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Larry Jaffee

Larry Jaffee

Larry Jaffee is a freelance writer living in New York. His writing, much of which has been music-related, has appeared in The New York Times, Rolling Stone, Vibe, Record Collector, The Word, The Audiophile Voice, Billboard, Tower Records’ Pulse, Popular Music & Society, BMI Music World, The Wiz Beats, The Beat, Good Times, amNY, Mother Jones, Hollywood Reporter, High Times, and High Fidelity, among other publications. From 1998-2005, he was a contributing editor to the Bob Dylan fanzine On The Tracks, for which he interviewed the likes of Kris Kristofferson, Roger McGuinn. Loudon Wainwright III, Ian Hunter, Billy Bragg, Carolyn Hester, Jacques Levy, Kinky Friedman, D.A. Pennebaker, Nora Guthrie, among numerous other Dylan associates.

Jaffee edited a CD/DVD production trade magazine called Medialine from 1998-2005, and has continued to write about the packaged media industry for MediaPack, One to One, Digital2Disc and Package Design magazine. In 2003 Jaffee launched the Alex Awards for Packaging Excellence, which ran from 2003-2006, in honour of Alex Steinweiss, who created Columbia Records’ first album cover in 1940. He also wrote the liner notes to the surround/Monster Music release of George Benson/Al Jarreau’s Grammy-winning album Givin' It Up.

As a consultant, he has been on retainer to music attorney H. William Krasilovsky. For nearly 20 years, Jaffee has also edited and published the Walford Gazette, the world’s only quarterly newspaper dedicated to EastEnders (www.wgazette.com), with permission from the BBC. This entrepreneurial venture has resulted in two recently published books Walford State of Mind and Albert Square & Me: The Actors of EastEnders.

Larry is the cofounder of Making Vinyl. His book Record Store Day: The Most Improbable Comeback of the 21st Century is published in April 2022.

 

Making Vinyl

Larry's book 'Record Store Day'

63 articles

List of articles in the library

By date | By artist | Most recently added

Allen Toussaint: City Winery, New York

Live Review by Larry Jaffee, Huffington Post, 3 June 2014

It's A New Orleans Thing Rejoices Allen Toussaint ...

Gregg Allman: Low Country Blues

Review by Larry Jaffee, Audiophile Review, Fall 2011

BEFORE YOU EVEN HEAR a note, the coupling of Gregg Allman produced by T-Bone Burnett seems like a match made in heaven. ...

Courtney Barnett: Sometimes I Sit And Think, And Sometimes I Just Sit

Review by Larry Jaffee, Huffington Post, 12 April 2015

As much as I adore my Spotify subscription for music discovery, music creators cannot live off the pittance from the streaming model, which is why ...

Big Brother & The Holding Company: R. Crumb: So Last Century

Report and Interview by Larry Jaffee, The Word, 12 September 2008

The world of R. Crumb – where every record sleeve wishes it was still 1920. ...

Bob Dylan: Oh No! Not Another Bob Dylan Book: David Kinney's The Dylanologists

Book Review by Larry Jaffee, Huffington Post, May 2014

"Sometimes it seemed that every fan in Britain had launched a fanzine…" —David Kinney, The Dylanologists ...

Bob Marley & the Wailers: Early Wailers: Fussing & Fighting

Report by Larry Jaffee, Billboard, 18 June 1994

Marley Catalog Is A Source Of Strife, Suits ...

David Bowie: The Gender Politics of David Bowie

Essay by Larry Jaffee, Women Across Frontiers, 29 February 2016

DAVID BOWIE embodied the fictional character of Ziggy Stardust for only about 18 months circa 1972-1973. Yet it's usually an image of that garishly made ...

David Bowie, Holy Holy: Bowie's Week-Long N.Y. Wake Gets Holy Holy

Live Review by Larry Jaffee, Huffington Post, 18 January 2016

A WEEK REMOVED from the shocking news that David Bowie had died, Holy Holy's performance on 17 January in Huntington, Long Island, surely wasn't the ...

Billy Bragg (1990)

Interview by Larry Jaffee, Rock's Backpages audio, May 1990

The Bard of Barking talks about being politicised, the Miners' Strike, experiences of racism in the Army, his new album The Internationale... and rather a lot about Margaret Thatcher.

File format: mp3; file size: 30.1mb, interview length: 32' 54" sound quality: ****

Big Bill Broonzy: The Midnight Special – Live in Nottingham, 1957

Sleeve notes by Larry Jaffee, ORG Music, 2020

IF BLUES LEGEND Big Bill Broonzy (1893-1958) plied his trade in the 21st century, he'd probably be an Uber driver. A gig-economy practitioner in his ...

Bryan Ferry: Beacon Theatre, New York

Live Review by Larry Jaffee, Huffington Post, 6 October 2014

Bryan Ferry Tried But He Could Not Stay Away From NYC, Philly ...

J.J. Cale (1990)

Interview by Larry Jaffee, Rock's Backpages audio, 19 March 1990

Tulsa's finest talks about recording, songwriting, Leon Russell, Paul Simon and Spooner Oldham, Silvertone Records, 'After Midnight' and much more.

File format: mp3; file size: 52.5mb, interview length: 59' 03" sound quality: ***

Cheap Trick

Interview by Larry Jaffee, Monster Cable, 1 May 2006

ONE OF THE mid-1970s' (not to mention Homer Simpson's) most beloved "Power Pop" bands, Cheap Trick is still going strong, hitting dates this year on ...

Cockney Rebel, Steve Harley: Cockney Rebel's Steve Harley (1984)

Interview by Larry Jaffee, Rock's Backpages audio, 1984

The cockney rebel talks about his relative failure in America; his songs and songwriting; his new experience on the theatrical stage in musical drama Marlowe, and the similarities and differences between theatrical and rock performance.

File format: mp3; file size: 79.9mb, interview length: 1h 27' 13" sound quality: ***

Leonard Cohen: His Muses Were Many Women

Essay by Larry Jaffee, Record Collector, 3 December 2019

THE NEW DOCUMENTARY Leonard & Marianne: Words of Love, directed by Nick Broomfield, ostensibly is about the romance on the Greek island of Hydra in ...

Elvis Costello: Flogging A Dead Horse: Reissuing back catalog ad nauseam is no way to revive an ailing record industry

Report by Larry Jaffee, Mediaware, June 2007

YES, THE PRE-RECORDED music industry is mired in the throes of a tailspin from which it most likely will never recover. This, of course, is ...

August Darnell (2016)

Interview by Larry Jaffee, Rock's Backpages audio, 16 May 2016

The erstwhile Kid Creole talks about his new off-Broadway musical Cherchez La Femme: the cost, joys and difficulties of staging a production, and the part played in it by RBP contributor Vivien Goldman. He also talks about his escape from New York City; his days at Hofstra University; Kid Creole & the Coconuts' overseas success; his relationship with Seymour Stein; Prince writing 'The Sex of It' for him; his time on ZE Records; on Jamaica and Haiti, and about his wife Eva Tudor-Jones.

File format: mp3; file size: 52.7mb, interview length: 54' 52" sound quality: ***

August Darnell, Dr. Buzzard's Original Savannah Band, Kid Creole & The Coconuts: August Darnell: Kid Creole's Alter-Ego Mounts a NY Musical

Report and Interview by Larry Jaffee, Huffington Post, 21 May 2016

THE BREAKOUT HIT from the first Dr. Buzzard's Original Savannah Band album in 1976 was 'Cherchez la Femme', a sublime dance hit that even appealed ...

Ray Davies: Supper Club, NYC

Live Review by Larry Jaffee, Record Collector, February 2006

RAY DAVIES, the leader of the Kinks, is back in circulation after an extended layoff, due to getting shot in New Orleans while trying to ...

Dion: Bronx in Blue (DMR)

Review by Larry Jaffee, The Audiophile Voice, April 2006

IN 2000, CAPITOL Records' imprint The Right Stuff released King of the New York Streets, which it deemed the "Ultimate Dion Collection", comprising 65 tracks ...

The Doors: Elektra: When Worlds Collide

Retrospective by Larry Jaffee, Record Collector News, February 2020

Former Manhattan home of Elektra Records faces demolition. The Doors' heyday coincided with label being at 1855 Broadway ...

Bob Dylan: Bobfest: Bringing It All Back To Dylan

Retrospective by Larry Jaffee, High Times, February 1993

He's a pop-culture icon who gave the 1960s counterculture an attitude, a look and a song, 'The Times They Are A-Changin'', that became the anthem ...

Bob Dylan: First Rock Bootlegger Comes Clean

Retrospective and Interview by Larry Jaffee, Goldmine, October 2018

UNDERWHELMED BY the mellow country rock of Nashville Skyline, two Bob Dylan fans in the summer of 1969 in southern California unwittingly gave birth to ...

Bob Dylan: Paul Williams on Bob Dylan (1993)

Interview by Larry Jaffee, Rock's Backpages audio, Fall 1993

The legendary Crawdaddy! founder talks about his Dylan books Bob Dylan: Performing Artist and What Happened?, and lots more Bobology besides.

File format: mp3; file size: 46.7mb, interview length: 50' 57" sound quality: * (phoner)

Bob Dylan, Ian Hunter, Mott The Hoople, Mick Ronson: An Interview with Ian Hunter

Interview by Larry Jaffee, On the Tracks, December 2003

LJ: IN YOUR BOOK Reflections of a Rock Star, it mentions your life-long ambition was to meet Dylan was set back again. You said you'd ...

Bob Dylan, Eric Von Schmidt: Eric Von Schmidt on Bob Dylan (1992)

Interview by Larry Jaffee, Rock's Backpages audio, 1992

The venerable folkie looks back to the Yale folk scene, and first meeting Dylan; discusses who actually wrote 'Baby Let Me Follow You Down' — the Rev. Gary Davis? Blind Boy Fuller? Von Schmidt? — and Dylan's magpie tendencies; he also recounts meeting Dylan in London in 1963 with Richard Fariña, and drinking gin and smoking pot.

File format: mp3; file size: 37.8mb, interview length: 39' 47" sound quality: ** (phoner)

Marianne Faithfull: City Winery, NYC

Live Review by Larry Jaffee, Rock's Backpages, 25 December 2011

MARIANNE FAITHFULL'S welcome return to the New York concert stage reminded one of that funky old aunt in everyone's family. You know, the one who ...

Bryan Ferry, Roxy Music: Bryan Ferry: Beacon Theatre, New York

Live Review by Larry Jaffee, Rock's Backpages, 9 October 2011

SITTING IN THE audience prior to Bryan Ferry's solo gig at the Beacon Theatre – his first show in New York since the 2003 Roxy ...

Fleetwood Mac: Jones Beach Theater, New York

Live Review by Larry Jaffee, Rock's Backpages, June 2013

THE LAST TIME I saw a Fleetwood Mac concert was in 1979 on the heels of the last album of theirs that really mattered to ...

Ellen Foley, Joe Hurley & the Gents, Garland Jeffreys, Willie Nile: Irish Rock's Rich Tapestry Celebrated in NY All-Star Revue

Report by Larry Jaffee, Rock's Backpages, 18 March 2016

NEW YORK City's Irish-American community extended Saint Patrick's Day by two days this past Saturday night for the 18th Annual All-Star Irish Rock Revue at ...

Robyn Hitchcock: He Often Dreams of Packaging

Report and Interview by Larry Jaffee, MediaPack, December 2009

LIKE MANY singer-songwriters, Robyn Hitchcock needs to supplement his boundless creativity with art forms in addition to music. Not surprisingly, when he's not releasing albums ...

Ian Hunter, Mott The Hoople: Ian Hunter

Interview by Larry Jaffee, Imagine, March 1979

"I LEARNED MORE in the last three years than I would in 20 with Mott The Hoople," said Ian Hunter recently while awaiting to join ...

Garland Jeffreys: Truth Serum (Luna Park)

Review by Larry Jaffee, The Audiophile Voice, September 2014

TALK ABOUT SECOND acts. After much success as an acclaimed recording artist and performer from the early 1970s through the early 1980s, Garland Jeffreys sort ...

John Kay, Steppenwolf: John Kay & Steppenwolf: Theatre at Westbury, NY

Live Review by Larry Jaffee, Rock's Backpages, 2 September 2012

IT'S NEARLY A certainty that globally two Steppenwolf songs will be played every day on terrestrial radio or Internet-based stations or music sharing services. Yes, ...

Bob Marley & the Wailers, Peter Tosh, Bunny Wailer: The Wailers: Pirates Yes They Rob I

Report and Interview by Larry Jaffee, Vibe, March 1994

Three decades after cutting his first record, Bob Marley still ranks as one of the most exploited artists in the history of recorded music. Larry ...

Martin Kemp, Spandau Ballet: Martin Kemp: From Punk to Spandau Redux

Interview by Larry Jaffee, Huffington Post, 5 July 2015

Spandau bassist Martin Kemp, fondly remembered byfans as the dashing gangster Steve Owen last seen blown to bits in a car explosion before handing off ...

Marian McPartland, Kate Tempest: A Tale of Two British Women: Marian McPartland and Kate Tempest

Comment by Larry Jaffee, Women Across Frontiers, 25 August 2015

AMERICAN SINGER-SONGWRITER Aimee Mann once told me during an interview how male executives from major record labels always gave her problems when she wanted to ...

John Mellencamp: Life, Death, Love & Freedom

Review by Larry Jaffee, Audiophile Review, June 2009

JOHN MELLENCAMP is one of these artists who has always confounded me. ...

Nico: Chelsea Mädchen: The Funny Side of Nico

Review by Larry Jaffee, Rock's Backpages, 25 November 2011

NICO NEVER STRUCK me as funny. Some of her more morose material, such as her even more gothic take on the Doors' 'The End', or the ...

Prince: The Sexual Politics of Prince

Essay by Larry Jaffee, Women Across Frontiers, 15 June 2016

PRINCE'S UNEXPECTED passing on April 21, 2016, shook popular culture and resulted in the long-overdue recognition of his unique musical genius. Yet Prince enigmatically contradicted ...

The Ramones: Ramones Forever

Interview by Larry Jaffee, Shindig, March 2010

Note: The interview with Joey and Dee Dee Ramone took place in July 1985 at their favourite East Village dive. "The world knew in '76 ...

The Ramones: Joey Ramone (1985)

Interview by Larry Jaffee, Rock's Backpages audio, 1985

Da Brudda gives us his Desert Island Discs and raps about record labels, producers and the musically and politically sterile 1980s.

File format: mp3; file size: 52.2mb, interview length: 57' 02" sound quality: ***

Lou Reed (2003)

Interview by Larry Jaffee, Rock's Backpages audio, 25 February 2003

On The Raven, the ups and, mostly, downs of CDs, mp3s and (re)mastering and more.

File format: mp3; file size: 24.9mb, interview length: 27' 11" sound quality: ***

Lou Reed: The Artist on the Biz

Report and Interview by Larry Jaffee, Medialine, March 2003

AT THE 45th annual Grammy Awards ceremony last month, Lou Reed was introduced by his co-presenter of the Best Pop Song category as a "true ...

Gil Scott-Heron (1986)

Interview by Larry Jaffee, Rock's Backpages audio, August 1986

Scott-Heron talks about music and politics, Reron and B Movie, Sun City, Clive Davis and Arista/RCA, and ruminates on favourites old and new.

File format: mp3; file size: 18.1mb, interview length: 19' 42" sound quality: * (phoner)

Gil Scott-Heron: Life After Arista

Profile and Interview by Larry Jaffee, unpublished, August 1986

NOTE: This interview was intended for Tower Records' Pulse!, but was rejected for fear that Arista Records would pull its advertising. ...

Patti Smith: M Train

Book Review by Larry Jaffee, Women Across Frontiers, 17 November 2015

MY FIRST REVELATORY encounter with Patti Smith was listening on the radio in the fall of 1975 around the time of the release of her ...

Al Stewart: A Reticent Recording Artist

Profile and Interview by Larry Jaffee, Record Collector, February 2006

AL STEWART’S four-decade career recently was capsulated by a 5-CD boxed set Just Yesterday from EMI. His first four UK albums on CBS never were ...

Supertramp's Roger Hodgson: The Paramount, NYC

Live Review by Larry Jaffee, Huffington Post, 13 November 2014

Supertramp's Roger Hodgson Still Eating Breakfast in America ...

Richard and Linda Thompson, Richard Thompson, Teddy Thompson: The Family Business: Richard Thompson and Relatives

Retrospective and Interview by Larry Jaffee, Audiophile Review, April 2010

Sept. 2011 note: I spent 18 months working on this piece. Richard was the easiest to get hold of. When I shared this tidbit with ...

Tool: When A Special Package Becomes The Standard

Report by Larry Jaffee, Mediaware, Summer 2006

MUSIC INDUSTRY executives are usually quick to blame slacking CD sales on pilferage through illegal downloads. Rarely do major label types take any kind of ...

Sid Vicious on Trial

Report by Larry Jaffee, Imagine, January 1979

SID VICIOUS, bass player for the now-defunct, notorious punk rock band, the Sex Pistols, pleaded not guilty on November 21; at his arraignment to the ...

Tom Waits: Orphans: Brawlers, Bawlers and Bastards (Anti/Epitath)

Review by Larry Jaffee, The Audiophile Voice, 21 November 2006

SINCE JOINING indie label Anti/Epitaph, Tom Waits has released four albums, the Grammy-winning Mule Variations (1999), Real Gone (2004), and in between, simultaneously Alice and ...

Neil Young: Sugar Mountain - Live At Canterbury House

Review by Larry Jaffee, Audiophile Review, December 2009

NEIL YOUNG HAS BEEN such a music staple in our collective consciousness for so long that it’s nearly impossible to remember that he was once ...

Frank Zappa: We Need a Frank Zappa for the 21st Century

Comment by Larry Jaffee, Medialine, January 2004

A TRIBUTE TO Frank Zappa was one of the highlights of Surround 2003 at the conference's awards show Dec. 11 at the Beverly Hills Hilton, ...

List of genre pieces

Chris Blackwell's Second Act

Report and Interview by Larry Jaffee, Medialine, March 2000

Palm Pictures Embracing DVD, Web Delivery ...

Masterclass: Phil Ramone

Interview by Larry Jaffee, The Audiophile Voice, 2002

PHIL RAMONE is a legendary music producer who's been at the helm on recordings by a who's who of 20th century popular music, the likes ...

Phil Ramone (2003)

Interview by Larry Jaffee, Rock's Backpages audio, 2003

The legendary producer/engineer talks about the internet and file sharing, the thorny process of CD remastering of classic albums, and revisiting such classic albums as Paul Simon's Graceland and Bob Dylan's Blood on the Tracks.

File format: mp3; file size: 59.9mb, interview length: 1h 05' 28" sound quality: ***

Record Store Day Summer Camp

Report by Larry Jaffee, Long Live Vinyl, November 2017

Larry Jaffee attends the second annual 'Record Store Day Summer Camp' in America's 'Crescent City', the home of Dr. John, Allen Toussaint and Professor Longhair, ...

Robert Crumb: Shellac Addict

Interview by Larry Jaffee, Wax Poetics, November 2014

While he's known as a '60s counterculture icon for his raunchy yet brilliant comics, illustrator Robert Crumb's heart lies in the '20s and '30s. His ...

Tom Silverman: No Expense Spared

Interview by Larry Jaffee, MediaPack, May 2006

Tom Silverman, the pioneer rap music label owner of New York-based Tommy Boy Records, is unusual among his label head peers. He's willing to spend ...

What Goes Around, Comes Around (or) Vinyl's Back and It's Not a Fad

Report by Larry Jaffee, The Audiophile Voice, September 2016

The LP's Return Picks Up Traction ...

K-Tel's Place in the Music Industry: Where Have All the One-Hit Wonders Gone?

Retrospective by Larry Jaffee, Popular Music and Society, 1986

COMEDIAN ROBERT KLEIN has a story about how you can call up K-tel and order every record ever made. A forty-foot trailer will drive up ...

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