I have been building a small collection of small records, jazz 45s, and two of my favorites are by Ike Quebec. The tenor saxophonist had fallen into obscurity after his mid 40’s 78 “Blue Harlem.” When Blue Note decided to hop on the 45 rpm juke box market (think soul jazz organ and tenor sax), they rereleased Ike’s Blue Harlem and recorded three sessions worth of Ike Quebec 45s, one in ’59, ’60 and ’62. Blue Note has recently released a three lp set of the lot called, “The Complete Blue Note 45 Sessions.” It is a wonder.
Before 1950 all jukeboxes were 78 pm. RCA spent an unprecedented $5,000,000 in 1950 promoting the 45. The Seeburg M100B was at first a nickel a play and six plays for a quarter but after 1951 each machine would be dime a play and three plays for a quarter. That’s the way I remember it.
My brother-in-law gave us the records as a Chanukah gift. With his permission we put it under our imaginary tree and opened it on Christmas morning. We listened to five of the six sides on New Year’s Eve and then the sixth on New Year’s Day. This time I marked my favorites – Blue Monday, Blue Friday, Everything Happens to Me, What a Difference a Day Makes, If I Could Be with You, How Long Has This Been Going On, Imagination and There is No Greater Love. I favor the slow numbers, the ones that would have couple hanging on one another on the dance floor. These killer tracks are scattered across the six sides. Imagine how sensational it would be to have the 45s.
Sun Ra released dozens of singles for the Juke Box market under a variety of names. Evidence repackaged them as a 2 cd set years ago. And what a treat it was to open “It’s Christmas Time” b/w “Happy New Year to You” by the Qualities on 45, also from our brother in law.
Duane sent us up one heavy Xmas package, nine of the ten Brian Eno produced Island/Antilles/Obscure experimental/ambient albums from the mid-to-late 1970s, 20th-century classical music. These discs are easy on the ears and worked well behind long holiday conversations.
Chris from the Squires of the Subterrain included a three volume set of unreleased demos called “Sketchbook” with his holiday card. Chris is a musical craftsman and wizard like Brian Wilson. He does it all, plays most instruments, layers beautiful harmony vocal tracks and engineers musical constructions that are pure joy to listen to.
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