Jazz "twofers"--remember those?

[Milestones]

I can't copy anymore my texts into the forum now!  I had a message about it being too large, even though it was just a bit over 200 words.

Anyway, I was writing about the jazz "twofer days" in the early 80s, which for me meant finding these 2-LP sets by Miles, Sonny, Monk, Wes, etc.  They featured music originally on Prestige and Riverside.  It was a lot of good jazz and got my collection going strongly right away.  Blue Note and Impulse did it too, but I mostly I bought Riverside/Prestige.  I have warm recollections of those days, the excitement of finding those records.

I guess my original entry can be found in the attachment.

    

 

Jazz Twofer.docx

Edited 8 hours ago by Milestones

[felser]

I bought a ton of those back then, especially the Prestige/Riverside/Milestone ones.  Titles I had never heard or even heard of, at a great price.  I think their heyday was actually in the mid-late 70's IIRC.

[Milestones]

At Discogs, I see a date of 1972 for Tallest Trees by Miles.  I guess they had a long run; I think I bought this a full decade later.

 

[Big Beat Steve]

Oh yes, I remember these well and they remain important elements of my collection.
I am also among those who started buying quite a few of these soon after the collecting bug got a hold (from 1975-76 onwards in my case).
Though probably not the "usual suspects" that others went crazy about. IIRC the first one I ever bought was the one by Blind Lemon Jefferson (talk about lowest of lo-fi to those then youthful ears! ). Its inner sleeves first acquainted me with the concept of those "Milestone Twofers". Those I next remember getting an awful lot of spins here were those by Dizzy Gillespie ("In The Beginning"), Wardell Gray, George Wallington and the "Prestige First Sessions 1949/50" V.A. anthology. But over time I also stocked up heavily on Miles (this mostly was before the OJC facsimile reissues of the individual LPs hit the bins everywhere) and sundry hard boppers.  

I had become aware of the existence of the Blue Note "brown paper bag" twofers (mentioned by Milestones) early on but they remained outside the affordable price range of my student's purse for a long time. 

Truth be told, I've been using the term of "twofer" as a generic one for a long time now to encompass the 2-LP sets of other labels, particularly those on RCA Bluebird from the 70s and those on Savoy released in the 80s. Same approach, overall, and always good value for money ...

 

Edited 2 hours ago by Big Beat Steve

[optatio]

Same here ... 😂 - the "brown papers" were called here "Packpapier" ...

 

 

[optatio]