This Year, Try the Mail, Not the Mall

If you’re not up to fighting the mobs at the malls to take care of the jazz buffs on your holiday shopping list, here’s good news: You don’t have to. There are several firms offering jazz specialty products by mail.

T-shirts and sweat shirts designed with classic jazz photos are always a favorite gift, and Gear Inc. in Atlanta carries such shirts exclusively. Among the 60 different shirts available is one with Miles Davis, photographed by L.A.-based photographer Jeff Sedlik. Bono of the rock group U2 and comedian Eddie Murphy each have one.

Gear’s stock list also includes shirts with images of Charlie Parker and Thelonious Monk photographed by William Gottlieb; Art Blakey and Eric Dolphy shot by Lee Tanner; and Dexter Gordon photographed by Herman Leonard. T-shirts go for $15.95, sweat shirts, $29.95; shipping is $4 maximum. The company offers a “jazz trio special,” said spokesman Bob Dorland: three T-shirts, $45, no shipping. Information: (800) 366-8337.

A more comprehensive array of items--from books and videos to calendars and CDs--is carried by the Jazz Store in Montclair, N.J. Among the firm’s selections: “Straight No Chaser,” the remarkable film covering Monk’s life and music, $19.95; “Satchmo,” Gary Gidden’s superb biography of the immortal Louis Armstrong, $15; and a 1993 wall calendar featuring photographs of Parker, Joe Williams, Chet Baker and others, all taken by acclaimed Los Angeles photographer William Claxton, $10.95. The Jazz Store charges $4.50 per order, shipping and handling. Information/catalog: (201) 509-8834.

As all of you well know, the LP is gone. But for those on your gift list who haven’t converted to CD, or don’t plan to, some mail-order-only companies still stock vinyl albums. One is Double-Time Jazz (P.O. Box 1244, New Albany, Ind. 47151, no phone), which offers more than 1,000 cut-out LPs by such artists as Cannonball Adderley, Tony Bennett, Milt Jackson and McCoy Tyner. Prices average $7.50 an album.

Then there’s Mosaic Records in Stamford, Conn., which releases its reissues of traditional and modern jazz on both CD and vinyl. These excellent packages, which almost always include previously unavailable material, are sometimes pricey--”The Complete Roulette ‘Live’ Recordings of Count Basie,” a 12-LP set, goes for $120. Others featuring Art Blakey, Woody Shaw and Thelonious Monk are less expensive. Information: (203) 327-7111.

Mann in the Mail: On a more mom-and-pop basis, renowned jazz flutist Herbie Mann’s latest CD, “Deep Pocket,” is available by mail. Mann, who has had several hit albums for Atlantic Records during his 40-year career, found himself in 1990 without a recording contract.

“Opportunities for older guys are really limited, and the offers I had were between slim and none,” he says, “so I decided to form my own company. This way I have complete control.”

Mann, who lives in Santa Fe, N.M., features longtime colleagues guitarist Cornell Dupree, saxman David “Fathead” Newman and vibist Roy Ayers on the funk-oriented “Deep Pockets.” The album includes such tunes as “Mercy, Mercy, Mercy” and “Knock on Wood.”

The flutist says he would have to sell 75,000 of the albums to break even if he were dealing with a major label, whereas he only has to sell 5,000 albums marketing it himself. Mann laughs when he tells a reporter he’s only sold 700 CDs. “But now the artist is not going to be dropped by the label if the record doesn’t sell,” he says.

Mann is also releasing three previous albums, among them “Opalescence” and “Jazil Brazz.” All sell for $16.95. Information: (800) 289-4853.