NICK PERLS

RECORD EXECUTIVE

From 1968 until his death, Nick Perls headed Yazoo Records, a New York-based label founded with the intention of returning great but neglected acoustic blues artists to public attention.

Nick Perls was born in 1943, the son of well-to-do art gallery owners. His Yazoo Records catalogue included about 70 titles, of which the best selling was a compilation by the Mississippi singer Charley Patton. Not content with merely re-pressing rare discs, Perls insisted on utilizing only top-condition copies from which to make new masters. He would pay any price to acquire rare 78 rpm records for repressing, and if a desired copy was not for sale, he would fly both the disc and its owner to New York to supervise its transfer to vinyl. An amateur guitarist, Perls favored that instrument above others, and in addition to albums featuring the famed blues musicians Memphis Minnie, Bo Carter, and Carl Martin, he assembled collections showcasing virtuoso blues guitar. Of these, Guitar Wizards 1926-1935 (1970) was the finest; the music it contains has been cited as an influence on the work of such modern acoustic guitarists as Ry Cooder, Stefan Grossman, and John Fahey.

A patron of art, Perls commissioned several album covers by the cartoonist-musician Robert Crumb. In 1980 Yazoo published Crumb's nostalgic Heroes of the Blues trading cards, followed by Early Jazz Greats (1982) and Pioneers of Country Music (1985).

When Nick Perls died of AIDS in 1987, his personal record collection and the Yazoo catalogue were acquired by Shanachie Records, which has re-released the titles on CD. The Robert Crumb trading card series is currently published by Eclipse Enterprises. Next Card 41: THE RAY FAMILY: Hemophiliac Children