Classics

This article explains a French record label. For a Dutch pop band see The Classics , for a US rock band see Classics IV , for Jennifer Rush's album see Classics (album) .

Classics (also Chronological Classics ) was a French jazz record label from Paris that had specialized in the republication of license-free recordings. The original takes that were released from a session were put together in chronological order under the name of the band leader . Only studio recordings were taken into account (without alternate takes ). The aim of the label was to provide a complete overview of the jazz musician's published recordings. The work was supported by the fact that the copyright in France expires after 50 years and so, for example, early recordings by Oscar Peterson and Bud Powell in 1999 could be taken into account. Complete discographic information is provided on the plates.

The label was founded in 1989 by Gilles Petard (* 1949) and releases 5 CDs a month. By 1999 the label had released around 600 CDs by around 200 musicians. Petard used to work in marketing at EMI France and also has other jazz labels such as Body and Soul . He takes a large part of the recordings from his own extensive record collection. Many of the liner notes come from Anatol Schenker, an English teacher from Basel .

The distribution took place in Germany through Fenn-Music .

In 2004 the label went bankrupt and the catalog was taken over by Abeille Musique, who also brought out new releases by mid-2008 (five titles announced for August 2008 never appeared). By then, 969 jazz CDs had been released (No. 500-1469). The first came out in December 1989 and five CDs were released per month through subscription.

The label Neatwork Records released alternate takes to the Classics issues and Classics itself released supplements to their already released CDs in 1999 (as well as a bonus CD with corrected tracks).

From 2001 there was also a Rhythm & Blues series at Classics (No. 5000-5189 were published).

Web links

• Some catalog titles from Classics to 2002 with detailed information
• Some catalog titles from Classics 2008 ( Memento from October 25, 2008 in the Internet Archive )
• Mike Zwerin on Classics, Herald Tribune 1999 and New York Times, September 8, 1999
• Discography

Individual evidence

1. ^ Fenn Music
2. ↑ Chronological Classics at Abeille Musique ( Memento of the original from February 14, 2012 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.