Member ListeningToPrestige has published ... Listening to Prestige

[Dan Gould]

https://sunypress.edu/Books/L/Listening-to-Prestige

Also available thru Amazon and shipping the beginning of January.

While I am not finding the thread, his prior effort Jazz With a Beat was discussed here earlier this year IIRC.

Definitely a will-buy and sooner rather than later.

Edited December 17, 2025 by Dan Gould

[kh1958]

Thanks. I ordered the paperback.

[felser]

I have greatly appreciated Tad's contributions to this board, hope to pick up the paperback eventually.  

[Brad]

Thanks. Pre-ordered. 

[clifford_thornton]

Will definitely check this out. I have not met Tad though we live in the same town... curious.

[Big Beat Steve]

Paperback ordered!

Looking forward to receiving it in January, and regretting that the preordered Pacific Jazz book by James Harrod will take some more time to arrive. It certainly wil be interesting to compare how these two major labels are covered. 

And I'll take the word of Allen Lowe (see below) that the Prestige book does not limit itself to the "usual suspects" of the biggest names only in covering the output of Prestige.  At any rate, I'll have my copies of the Prestige discography by Michel Ruppli and of "The Prestige Book" (from the Japanese "Jazz Critique" series) within reach when digging into this new one. 

 

"When it comes to jazz, this is one of the rare books that we actually need, that does not cover the usual ground with the usual suspects. Prestige Records, for all the attention it has received from audiences, is not well known in the historical sense. Every jazz fan has these records, which is important, but few know the inside story, the complex process of the jazz independent label in the era before independent labels became as common as recording projects. And Tad Richards is the writer to do this, with a firm grasp of jazz's historical succession, the bebop era, and the musical needs of musician and audience. Read this book." — Allen Lowe,

 

[Brad]

I was not aware of this but he has also written four other Listening to Prestige books. 

[Big Beat Steve]

4 hours ago, Brad said:

I was not aware of this but he has also written four other Listening to Prestige books. 

Ouch ... I in turn wasn't aware of these 4 previous books. So now you are forcing me to consider an order , pushing my music bookshelves closer to getting overcrowded AGAIN, though I've only quite recently expanded them to free additional space. 

Seriously ... So that new book is a "summary" or "Best of" of these 4 earlier ones? (Hope not ... hoping it DOES offer extra info and insights even for the period coverd in these 4 earlier books) At any rate I've just placed an order for Vol. 1 (1949-53) of which I think I have most of those on my LP shelves that have ever been reissued. (And besides, it's an era that usually has been overlooked elsewhere.)
Depending how I like this one (and the new book to be published in January) I'll decide about the other volumes.

Edited December 19, 2025 by Big Beat Steve

[Stompin at the Savoy]

50 minutes ago, Big Beat Steve said:

Ouch ... I in turn wasn't aware of these 4 previous books. So now you are forcing me to consider an order , pushing my music bookshelves closer to getting overcrowded AGAIN, though I've only quite recently expanded them to free additional space. 

Seriously ... So that new book is a "summary" or "Best of" of these 4 earlier ones? (Hope not ... hoping it DOES offer extra info and insights even for the period coverd in these 4 earlier books) At any rate I've just placed an order for Vol. 1 (1949-53) of which I think I have most of those on my LP shelves that have ever been reissued. (And besides, it's an era that usually has been overlooked elsewhere.)
Depending how I like this one (and the new book to be published in January) I'll decide about the other volumes.

From the table of contents on the SUNY page and the samples on Amazon of vols 1-4, seems like this new book is more like a book of essays on notable artists and groups at Prestige, while vols 1-4 chronologically display discog info for each recording session along with anecdotes and analysis.

The kindle editions of vols 1-4 are pretty inexpensive;  I will probably buy them.

Edited December 19, 2025 by Stompin at the Savoy

[Big Beat Steve]

Suits me fine, then ... I had noticed what you say from the sample pages on Amazon for Vol. 1 (49-53) but the "essay" character was not so clear for the to-be-released book. 

[Stompin at the Savoy]

20 minutes ago, Big Beat Steve said:

Suits me fine, then ... I had noticed what you say from the sample pages on Amazon for Vol. 1 (49-53) but the "essay" character was not so clear for the to-be-released book. 

Table of Contents for the new book

 

 

 

Preamble. How This Book Came About
Introduction. Bob Weinstock and Prestige
1. Postwar Independent Jazz Record Labels
2. Weinstock's Beginnings. New Jazz
3. Early Artists on New Jazz
4. The Birth of the Prestige Label
5. The First Jazz on LP
6. Wardell Gray, James Moody and King Pleasure
7. Miles Davis
8. Thelonious Monk
9. Enter Rudy Van Gelder and Recording More Monk
10. The Modern Jazz Quartet
11. Cover Art, and a Dual Role for Esmond Edwards
12. Sonny Rollins
13. Miles Davis Back and Ready to Work. the Contractual Marathon
14. Changing Times and Technologies at Prestige
15. Other '50s-era Prestige Recording Artists
16. Miles's Sidemen and John Coltrane
17. Mose Allison and Yusef Lateef
18. A New Era. Soul Jazz
19. Prestige's Satellite Labels
20. Soul Jazz Organists
21. Moving On. Free Jazz and Eric Dolphy
22. Dolphy's Peers at Prestige
23. Booker Ervin
24. Stars of the Early '60s
25. Final Days
Epilogue
Acknowledgments
Works Cited
Index

 

Edited December 19, 2025 by Stompin at the Savoy

[Big Beat Steve]

Thanks, looks interesting enough to me and I'll be looking forward to this one too.
As hinted at in an earlier post, it will certainly be interesting to compare the presentation of label histories in this one and in the forthcoming Pacific Jazz book by James Harrod.

[Dan Gould]

AFAIK Tad did not slap together the self-published Listening to Prestige volumes and call it a book.

[bertrand]

The link in the first post is for the new book. Where do I find information about the earlier volumes?

[Dan Gould]

21 minutes ago, bertrand said:

The link in the first post is for the new book. Where do I find information about the earlier volumes?

Search Amazon by "Listening to Prestige" and they will come up.

[Big Beat Steve]

30 minutes ago, Dan Gould said:

Search Amazon by "Listening to Prestige" and they will come up.

Yes, that's how I found them and ordered Vol. 1.

[Big Beat Steve]

Re- Bob Weinstock, the founder of Prestige:

Digging right now into the "Gerry Mulligan Quartet" volume from the Oxford Studies in Recorded Jazz" mentioned recently by Joe Bip in the "Reading Now ..." thread, and the below paragraph (in the context of the Gerry Mulligan recording debut at Prestige in 1951) had me smiling: 

Given the stylistic catalog of Prestige from (almost) Day One, it should be be interesting to see if and how these personal preferences of Bob Weinstock - as part of his personality - are evoked in this forthcoming book and to learn how Weinstock really got into (or got to grips with) "bebop and beyond" from his personal point of departure. 

BTW, Vol. 1 (1949-.53) from the earlier "Listening To Prestige" series arrived today too, and what I can say right away is that these books should be entertaining reading that will certainly open up new perspectives for most readers. But do NOT expect the discussions of the sessions to be reviews in the usual sense of the word but rather very personal listening impressions for everyone to stack up against his own experiences to get an interesting look at a different angle. This should open up some new listening perspectives. 
After randomly flipping open a few pages, I am in fact wondering about some of the author's angles and perspectives.
Re- the 26 January 1950 session by Sonny Stitt and Bud Powell (Strike Up The Band/I Want To Be Happy/Taking A Chance On Love/Fine And Dany), the author says: "These are songs I wouldn't have thought of as jazz standards, especially "Strike up The Band" and "I Want To Be Happy". Hmm ... Sonny Stitt may have been a sort of trailblazer for adopting these songs into the bebop vocabulary, but Rust's Discography (that runs up to 1942) has 3 issued recordings listed (by Red Nichols plus assorted semi-jazz dance bands) for "Strike Up The Band", as well as about 8 entries for "I Want To Be Happy". (I did not check the other two tunes) So ...? At any rate all four have been established jazz standards across the stylistic board for many decades. 

Re- the 27 February 1950 session by Al Haig (Liza /Strs Fell On Alabama/Stairway To The Stars/Opus Caprice), the text says: "I was only able to find 'Liza'. So plenty of leisure to give it several listens (...) And me ... listening to 'Liza' one more time, and wishing I had the rest of this session." Huh??? The entire session was reissued on the double album "First Sessions 1949/50" in 1979 (P-24081, a compilation that does look like mandatory listening for anyone covering this period of Prestige in detail, doesn't it?). I did not check for other reissues of that session as I had bought this set (a U.S. pressing) locally not very long after it came out and have often spun it through the years. Another copy of this twofer (UK pressing this time) has been gracing the "second copies" corner of my record shelves for years, so copies are around out there (Discogs has more than 50 listed ). This blind spot really is rather difficult to understand, particularly if you are all out to do an in-depth session-by-session survey of that period. 

Anyway ... I'm really looking forward to browsing this book and hopping from session to session while listening to the respective music during the holidays. 

And Merry Christmas to everyone! 

Edited December 23, 2025 by Big Beat Steve

[Stompin at the Savoy]

I got the kindle edition of vol 1 of Listening to Prestige.  It's interesting.  Merry Christmas!

[Pim]

Wow what an amazing piece of work. I really love this kind of enthusiasm for the music.

[Dan Gould]

Disappointed that Amazon delivery is delayed.  Hopefully its brief but publication date was Friday and got notification that shipping was delayed.

[Big Beat Steve]

23 minutes ago, Dan Gould said:

Disappointed that Amazon delivery is delayed.  Hopefully its brief but publication date was Friday and got notification that shipping was delayed.

Delivery via amazon.de here is still announced for 12 January, but the shipping status says my order has not yet been shipped. So anything is possible. Well, we'll see ...

[JSngry]

I got mine a few days ago 

[Dan Gould]

1 hour ago, JSngry said:

I got mine a few days ago 

Well that suggests its quite popular for pre-orders and Amazon didn't get enough.  Good for @ListeningToPrestige

[Peter Friedman]

My copy also arrived a couple of days ago. Finishing a couple of  other books and will then turn to "Listening To Prestige".

[Big Beat Steve]

A question just out of curiosity to those who already received their copies:

Supposing the copies you ordered and received are paperbacks, are your books actual publications (and printings) by a publisher and his in-house (or subcontracted) printer (as it used to be the case with books for almost as long as books exist) or are they book copies produced as "print on demand" items (as it increasingly has become the case in recent years, particularly with books on niche subjects). My copy of Tad Richards' "Jazz with a Beat" (Excelsior Editions too) received in 2024 has a small printer's imprint on the final page that says "Milton Keynes UK Ingram Content Group UK Limited" (as did certain other books I ordered via Amazon at about the same time), and my copy of "Listening to Prestige Vol. 1, 1949-1953" (originally published in 2015) received last December has the following imprint on the last page: "Printed in Poland by Amazon Fulfillment, Warsaw".  So both clearly "print-on-demand" jobs.

Both books look and are perfectly OK as paperbacks, but since different printing centers are probably used depending on where the book is ordered and shipped to, this might perhaps explain the differences in respecting the publication deadlines indicated up front.

 

Edited January 5 by Big Beat Steve