JAM: December 2003/January 2004 Issue Long Playing Records... R.I.P.

LONG PLAYING RECORDS... R.I.P.
A Purist's Lament

by Floyd Levin

Since 1877, when Thomas Edison introduced the first commercially viable mechanism to record sound, the phonograph record industry has undergone a series of innovative developments. At each crossroads, consumers were forced to replace their equipment to accommodate the latest and (not necessarily) the best audio technology.

The acoustical years began with wax cylinder records. The early New Orleans jazz cornetist Buddy Bolden presumably recorded on cylinders in 1894, but this has never been substantiated.

Flat discs, revolving at (approximately) 78 revolutions per minute, arrived in time to primitively capture the sounds of early jazz. Fortunately, phonograph records evolved alongside the nation's rapidly expanding jazz activity, and have preserved almost the entire history of the music.

After 1925, the music was electrically recorded with microphones replacing the conical horns that previously transmitted sound vibrations to a wax master disc. The new material had a broader frequency range and contrasted greatly with the earlier records.

The succession of recording "improvements" continually required the purchase of appropriate devices designed to play the latest products: wire recordings, reel-to-reel tape recordings, cassettes, 8-track tapes, High Fidelity, Super Hi Fi, Quadraphonic, and so on.

In 1948, Columbia Records unveiled the new long playing microgroove recordings revolving at 33 1/3 rpm. About 22 minutes of music could be accommodated on each side of a 12 inch disc, compared with the approximate three-minute duration of its 78 rpm predecessor. To complicate matters, we had to decide in favor of the new LPs or RCA Victor's Extended Play Records (EPs) involving 7-inch discs recorded at 45 rpm!

Which brings us to the decorative LP covers. The rigid cardboard jackets protected the vinyl discs, but they also provided a wealth of art and literature.

The illustrations adorning the front covers were often by noted jazz photographers including Ray Avery, William Claxton, Bill Gottlieb, and Ed Lawless.

We all had our favorites. Who can forget Billie Holiday's moist red lips in her seductive photo that enhanced a Commodore Records LP? Or Lom La Goullon's zany art on Turk Murphy's albums? Kid Ory's authentic Creole recipes were available on his Good Time Jazz jackets. Stomp Off Records featured Joe Mathieu's elaborate caricature art.

Much of jazz's history has been published on those sleeves. The informative texts were written by such notable authorities as George Avakian, George Hoefer, Bill Russell, Nesuhi Ertergun, David Stuart and Lester Koenig.
For over 30 years, the LP graphics, and the tones emerging from the microgrooves, combined to bring the music, the musicians, and jazz history "soundly" into our minds and hearts.

Since the mid-1980s, LPs have been replaced by Compact Discs that provided only a minimum of space for cover illustrations. The outdated vinyl treasures are still in many of our collections, but they are usually gathering dust on the shelves, like books that are never read. Their grooves still contain the musical impulses, but as playback mechanisms failed, and it became difficult, or impossible, to replace the delicate stylus, the music often remains silent.

Despite the countless technological "advancements" since 1877, some staunch purists insist that the old 78 rpm shellac records produced better depths of aural perception than the heavily engineered LPs and CDs. They cite particularly the Duke Ellington recordings made in the '30s with a single microphone. Those Victor records fully capture the Duke's great solo artists, his intricate section work, and his balanced rhythm section, all floating against the firm support of Wellman Braud's vivid acoustic string bass.

The record industry's endless quest for "newness" shows no sign of diminishing. Prepare to scrap your current playback equipment. A new generation is on the horizon, and additional waves of development are lurking behind them!

Each successive achievement will be accompanied with a complex manual describing the gadget's various intricacies, but, predictably, none will endure as long, or have the individuality of the LPs, with their beautifully illustrated and interestingly annotated jackets.

Meanwhile, those purists will continue to yearn for the gratifying simplicity of 78 rpm records, cactus needles, a handwound turntable, and a beautifully decorated bell-shaped speaker!






	Search our site:		LONG PLAYING RECORDS... R.I.P. A Purist's Lament by Floyd Levin Since 1877, when Thomas Edison introduced the first commercially viable mechanism to record sound, the phonograph record industry has undergone a series of innovative developments. At each crossroads, consumers were forced to replace their equipment to accommodate the latest and (not necessarily) the best audio technology. The acoustical years began with wax cylinder records. The early New Orleans jazz cornetist Buddy Bolden presumably recorded on cylinders in 1894, but this has never been substantiated. Flat discs, revolving at (approximately) 78 revolutions per minute, arrived in time to primitively capture the sounds of early jazz. Fortunately, phonograph records evolved alongside the nation's rapidly expanding jazz activity, and have preserved almost the entire history of the music. After 1925, the music was electrically recorded with microphones replacing the conical horns that previously transmitted sound vibrations to a wax master disc. The new material had a broader frequency range and contrasted greatly with the earlier records. The succession of recording "improvements" continually required the purchase of appropriate devices designed to play the latest products: wire recordings, reel-to-reel tape recordings, cassettes, 8-track tapes, High Fidelity, Super Hi Fi, Quadraphonic, and so on. In 1948, Columbia Records unveiled the new long playing microgroove recordings revolving at 33 1/3 rpm. About 22 minutes of music could be accommodated on each side of a 12 inch disc, compared with the approximate three-minute duration of its 78 rpm predecessor. To complicate matters, we had to decide in favor of the new LPs or RCA Victor's Extended Play Records (EPs) involving 7-inch discs recorded at 45 rpm! Which brings us to the decorative LP covers. The rigid cardboard jackets protected the vinyl discs, but they also provided a wealth of art and literature. The illustrations adorning the front covers were often by noted jazz photographers including Ray Avery, William Claxton, Bill Gottlieb, and Ed Lawless. We all had our favorites. Who can forget Billie Holiday's moist red lips in her seductive photo that enhanced a Commodore Records LP? Or Lom La Goullon's zany art on Turk Murphy's albums? Kid Ory's authentic Creole recipes were available on his Good Time Jazz jackets. Stomp Off Records featured Joe Mathieu's elaborate caricature art. Much of jazz's history has been published on those sleeves. The informative texts were written by such notable authorities as George Avakian, George Hoefer, Bill Russell, Nesuhi Ertergun, David Stuart and Lester Koenig. For over 30 years, the LP graphics, and the tones emerging from the microgrooves, combined to bring the music, the musicians, and jazz history "soundly" into our minds and hearts. Since the mid-1980s, LPs have been replaced by Compact Discs that provided only a minimum of space for cover illustrations. The outdated vinyl treasures are still in many of our collections, but they are usually gathering dust on the shelves, like books that are never read. Their grooves still contain the musical impulses, but as playback mechanisms failed, and it became difficult, or impossible, to replace the delicate stylus, the music often remains silent. Despite the countless technological "advancements" since 1877, some staunch purists insist that the old 78 rpm shellac records produced better depths of aural perception than the heavily engineered LPs and CDs. They cite particularly the Duke Ellington recordings made in the '30s with a single microphone. Those Victor records fully capture the Duke's great solo artists, his intricate section work, and his balanced rhythm section, all floating against the firm support of Wellman Braud's vivid acoustic string bass. The record industry's endless quest for "newness" shows no sign of diminishing. Prepare to scrap your current playback equipment. A new generation is on the horizon, and additional waves of development are lurking behind them! Each successive achievement will be accompanied with a complex manual describing the gadget's various intricacies, but, predictably, none will endure as long, or have the individuality of the LPs, with their beautifully illustrated and interestingly annotated jackets. Meanwhile, those purists will continue to yearn for the gratifying simplicity of 78 rpm records, cactus needles, a handwound turntable, and a beautifully decorated bell-shaped speaker! RETURN TO DECEMBER 2003/JANUARY 2004 MAIN INDEX © Kansas City Jazz Ambassadors 1996-2003. All rights reserved.