[78-L] Record Stores

[Geoffrey Wheeler]

Steven Barr says: “Thanxes muchly for all the additional information! I 
never knew much of
that, since I was going by only the stories and ads in Record 
Changer...!”

Thank you, Steven, for your compliment. I have found the discussion 
about record stores and The Record Changer quite interesting! Last 
night after I had sent my last long comment, I began wondering why 
Vocalion began reissuing numerous recordings from Columbia Phonograph 
and OKeh in its new “3000” series (begun 1935) that featured many of 
the same artists being reissued on third-party collector labels (UHCA, 
HRS, etc.). Between catalog numbers 3008 and 3643, Vocalion reissued 
nearly 70 records (140 sides) from original OKeh and Columbia 
Phonograph issues and from catalog number 4182 to 5131 some 26 records 
originally issued on the Brunswick label. This includes a reissue of 
Bunny Berigan’s Vocalion recording of “I Can’t Get Started. This was 
eventually issued four times on black-and-gold Vocalion, Brunswick, 
blue-and-gold Vocalion, and OKeh. The Brunswick and the OKeh are the 
best pressings because they are laminates.

The last years of The Record Changer are too long and complicated to 
get into here but you will find it discussed at length in my book Jazz 
By Mail: Record Clubs and Record Labels 1936 to 1958. Launched in 1942, 
the first issues of the Changer were mimeographed. I have gone through 
them at the Library of Congress. These were followed in 1944 by a 5x8 
magazine format that was supplanted by an 8-1/2x11 format. I, too, have 
never seen the purported last issue but have been told it is basically 
an auction list. I have talked with the founder’s widow, Orrin 
Keepnews, Richard Hadlock, and Paul Bacon about the history of the 
magazine. After he bought the Changer from Bill Grauer, Mr. Hadlock’s 
experience with the magazine was not a happy one!