RIPMJAZZ
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78 Quarterly

78 Quarterly was more accurately an irregular annual publication devoted to early blues and jazz recordings. With often book-length issues appearing in 1967 and 1968, 1988 through 1995, 2000 and 2002, the first two issues were published in Brooklyn, thereafter in Key West. The organizing spirit behind the journal was the publisher and editor Pete Whelan who contributed a playful and humorous character to the journal, often expressing himself through supposed letters to the editor and humorous graphics. (As one stated in issue 2, “Dear Sirs, As a practicing psychiatrist I find your magazine fascinating and extremely bizarre.”)  However, alongside the amusements can be found significant research articles on early recordings, music, and musicians from ca. 1880 to 1930, representing one of the most significant sources for recording research.

Since the demise of The Record Changer in 1957, Whelan and his collaborators saw the need for a venue for collectors of early recordings. While auction and sale lists – a central feature of The Record Changer – can be found in 78 Quarterly, the emphasis was on articles. Regular topics include record labels (e.g. Gennett, Champion, Black Patti, Okeh, Superior, Paramount, etc.), blues and jazz musicians, and the development of the recording industry at the turn of the twentieth century. Stephen Calt’s series of articles on the development of “race records”, Tom Tsotsi’s articles on Gennett’s champion blues recordings, Doug Seroff and Lynn Abbott’s compilation of turn of the century clippings from the Black press, and Gayle Dean Wardlow’s research on talent scouts and early recording agents all stand out. Other contributions can be found by Duncan Schiedt, Bernard Klatzko, Jacques Roche in the first two years, then Richard (Dick) Spottswood, Don Kent, Rainer E. Lotz, Rolf von Arx, Alex van der Tuuk, and others beginning in the 1980s. A regular column, “78 Presents the Rarest 78s” provides a list of recordings thought to be especially important and valuable.

"When 78 Quarterly first appeared in 1967, it was the most sumptuously prepared periodical on blues and jazz 78 rpm records of its time, with feature articles about records and recorded artists, illustrated with rare photographs and record labels. There are few if any serial publications quite like this."

Gayle Wardlow, Chasin' that Devil Music: Searching for the Blues (1998)

Discography Traditional Jazz Record Collecting Rock ‘n’ Roll