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 19 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 13 hours ago by Big Beat Steve

[optatio]

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

 

 

[optatio]

[Ken Dryden]

I remember how many twofers I found in used stores as promos, which were the introduction to many artists for me while I was in grad school. Pretty much most of them have been replaced by CDs or boxed sets, although there is the occasional one, like Ben Webster with Joe Zawinul, Travelin' Light, which has bonus tracks not found on later CDs.

What drove me nuts was when labels compiled more than two LPs in such sets, leaving out many tracks that I wanted to hear, much like the problem with later Fantasy CDs, which frequently omitted a track or two to squeeze the music onto a single CD.

[Eric]

Same here - these were a huge part of my introduction to the music in the early 1980s.  I still have most of them.  The liner notes are often very informative and I learned a ton from them (in addition to the Len Lyons books, "The 101 Best Jazz Albums" which recommended a number of 2-fers).

Edited 9 hours ago by Eric

[JSngry]

https://www.discogs.com/label/847424-Prestige-24000-Series

[Milestones]

I believe I had five or six "twofers" by Miles Davis.

I was first exposed to "The Greatest Jazz Concert Ever" (Bird, Dizzy, Bud, Mingus, Max) through a Milestone twofer.

The liner notes were generally excellent.  Having first-rate liner notes was a key part of my early jazz education.

I too had The 101 Best Jazz Albums--a vital resource.  

 

Edited 8 hours ago by Milestones

[JSngry]

Liner notes, yes. The OJC releases reverted to the original liners notes which was often a loss.

[felser]

2 hours ago, Milestones said:

I was first exposed to "The Greatest Jazz Concert Ever" (Bird, Dizzy, Bud, Mingus, Max) through a Milestone twofer.

Same here.  One of the first jazz albums I ever bought, thanks to the in-store tutelage of a kind and knowledgeable Franklin Music employee.

[Milestones]

Yeah, truth to tell, I was not big a fan of the OJC series.  The original notes were often very basic.  

[JSngry]

4 hours ago, Milestones said:

I was first exposed to "The Greatest Jazz Concert Ever" (Bird, Dizzy, Bud, Mingus, Max) through a Milestone twofer.

That Prestige (Milestone was reserved for riverside material) twofer  is still, to my knowledge, the most comprehensive packaging of that great night.

Although it is missing Max's "Drum Conversation"....

[HutchFan]

More recently, there was also the wonderful Impulse 2-on-1 series.

https://www.discogs.com/label/292976-Impulse!-2-On-1?srsltid=AfmBOopfD-q2nbzgGozA99_hfDaOm4YTbukXgT7w_tnIbkeHYG9K-38G

 

[porcy62]

The Prestige/Riverside/Milestone twofers were my introduction to jazz back in the late seventies/early eighties. Two records for price of a single album. Most of that albums were OOP or simply impossible to get in the domestic market in Italy. Imports only. The BN catalog was poor, so the Impulse’s. The only Italian pressings widely available were the CBS/Columbia.

30 minutes ago, JSngry said:

That Prestige (Milestone was reserved for riverside material) twofer  is still, to my knowledge, the most comprehensive packaging of that great night.

Although it is missing Max's "Drum Conversation"....

It’s all there in the Mingus’ Debut box set, with and without overdubbing. 

[optatio]

From my shelf ...

Various: Milestone Twofers. 2xLP Sampler. Milestone/Bellaphon BJS 4070 [Germany 1973]