[78-L] Fwd: Jazzfinder ’49

[Bill McClung]

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: <dialjazz at frontier.com>
Date: Mon, Aug 8, 2011 at 10:30 AM
Subject: Jazzfinder ’49
To: bmcclung78 at gmail.com


Hi Bill,

I was hoping to be able to post this response to your query of a week ago
but still can’t get on the List. I need to apply for a new password for
posting.

Jazzfinder ’49 was a onetime publication that took its name from the monthly
digest-size jazz magazine Jazzfinder, and was probably published by
mid-1949. Jazzfinder, the magazine, was launched in 1948. Its last issue was
either November or December 1948. I have November but no December. The
magazine’s name was changed to Playback, the first issue of which debuted in
January 1949. The magazine continued into 1952, with three issues being
published. Jazzfinder ’49 was advertised on the back cover of Playback for
about five months. Readers were told to order copies directly from the
publisher. I don’t know if any copies were sold through specialty stores.
Either way, distribution must have been small, and copies are now quite
scarce, to say the least. I do not know if it was intended to be an annual
“year book,” but the one issue certainly seems like one. Before that,
Esquire published Year Books in both hard and soft covers. The one issue of
Jazzways came in both hard and soft covers.  In 1950, Metronome launched its
first year book. The last, I think, was 1960. Down Beat also started
publishing its own Year Book in 1956, and it ran for a number of issues into
the 1960s. All of these publications were very well produced and offer an
amazing amount of photos and information.
Geoffrey Wheeler