By Walter Price

Being a devout jazz fan today means being suckered by industry rats that seemingly produce new reissues every week. You know the ones - Master Edition, Elite Edition, 20 bit, Deluxe Edition, Connoisseur, Legacy, Masterpiece, Limited Edition, and the all-important sell your house to get this boxed set series.

As soon as I walk out the record store with A Love Supreme or Giant Steps, there is another version being stocked on the shelf with all those new selling points: "rare studio pictures"-John Coltrane with a tenor in his hand; "new liner notes"-extra paragraphs telling me why Coltrane's music was so good; "never before released alternate takes"-now I can hear Coltrane mess up or even say something rare on CD like "let's start over;" "from the orginal master tapes"- Man, I was sure that they were going to use my old Giant Steps album as the recording source; "limited edition"-like limited is a new concept to me or any other jazz fan-GO TO A RECORD STORE-ALL JAZZ MUSIC IS A LIMITED EDITION; "20 Bit Super Mapping"-oh this is going to cost me more ones and zeroes. "All this and much more for a low retail price of $15.99." Wow and I just paid $16.99 for an inferior two-week-old version of A Love Supreme!

Here's the caveat, being a jazz fan/sucker I lay down the plastic every two weeks for all those new and improved anesthetically good-looking CDs. Let me tell you it is not easy. Here is a typical conversation that takes place as soon as I get home from the record store. "Honey, my darling husband don't you have Nefertiti by Miles Davis already." "Yea, but that was a 1990 release." "You know you also have the cassette, album, and the CD imports from Europe and Japan, doesn't all those versions sound just as good, dear?" "Yea, kind of, but now I can really hear Tony Williams socking those cymbals!" "Wait a minute, didn't you just spend our vacation money on that new Miles 6-CD boxed set that included his 1965-68 quintet with Tony Williams?" "Yea, but it was all out of order, it wasn't sequenced to the original album release." "But it did contain all the music you have now on this new Nefertiti, right dear?" "Well look at this snazzy cover, Miles looks so cool, no more of that ugly red border, a cool CD jewel case, this will probably be the last of its kind-a true collector's item!" "Where are YOU sleeping tonight?!"

Being a jazz fan, I am always enticed by the promise of a better sound, which is usually the selling point for me. But as a broke full-time worker, I plead with you industry rats, STOP all the re-remastering, new boxed sets, more photos, gold and aluminum CDs, never before released material that's hidden in some type of "hidden" vault, and this teasing of limited editions! Man I could have saved all my money from the CDs I purchased in the past several years and bought Blue Note Records from Capitol myself and I wouldn't have to worry about that new 100 CD boxed set that's coming out! Don't they realize who I am? I am not a new jazz fan looking for a sampler or best of series! I am a jazz junkie!