The Rifftides staff is still on vacation but headed north and expecting to reach Rifftides World Headquarters sometime early next week. Today’s drive was up the California coast on the chain of hairpin curves known as US 1, mere inches from sheer drops into the ocean on one side and the possibility of crushing avalanches on the other. It was beautiful.
Doug Ramsey on Jazz and other matters...
Just a few comments- yes the Fantasy catalog was incredible, and don’t forget they had John Fahey’s Takoma label as well! One of the things that is probably killing these record labels are the free downloads that have proliferated on the internet. One or more sites have a handful of new downloads everyday, featuring old jazz albums (not to mention John Fahey). The market for these records is very small and that small market shrinks everytime someone downloads a “free” one. I download them myself, it’s too expensive to buy everything you want to hear but if I really like a cd I try to buy a legit copy. The “good” thing is that these old albums from the “golden era” of the 1950’s are rapidly hitting public domain and as quickly as they do, labels like Lone Hill Jazz are issuing them, often in very thoughtful configurations. PS- I used to live in Klamath Falls and the trip over 66 to Ashland was one of my favorites!