PACIFIC JAZZ 12” LP – 1200 SERIES

PART ONE - PJ-1201 / PJ-1220

© James A. Harrod, COPYRIGHT PROTECTED; ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

Dick Bock had diversified the label almost from the beginning when he introduced the Pacifica label for the more “pop” oriented releases with Johnny Holiday and Kitty White.  The ultimate solution was finally arrived at in 1957 when the company umbrella name was changed to World Pacific Enterprises. Releases in the jazz line would identified as the "Pacific JAZZ Series" as seen on the labels below.

Down Beat, 11/28/1957

That change as we shall see in upcoming posts would introduce a WP- prefix on albums in the 1200 series and older releases that were still in demand would be modified with World Pacific labels on the new pressings.

In some instances Bock continued to print the release number on the label, but as seen below in this presentation of the first twenty 12” LPs this was not always the case.  The LPs are presented in numerical order disregarding whether it was a PJ release or a WP release.  Pressings in colored vinyl are included even if the labels are identical to pressings on black vinyl.  The catalogue pages reproduced below are from the 1956 Fall catalogue and the thumb nail covers offer an idea of the Claxton designs for the first twenty 12” LPs.

All label images © EMI Capitol Music

All label images © EMI Capitol Music

The REMastered logo on some of the releases above denotes that the tape masters used for the original 10" LP release of this music had been remastered for the release on the 12" LP.  

© James A. Harrod, COPYRIGHT PROTECTED; ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.