When?

I'm working on something semi-big, but fun, that'll be posted on this blog sometime during next week. I won't say exactly what, but I can reveal this much: deciding whether to use recording dates or year of release to decide which year to file jazz records in is a bit of a bitch. Some writers go purely by recording date, which most jazz albums lists on the boklet or cover or dust jacket. Others use year of issue/release, but not all albums have that printed on the cover, especially if we're dealing with reissues. Allmusic often have both dates, but not always. A bit of searching around and you can find out, of course, but it's a bit of a pain and takes time.

One such problem cropped up with Dave Holland Quintet's Jumpin' In, which was recorded in '83 but released in '84. Now, since I go by year of release for pop/rock albums (as do most others) I'd prefer to do that for jazz too, but here the routines differ. Scaruffi has Jumpin' In on his '83 list, I'd have put it on my '84 list (few, if any bar the musicians and studio crew, heard the record in '83 I presume). One other such "problem" record is Henry Threadgill's Subject to Change (rec. '84, cover says released in '85).

Anywho, I'll deal with it somehow and add explanations when I post the thing. Watch this space.