Talk:Prestige Records

Prestige album listing

Does anyone out there have any objections to a semi-chronological or alphabetical list of albums released by Prestige? It's obviously a long-term project but of interest to get things into perspective. 83.191.68.209 14:51, 18 November 2006 (UTC)

It has been done here. Beware, this site is not 100% accurate. Philip Cross 19:06, 20 November 2006 (UTC)

Artists

I can understand the need for brevity in the top section. The reason I added those obscure artists is because they have orphaned pages and need linked to related articles. And there is no reason that information doesn't belong on this page. I think the more appropriate response would be to help complete the list. I know Ivan Boogaloo Joe is an obscure artist, but he did record for Prestige. As did many, many others. What better place to start exploring these artist than the label they recorded with? I'm just getting into the whole Souljazz thing and I've always explored a lot of music based on the label it was on. I would think this page should have a page of artists that recorded for Prestige. It may be too long to put on this page, so maybe another page? Prestige_Artists (?)

I'm no expert on this area of music, but the info is lacking. The jazzdisco reference is about all that's out there. I'd like to see this period documented more for future listeners. I can't even figure out if half of these people are still alive.

I'm going to add the artists section [back] and add the artists I know of (and enjoy ;)) that recorded releases for Prestige. Feel free to rule over this page, but I think my additions were :valid and a start on adding more info/links to this page.

-the stranger —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 4.89.132.173 (talk) 06:43, 24 January 2007 (UTC).

It is important to remember that no one rules over any page, this is a collaborative process, and you are right about the need to avoid orphaned articles. My reason for removing the list was that over the twenty-two uears Prestige existed as an separate company the number of musicians who appeared on sessions for the label will run in to the hundreds, and some of those you list are red links, without an article as yet.

Of those you formerly listed, and using the Lord discography, Joe Pass only appears on a Charles Kynard date from 1969 and one or two Prestige CD reissues of Pablo material and Grant Green is best remembered as leader for Blue Note, but appeared on two Jack McDuff and George Kynard dates and single albums with George Braith, Don Patterson and Houston Person on Prestige. I am being pedantic, though my point is that lists can have limited meaning. As far as the use of sideman is concerned their appearance on the label will often have been serendipity (who was available) rather than the deliberation associated with signing someone to a contract. Philip Cross 08:53, 24 January 2007 (UTC)

Thanks for the response, Phillip. I can see your point. I'm glad to have your expertise here on Wiki. Sorry to get fruity in my response. Question: I'm no expert on this label (I'm sure you could share loads of great info), I just wanted to try and get some of those orphaned pages linking to other articles. The only way I could see to do it was link some of these artists back to this page. Do the pages need to both have links to each other, or is one enough?

After reading your comments on the edit, I think you are right that a list of artists would be too big for this page. I think a companion page would be the way to go. Maybe have two sections; artists that released on Prestige and artists that appeared on a Prestige release. Like you said, some of these artists just happened to be around and did a session with somebody. It wasn't their release, but they did play on it. Some of Bob Porter's liner notes are very informative (and also give an insight into the mindset of the time).

I'll stop back and see what you think. Thanks again for the nitty gritty.

Any cool links for reference, albums I should check out, etc...let me know. I'd greatly appreciate it. -Jason dwsound@yahoo.com

I had another idea.

How about a sessions subheading on the producer/engineer pages? (Again, probably linking to another page, due to length concerns.)

It's along the same lines as what you suggested at the top of this page, but from a different perspective. This would also help develop more links between the various pages.

I'll do an edit and you can take a look. :wave:

Business practices

Miles Davis was as critical of Weinstock's business practices as anyone else. According to Davis, musicians tolerated them because Weinstock offered quick cash and made few immediate demands on musicians, although the overall return for musicians recording for Prestige was poor. Among the unflattering handles for Prestige that gained currency among musicians were "the plantation" and "the junkie label," the latter because of the tendency of addicted musicians to be looking for quick cash to support their habit. A lot of the musicians who recorded for Prestige in the 1950s were in fact addicted and sometimes they were in no condition to record. The artistic freedom offered by Weinstock and his distaste for repeated takes lent a spontaneous quality to the recordings, although the quality of released tracks was famously erratic. Musicians' opinions of Prestige may also reflect unpleasant memories of addiction in general. The reference to Miles Davis defending Weinstock's business practices will be deleted. I may add the other information after I dig out Davis' book to cite it properly.75.111.54.141 (talk) 18:59, 29 May 2015 (UTC)

New Jazz Records - article expansion

Since New Jazz Records redirects here, it would make sense to include information on that label. My understanding is that New Jazz started in 1949 before being renamed to Prestige, and this is mentioned on the Bob Weinstock page. Later the New Jazz name was used again as a sub-label for Prestige. According to Discogs, Prestige also had another 20 or so sub-labels, which would be worth mentioning.--Jimmyjrg (talk) 01:54, 30 August 2021 (UTC)