 NBC's Chamber Music of Lower Basin Street

HQCD 61 Various: Buenos Aires to Berlin

HQCD 62 Various: Cuban Trios 1940-1941

HQCD 63 Various: Cuban Big Bands 1940-1941

HQCD 64 Various: Cuban Sextetos & Conjuntos

HQCD 65 Various: Cuban Danzoneras 1932-1946

HQCD 66 Bianco - Bachicha

HQCD 67 Various: Early Music of the Northern Caribbean 1916-1920

HQCD 68 Rafael Hernandez 1932-1939

HQCD 69 Trio Matamoros

HQCD 70 Various: Instrumental Tangos of the "Old Guard"

HQCD 71 Juan D'Arienzo: King of Rhythm 1937-1944

HQCD 72 Pedro Flores 1935-1938

HQCD 73 Edmundo Ros and his Rumba Band Volume 3: Cuban Love Song 1940

HQCD 74

HQCD 75 Cuarteto Caney 1936-1939

HQCD 76 Johnny Rodriguez 1936-1940

HQCD 77 Anselmo Sacasas 1942-1944

HQCD 78 Noro Morales: Live Boradcasts and Transcriptions 1942-1948

HQCD 79 La Sonora Matancera: Live On The Radio 1952-1958

HQCD 80 Connie Boswell: Deep in a Dream

HQCD 81 Miguelito Valdes: Havana 1938-1940 Volume 2

HQCD 82 Sexteto Habanero 1926-1948

HQCD 83 Xavier Cugat: Congas, Chihuahuas and Rumbas 1940-1945

HQCD 84 Nilo Menendez 1934-1938

HQCD 85 Lecuona Cuban Boys Volume 7 (In South-America 1940-1944)

HQCD 86 Pedro Marcano 1935-1940

HQCD 87 Machito and his Afro-Cubans

HQCD 88 Various: Buenos Aires to Madrid

HQCD 89

HQCD 90 Orquesta Tipica Victor 1926-1931

HQCD 91 Various: Classic Bands of Tangos Golden Age

HQCD 92 Various: Rhythm of the Islands 1913-1952

HQCD 93 Felix Mendelssohn & His Hawaiian Serenaders

HQCD 94 Carmen Miranda 1930-1945 Volume 2

HQCD 95 Xavier Cugat: On the Radio 1935-1942

HQCD 96 Lecuona Cuban Boys 1941-44 Volume 8 (Carnival In Buenos Aires)

HQCD 97

HQCD 98 ¡Soy Un Arlequin! (Tango Ladies 1923-1947)

HQCD 99

HQCD 100 Spike Jones: The Bluebirds

HQCD 101 Johnny Rodriguez 1935-1940 Volume 2

HQCD 102 Davalita

HQCD 103 Xavier Cugat: Cuban Love Song 1939-1940

HQCD 104 Cuarteto Machin Volume 4

HQCD 105 Edmundo Ros And His Rumba Band Vol. 4: Chiquita Bacana 1946-1947

HQCD 106 Desi Arnaz 1937-1947

HQCD 107 Lecuona Cuban Boys Vol. 9: Live, On Film & New York Sessions 1946-1949

HQCD 108 Roberto Inglez 1945-1947

HQCD 109 Various: Cubans in Europe 1934-1954 Volume 3

HQCD 110 Rafael Muñoz Volume 2

HQCD 111 Armando Orefiche 1951-1961

HQCD 112 Various: Isle of Golden Dreams

HQCD 113 Los Amigos Panamericanos

HQCD 114 Various: Before The Tango -Argentina's Folk Tradition 1905-1936

HQCD 115 Xavier Cugat: Loves to Tango

HQCD 116 Pedro Flores 1933-1942

HQCD 117 Francisco Canaro 1924-1940

HQCD 118 Freddy Gardner

HQCD 119 Pepito Torres

HQCD 120 Thursday's Tangos from the Golden Age

HQCD 121 Various: Buenos Aires to Europe

HQCD 122 Antonio Machin 1935 Volume 5

HQCD 123 Antobal's Cubans 1932-1937

HQCD 124 Oscar Calle 1932-1939

HQCD 125 Xavier Cugat: Cugat's Nugats

HQCD 126 Various: Guiro, Bongo y Maraccas

HQCD 127 German Tango Bands 1929-1935

HQCD 128 Rafael Munoz Volume 3

HQCD 129 Edmundo Ros: La Comparsa Volume 5

HQCD 130 Hawaiian Memories: Rare Transcription Discs 1936-1947

HQCD 131 Various: Early Cuban Danzon Orchestras 1916-1920

HQCD 132 Xavier Cugat: Cugat on Film

HQCD 133 Carmen Miranda: The Lady in the Tutti Frutti Hat

HQCD 134 Cuarteto Mayari 1941-1942

HQCD 135 Fausto Delgado 1929-1942

HQCD 136

HQCD 137 Xavier Cugat: Weekend in Havana

HQCD 138 Roberto Firpo 1920-1944

HQCD 139 Machito: Baila Baila Baila 1943-1948

HQCD 140 Billo's Caracas Boys 1941-1944

HQCD 141 Bobby Capo 1940-1944

HQCD 142 Various: Euroswing 1936-1948

HQCD 143 Julio de Caro 1926-1932

HQCD 144 Spade Cooley: Big Band 1950-1952

HQCD 145 Carlos Gardel: The Magic of Carlos Gardel

HQCD 146 Ramon "Moncho" Usera

HQCD 147 Edmundo Ros: Chocolate Whiskey & Vanilla Gin Volume 6

HQCD 148 Cesar Concepcion Volume 1

HQCD 149 Ivy Benson & her All Girls Band

HQCD 150 Xavier Cugat: The Unheard Xavier Cugat

HQCD 151 Ary Barroso with Carmen Miranda

HQCD 152 Various: Argentine Swing 1936-1948

HQCD 153 Alfredo de Angelis

HQCD 154 Xavier Cugat: Live from Statler-Hilton & Roseland Hotels

HQCD 155 Orquesta Tipica Victor

HQCD 156 Carlos Molina 1932-1946

HQCD 157

HQCD 158 Graeme Bell & his Australian Jazz Band 1948

HQCD 159 Osvaldo Pugliese: In the 1940s

HQCD 160 Xavier Cugat: Jack Jack Jack

HQCD 161 Xavier Cugat: Live from the Waldorf-Astoria 1950-1954

HQCD 162 Felix Mendelssohn: Paradise Isle

HQCD 163 Freddy Gardner: Body & Soul 1939-1950

HQCD 164-5 Edmundo Ros: Mambo Jambo 1949-1950 Volume 7 & 8

HQCD 166 Xavier Cugat: In Person 1940-1942

HQCD 167 Spike Jones: The Ones You Always Wanted

HQCD 168 Ignacio Corsini: The Prince of Song 1922-1940

HQCD 169 Francisco Canaro: Adios Muchachos 1926-1938

HQCD 170 Xavier Cugat with Jose Luis Monero 1946-1948

HQCD 171 Various: German Tango Orchestras 1926-1942

HQCD 172 Miguel Calo & his Orchestra of the Stars 1942-1950

HQCD 173 Edmundo Ros: Radio Broadcasts 1960-1961

HQCD 174 Xavier Cugat: The War Years 1941-1945

HQCD 175

HQCD 176 Victor Silvester's Jive Band

HQCD 177 Edmundo Ros: It's Illegal, It's Immoral or It Makes You Fat

HQCD 178 Spike Jones: Fonk

HQCD 179 Xavier Cugat: Among his Earliest

HQCD 180-1 Edmundo Ros: Playtime in Brazil

HQCD 182 Various: Steeling Round the World - Hawaiian Style

HQCD 183 Enric Madriguera: The Minute Samba

HQCD 184 Bob Crosby: 1939 Camel Caravan Shows

HQCD 185 Leon McAuliffe: Take It Away Leon

HQCD 186 Chuy Reyes: 1947-1950

HQCD 187 Various: Broadway's Gone Hawaii

HQCD 188 Freddy Gardner: Sideman Supreme

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Here are several  based on some searching on the web:

HQCD 13.  Hawaiian Memories, Rare Transcription Discs, 1936-1947

HQCD 17.  Xavier Cugat with Jose Luis Monero, 1946-1948

HQCD 22.  Puerto Rico 1929-1947

HQCD 24.  Cuarteto Machin, Vol. 1, 1931-32 (also seen as 1930-1932)

HQCD 44.  Enric Madriguera, 1920-1941

HQCD 49.  Pedro Flores, 1938-1942

HQCD 74.  Cuarteto Marcano, 1939-1945

HQCD 89.  Great Bands of Tango's Golden Age, 1936-1940

HQCD 97.  Rafael Munoz, Volume 1, 1938-1943

HQCD 99.  Buenos Aires To Paris, Argentine tango Performers in France, 1924-1938

HQCD 136.  Rafael Munoz, Volume 4

HQCD 157.  The Rhythm of Juan D'Arienzo

 

I think that's all you were missing except for HQCD 175.  Can't find that so far.

 

Edited by jazztrain
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I really like this label. HQCD 90, Orquesta Tipica Victor: 1926-1931, is one of my favorites. A great label for tango and Cuban music.

Last year around December, for whatever reasons, Amazon had a number of Harlequin titles priced at $2.99 and $3.99 with free shipping over $25. I purchased about seven titles.

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3 hours ago, Late said:

Anyone else collect this label?

I did - sort of ... in the vinyl days. Their "Jazz and Hot Dance" series, for example, was very impressive.
Krazy Kat and it subsidiaries almost always were a safe bet their reissues would be right up my alley.

I kept buying Harlequins here and there in the CD era and would have bought more (if only to get a taster ... particularly the Latin reissues), just like I bought a LOT of CDs from the Krazy Kat mother label and its Country Routes offshoot. However - the Harlequin CDs seemed to have been badly distributed and most cannot have been in print very long. I have had a bookmark of the Krazy Kat website for a VERY long time and checked it regularly through the years. And through all this period the Harlequin listing contained only a small fraction of the listing above. Most of these must have gone OOP very, very long ago.

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3 hours ago, Big Beat Steve said:

Harlequin CDs seemed to have been badly distributed and most cannot have been in print very long.

I think this is probably the case.

3 hours ago, JSngry said:

So, Harlequin CDs of early Cuban music recordings ... good transfers, or LCD PD mess?

The transfers are variable, but they're no worse than what you'd expect from historical recordings on labels like Document or Yazoo. The Johnny Rodriguez pictured above is one of the better transfers. I've only been stung a few times, where the transfer really got in the way of enjoyment of the music. For historical recordings of Cuban music, I'd confidently recommend the label. Generally speaking, the smaller the band (there are a lot of trio records), the better the transfer. Sound samples can be found on Allmusic, but you have to Google the disc's precise title + Allmusic to get to the actual page with 30 second sound files. (Or at least I did.) Searching for the label on Amazon or eBay can also prove difficult, but the list up above should help a lot. Here's what Amazon shows, with a lot of non-related titles in the mix. The Trio Matamoros discs are good; the Antonio Machin titles are also very good. (I would NOT buy Carlos Gardel titles on Harlequin; for Gardel, get the discs on the Nimbus label.) If you get into the music, and some surface noise doesn't bother you, there's a lot of exploring fun to be had. Weirdly, some of the oldest music on the label (1910's) has the best transfers.

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14 hours ago, Late said:

I think this is probably the case.

The transfers are variable, but they're no worse than what you'd expect from historical recordings on labels like Document or Yazoo. The Johnny Rodriguez pictured above is one of the better transfers. I've only been stung a few times, where the transfer really got in the way of enjoyment of the music. For historical recordings of Cuban music, I'd confidently recommend the label. Generally speaking, the smaller the band (there are a lot of trio records), the better the transfer. Sound samples can be found on Allmusic, but you have to Google the disc's precise title + Allmusic to get to the actual page with 30 second sound files. (Or at least I did.) Searching for the label on Amazon or eBay can also prove difficult, but the list up above should help a lot. Here's what Amazon shows, with a lot of non-related titles in the mix. The Trio Matamoros discs are good; the Antonio Machin titles are also very good. (I would NOT buy Carlos Gardel titles on Harlequin; for Gardel, get the discs on the Nimbus label.) If you get into the music, and some surface noise doesn't bother you, there's a lot of exploring fun to be had. Weirdly, some of the oldest music on the label (1910's) has the best transfers.

I agree that the transfers on Harlequin are variable.  I was say better than Document on average but not up to the standards of Yazoo.  The Yazoo transfers were, in my opinion, generally excellent, especially considering the rarity of the material used in many of their releases.  

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17 hours ago, Late said:

That's a bummer. There's still a ton of titles I haven't heard from the label. I imagine they'll be harder to find now.

A bummer indeed. But I was suspecting something like this. Their website (Interstate Music) is still up ( http://www.interstate-music.co.uk ) but the contents haven't changed for ages. The most recent Krazy Kat CD (Light Crust Doughboys, KK 37), for example, has a production and reissue date of 2007 on the back "cover".

 

 

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The person I had contact with referred to "the business" having been shut down in July 2018.  It was unclear whether he was referring to just Harlequin or, as I suspect, to Interstate Music.  He's the general contact for enquiries for Interstate Music.

 

I suspect that means that we won't be seeing anything else coming out on the other Interstate labels.  The website shows the Krazy Kat Light Crust Doughboys CD under the "new releases" link.

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  • 5 months later...
  • 2 years later...
On 11/29/2019 at 4:09 PM, Late said:

500x500.jpg

Listening to (above) right now — excellent! Some of the falsetto ballads are exquisite.

Listening to this again in 2023. Great energy in this music. I need to play it more.

On 5/21/2020 at 5:18 PM, mikeweil said:

Recently found the Sacasas CD, really good music, with its own balance of Cuban rhythm and jazz, certainly a level the Machito band had to work to reach. Recommended, if you can find it. 

R-12772200-1562900929-8908.jpeg.jpg

Is Sacasas on this one? (Preliminary searches tell me no.)

51BYM81367L.jpg

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Some of these albums are available on streaming services, now issued by the "Interstate" label: http://www.interstate-music.co.uk/harlequin/harlequinindex.htm

Here's a link to the catalog available on Qobuz: https://play.qobuz.com/label/94586 

I could not find the label on Spotify.

For those interested, the sessions on "Ben & Bean" (source - Jan Evensmo's Jazz Archeology site) are:

Sir Walter Thomas And His All Stars
Recorded in NYC on October 11, 1944

    1. Out to Lunch
    2. In the Hush of the Night
    3. Every Man for Himself
    4. Look out Jack
    18. In the Hush of the Night (Alternate Version)
    19. Every Man for Himself (Alternate Version)
    20. Look out Jack (Alternate Version)
    
* Jonah Jones - trumpet
* Eddie Barefield - clarinet, alto saxophone
* Hilton Jefferson - alto saxophone
* Coleman Hawkins, Walter Thomas - tenor saxophone
* Clyde Hart - piano
* Milt Hinton - bass
* Cozy Cole - drums

Coleman Hawkins Quartet  
Recorded in NYC on October 19, 1944

    5. On the Bean
    6. Recollections
    7. Flyin' Hawk
    8. Drifting on a Reed


* Coleman Hawkins - tenor saxophone
* Thelonius Monk - piano
* Edward Robinson - bass
* Denzil Best - drums

Walter Foots Thomas And His Jumpcats
Recorded in NYC on April 1, 1944

    9. Broke but Happy
    10. Blues on the Bayou
    11. Jumpin' with Judy
    12. Blues on the Delta
    17. Jumpin with Judy (Alternate Version)

* Emmett Berry - trumpet
* Walter Thomas - clarinet, alto & tenor saxophone
* Budd Johnson - clarinet, tenor saxophone, baritone saxophone
* Ben Webster - tenor saxohpone
* Clyde Hart - piano
* Oscar Pettiford - bass
* Cozy Cole - drums

Sir Walter Thomas And His Band
Recorded in NYC on March 8, 1945

    13. The Bottle's Empty
    14. Save It Pretty Mama
    15. For Lovers Only
    16. Peach Tree Street Blues

* Charlie Shavers - trumpet
* Milt Yaner - clarinet
* Walter Thomas - alto saxophone, tenor saxophone
* Ben Webster - tenor saxophone
* Ernie Caceres - clarinet, baritone saxophone
* Billy Taylor - piano
* Slam Stewart - bass
* Cozy Cole - drums

Edited by hopkins
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The Bean & Ben Sessions (minus the alternates which I guess are not 100% essential) have been around the reissue block quite often.

Most of those sessions were reissued on Prestige 7584 in the late 60s as part of their "Prestige Historical Series" and remained in print for quite a long time and must have been distributed fairly well. I bought a copy of its German license pressing (Bellaphon BJS 40122) while I was still in school in the late 70s, and this became one of my (almost desert-island) favorites among early-mid 40s small-band swing. In fact I bought another NM copy ("just in case ...") a couple of years ago cheaply at a clearout sale (and I could have picked up more irresistibly priced secondhand copies through the years).

The sessions were then reissued again in the 80s on vinyl on Harlequin HQ2004 (when Interstate reissued a HUGE bunch of Joe Davis masters, filling a LOT of LPs). When it hit the shops here I skipped this one it because I already had all of the master take contents (the one Coleman Hawkins session - of 19 Oct. 1944 - that was not on Prestige 7584 had been reissued on Prestige 7824) but I remember it was available for quite a while too. Secondhand copies are not impossible to find at a good price either.
So all these reissues must have sold fairly well.

Edited by Big Beat Steve
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2 hours ago, hopkins said:

For those interested, the sessions on "Ben & Bean" (source - Jan Evensmo's Jazz Archeology site) are:

I like how a compilation featuring Coleman Hawkins and Ben Webster has Walter Thomas on the cover. (Though it is Thomas's orchestra that's featured.)

MS03MTM2LmpwZWc.jpeg

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