01/1/2019 2:52 pm  #1


Jonzo Series... What happened?

Happy New Year to all!

As I peruse the various pages on the ICC, and the top of this page, I have noticed that this series is no longer available.  I believe I have a couple of the early discs, but so far have been unsuccessful at locating them.  That being said, I always thought I would try to buy more, and now it appears to be too late.  Can anyone tell me what happened, and if I stand a chance at ever adding more of these to my own personal collection?

Thanks!

 

01/1/2019 6:33 pm  #2


Re: Jonzo Series... What happened?

JackCleveland wrote:

-  - - - - 
.  Can anyone tell me what happened, and if I stand a chance at ever adding more of these to my own personal collection?

Thanks!

Jack, the answer is that the originator of the series, who dedicated lots of time (and I presume money) to the production, was unable to continue due to failing health. By 2007 he had reached volume 51, with the complete series covering studio recordings to September 1951. Though for some time thereafter he maintained stocks, no additional copies were "pressed", and ultimately the remaining stocks passed to a dealer who offered them on eBay. The sequence was taken up by SEPIA, but they were unable to use the same titling so the title used was "Through The Years", which reached the end of the Decca period in the mid '50s. Rights issues prevent any further continuation beyond that date.

Both series were produced with much help from ICC and individual members, with Malcolm Macfarlane writing the notes for the overwhelming majority.

You should still find some of the Jonzo series on eBay, new and in sealed wrappers, and you have already responded to Malcolm's post about some copies that he has available.  

The SEPIA issues remain available

I would add that when the series started CDs were still outsold by LPs, so the first few albums were issued as LPs.. Later, those tracks were put onto CD. 

A further notable point is the whilst the Jonzo series was meant to be complete, new alternative takes were found after publication. These were later were picked up by SEPIA and appeared as an extra on a CD on "Through The Years". A detailed examination of the discography will tell you more.

AMENDED It was SEPIA which issued The Through The Years series, not Jasmine, who i initially named in a moment of forgetfulness. (Jasmine do have many good Crosby CD issues of their own).
 

Last edited by Richard Baker (02/1/2019 7:33 am)

 

01/1/2019 7:13 pm  #3


Re: Jonzo Series... What happened?

Thank you Richard for the response.  Time and tide wait for no man.  Which is why we should strike while the iron is hot.  Had I followed through five years ago as planned, I may have been able to have the complete set now, as well as five years of Crosby appreciation and knowledge.  

I discovered some still for sale there in the UK on eBay.  I am awaiting a response about postage, and how to handle the sale.  But what a shame that they still are not available as complete sets.

Last edited by JackCleveland (01/1/2019 7:13 pm)

     Thread Starter
 

02/1/2019 2:21 am  #4


Re: Jonzo Series... What happened?

Richard - I believe you mean Sepia label, not Jasmine.

 

02/1/2019 2:33 am  #5


Re: Jonzo Series... What happened?

Well- I have 10 volumes heading this way, and I will also be picking up some more that are still on sale on eBay.  Waiting to hear from Malcolm if the ones he mentioned for sale are still available and how much.  Time to dig deep into this treasure trove.  Undoubtedly both of you already have these!

     Thread Starter
 

02/1/2019 6:47 am  #6


Re: Jonzo Series... What happened?

Jack,  I haven't received your message but the CDs are still available. Email me at macwilmslo@aol.com

 

02/1/2019 7:31 am  #7


Re: Jonzo Series... What happened?

Lobosco wrote:

Richard - I believe you mean Sepia label, not Jasmine.

A moment of absent - mindedness - I must be getting too old. Thanks for pointing out my error, David. 
 

 

03/1/2019 6:59 pm  #8


Re: Jonzo Series... What happened?

So in the last three days I have been able to acquire over 20 of the Chronological CDs.  Good start for sure.  Now, how many times am I going to have to duplicate volumes to get volumes I don't have?

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03/1/2019 8:39 pm  #9


Re: Jonzo Series... What happened?

JackCleveland wrote:

So in the last three days I have been able to acquire over 20 of the Chronological CDs.  Good start for sure.  Now, how many times am I going to have to duplicate volumes to get volumes I don't have?

I'm afraid , Jack, that in this sphere of activity, duplication - and worse - is pretty well inevitable.  I suspect that the inference of your question is that you think you might have to buy "job lots" of CDs in order to complete your set. If so you will at least be able to dispose of the surplus and be left with a complete run of the songs with no duplication.

I acquired my first Crosby records in the mid 1950s. By the mid 1960s the "completion" insofar as that was possible became something of an obsession. By this time I had a fair sprinkling of LPs, 78s, 45 RPM singles and EPs, but in order to go as far as I could in completing the song titles I had an incredible amount of duplication.  Sometimes I was getting LPs, whether new or used, with (typically) twelve titles in order to obtain maybe three or four titles. 

Twenty years or so later I had just about everything that had been issued on LP (but still lacking numbers of then known recordings).   Then along came the CD.  Initially I resisted the new minority medium, but then had to take the plunge. In the meantime however I had acquired the parallel LP issues. Then I took the logical step and commenced getting everything that had been issued on CD - but then the Chronological Bing Crosby, obviously creating much further duplication came along. In theory I ought to just dispose of everything I have in whatever format which covers the same ground as the Chronological series, but guess what?  Whilst I got rid of most of my 78s and 45s, - with just a dozen or so exceptions the only other discs I have disposed of are those that are direct duplicates of each other.  I just cannot bring myself to get rid of them, despite the duplicatio/triplication  - - - . And then everything has been digitised as well.

Welcome to the world of collectors!

 

03/1/2019 9:42 pm  #10


Re: Jonzo Series... What happened?

My thought with this CD set, is that that lots of CDs will appear, and those lots will have volumes I already have along with volumes I do not have.  As a result, I will wind up duplicating volumes to get new volumes I need to a acquire a complete set one day.  Yes, I am familiar with the world of collecting.  I collect juvenile series books (Hardy Boys, Nancy Drew, and tons of other similar series), and I have had to buy duplicates at times to get a volume that I want!
 

     Thread Starter
 

04/1/2019 6:26 pm  #11


Re: Jonzo Series... What happened?

You lucky, youngsters, you.
Growing up last century, my first 78 was 'Faith of Our Fathers', bought before I had anything to play it on. First radiogram was a single play then I bought a turntable that could take up to about 10 of these shellac records, heavy arm and crash bang wallop when a record changed. I put the new multi turntable to replace the single, got a bit of a tickle with the wires.
Then I started to buy Bing every few weeks.
Then a bloke at the GPO (General Post Office) was also a Bing fan and now and again he would lend me a Bing record.
Oh, the strain of it all travelling by train and bus 10 miles or so to get home. Worrying that I might damage the record.
One time I did put my knee on one of my 78's and so only about a minute of playtime was available.
How lucky we are these days we can put a cassette or CD in our pocket without fear of breaking it.

 

05/1/2019 1:48 am  #12


Re: Jonzo Series... What happened?

Love the stories about collecting!

     Thread Starter
 

12/1/2019 2:35 am  #13


Re: Jonzo Series... What happened?

I miss the old days of collecting. I will be an old man of 45 this year. I miss going to the flea market with my Grandfather and not knowing what I would find. This is the early to mid 1990s when there was no computers or digital music. I used to have so many duplicates, but those were the days!

 

22/1/2019 10:28 am  #14


Re: Jonzo Series... What happened?

So you love stories of collecting, Jack. What do you think of this one? In the early 1930s an Adelaide, South Australia, collector named Douglas Black learned that Bing was the vocalist with Sam Lanin's Famous Players' recording of 'If I had you'. The Aussie Parlophone disc was labeled 'vocal refrain'. Black advertised in the local newspapers to buy a copy of it. After he rode his motorcycle to a distant suburb one wet night to buy the disc he was chuffed when the sympathetic owner gave it to him.

 

23/1/2019 12:20 am  #15


Re: Jonzo Series... What happened?

Wow- great story.  Love when you read about a fellow fan's generosity.  Perhaps I will get lucky with some of those Jonzo CDs... maybe even a free one now and then!

     Thread Starter
 

18/4/2020 7:15 pm  #16


Re: Jonzo Series... What happened?

Today I have just bought my first Chronological CD from eBay, I bought volume 33. I might've bought volume 1 as it was available, but I decided to buy the one with more songs I recognize, plus I'm not crazy about the Paul Whiteman period. It will arrive in a couple weeks, and I'm excited to get my hands on it.


Every time it rains, it rains pennies from heaven.
 

19/4/2020 1:44 pm  #17


Re: Jonzo Series... What happened?

The “Chronological” series is an amazing achievement and we all owe its originator a huge debt of gratitude, not to mention our friends at Sepia who took up the baton to complete the sequence up until the end of the Decca years.

There are indeed some great tracks on Vol. 33, but I hope you’ll persevere with the early years of Bing’s career. When I first started collecting in the early ‘70s I used always to gravitate towards the “golden era” of the late ‘30s through to the mid ‘40s. Then I bought an RCA LP, “Wrap Your Troubles In Dreams”, which had a great selection of tracks from 1927 through to 1931, with the Whiteman band  and Gus Arnheim’s Cocoanut Grove Orchestra. This LP really made me sit up and listen! This was the “jazzin’ Bing Crosby” before he became the global super-star of the Jack Kapp years. After more than 40 years I still find it fascinating to listen to Bing at different stages of his phenomenal career.

 

19/4/2020 2:18 pm  #18


Re: Jonzo Series... What happened?

Thanks for all the posts on this thread. Fascinating!

 

19/4/2020 3:18 pm  #19


Re: Jonzo Series... What happened?

jeremyrose wrote:

The “Chronological” series is an amazing achievement and we all owe its originator a huge debt of gratitude, not to mention our friends at Sepia who took up the baton to complete the sequence up until the end of the Decca years.

There are indeed some great tracks on Vol. 33, but I hope you’ll persevere with the early years of Bing’s career. When I first started collecting in the early ‘70s I used always to gravitate towards the “golden era” of the late ‘30s through to the mid ‘40s. Then I bought an RCA LP, “Wrap Your Troubles In Dreams”, which had a great selection of tracks from 1927 through to 1931, with the Whiteman band  and Gus Arnheim’s Cocoanut Grove Orchestra. This LP really made me sit up and listen! This was the “jazzin’ Bing Crosby” before he became the global super-star of the Jack Kapp years. After more than 40 years I still find it fascinating to listen to Bing at different stages of his phenomenal career.

Oh don’t worry, I will, I just had to choose one cd to buy for the time being.


Every time it rains, it rains pennies from heaven.
 

19/4/2020 6:07 pm  #20


Re: Jonzo Series... What happened?

ModernBingfan,
I used to present on Community radio in Australia, a programme I called ‘Mainly Bing’.
The format was 3 Bing, then 2 ‘others’. Number 11 was always a classical selection.
Anyway, when playing Bing I would start with 2 from the beginning of his career and 1 from the end of his career and, who knows when, they would finally meet in the middle somewhere.
So, perhaps in collecting you see-saw - early, later, early later etc.
Good hunting and collecting and welcome to the clan.

 

19/4/2020 11:00 pm  #21


Re: Jonzo Series... What happened?

Thank you, this will be my first Jonzo CD, but I have 7? (Not sure) CDs of the Through the Years CDs. Along with the complete Decca Christmas CD, Seasons, Complete UA, Bing His Legendary Years, Holiday In Europe and Beyond, Sing Along with Bing and On the Happy Side, Bing With A Beat, Fancy Meeting You Here, and Bing At Christmas. Then on vinyl I have Merry Christmas, Seasons, a RCA compilation with half early and half Bing With A Beat, Crosby Classics (reprocessed for stereo version though), a Christmas radio program LP, two Bing in Hollywood LPs, Small One and Happy Prince, Songs of Christmas, MCA Best of Bing, two MCA 45s one has St Patrick’s Day Parade and the other has White Christmas, Musical Autobiography 45s set, a Capitol Christmas LP with Bing featured on Do You Hear What I Hear, and finally one 78 with 2 songs from Road to Utopia containing It’s Anybody’s Spring and Welcome To My Dream.


Every time it rains, it rains pennies from heaven.
 

10/5/2020 7:25 am  #22


Re: Jonzo Series... What happened?

I’ve had a great day today, with one of the greatest parts was getting to buy Chronological Volume 16! There were 2 others like 19 and 21 I believe, but I bought 16 with the 20 bucks I earned.

Last edited by ModernBingFan0377 (10/5/2020 7:34 am)


Every time it rains, it rains pennies from heaven.
 

10/5/2020 5:55 pm  #23


Re: Jonzo Series... What happened?

Ah! the pleasures of new finds. Treasures to be savoured. 

I remember the feeling. But as you fill in the gaps the new finds get fewer and fewer until eventually they almost cease and come along so infrequently that you wonder if they really have ceased.

Then, out of the blue another turns up. 

 

 

10/5/2020 8:16 pm  #24


Re: Jonzo Series... What happened?

Yep, and right now I am still waiting for Volume 33 which should come in by Wednesday. This time a seller in the U.S. had 3 volumes with each for 20 dollars, I found better deals for some earlier volumes from the U.K., but I didn't want to wait 3 weeks for a copy again, at least right now. On the bright side I will be getting 2 volumes in this week though.


Every time it rains, it rains pennies from heaven.
 

11/5/2020 9:13 am  #25


Re: Jonzo Series... What happened?

Some great tracks on Vol. 16, AND you get to hear the infamous argument with Jack Kapp..!

 

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