Friday, November 16, 2012


PACIFIC JAZZ 12” LP – NEW PJ SERIES
PART SIX - PJ-10101 / PJ-10120

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

Woody Woodward joined Pacific Jazz in 1955 and quickly became Dick Bock’s right hand man.  Woody was equally adept at designing album covers, writing liner notes, shooting session photography and the myriad other tasks involved in the production of records.  

One of the economies that Woody employed in album cover design was the creation of a single piece of art for the cover slick with both the monaural and stereo information on the finished cover.  The fabrication company would simply position the slick to display the mono information for one jacket cover and move it down to reveal the stereo information for the stereo jacket cover.

The horizontal rectangle with the nestled PJ logo was introduced on covers as seen in our examination of the New PJ Series - Part Five.  Some of those examples had the release number, two digits, printed in the upper right corner of the logo rectangle.  When the numbering series expanded to five digits the number was printed on a top corner and the logo rectangle was positioned elsewhere on the jacket front as seen in some of the examples below.

The final solution was to integrate the number with the nestled logo in a new  vertical rectangle that would be positioned at the top of the jacket front.

Artists represented on this group of releases include: Les McCann, Gil Fuller and The Monterey Jazz Festival Orchestra featuring James Moody, Gerry Mulligan, The Zimbo Trio, Wes Montgomery, Richard “Groove” Holmes, The Jazz Crusaders, Chico Hamilton,  Richard “Groove “ Holmes with Gene Ammons, Ben Webster, Les McCann and Joe Pass, Bud Shank, Bob Florence, The Gerald Wilson Orchestra, The Don Ellis Orchestra, Buddy Rich New Big Band, The Jazz Corps, Tommy Peltier, Roland Kirk, and Booker Ervin.

All labels © EMI Capitol Music








































All labels © EMI Capitol Music

Thursday, November 1, 2012


WORLD PACIFIC 12” LP – 1800 SERIES
PART THREE – WP-1841 / WP-1860

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

The 1800 series continued to be the domain of releases targeted to a “pop” audience.  Most notable among these were the “Tijuana Brass” knock offs with Chet Baker and “The Mariachi Brass” - a series designed to grab a portion of A&M’s market.  Major artists on the jazz side of the house including Joe Pass and Bud Shank were also pressed into service recording albums for the “pop” market.

Numbers WP-1848 and WPS-21848 were not assigned for releases in this series. 

Artists represented on this group of releases include: Bob Lind, The Mariachi Brass featuring Chet Baker, Billy Larkin and The Delegates, Joe Pass, Bob Florence, Bud Shank, The Folkswingers featuring Harihar Rao, George Tipton, Chet Baker and The Carmel Strings, Lord Buckley, Bud Shank with Oliver Nelson, Joe Pass, Walter Wanderley, Joe Torres and The Bob Florence Orchestra.

ALL LABELS © EMI CAPITOL MUSIC









































ALL LABELS © EMI CAPITOL MUSIC