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32.
JAMZ #1-5 (Flushing and Jackson Heights, NY: 1971-1972) - all published.
4to. Stapled wrps., pagination varies (20pp.-90pp.).
A complete run of this prototypical music fanzine, founded by Alan Betrock while he was still an undergraduate at Queens College, City University of New York.
i) #1 (nd. [May 1971]). Offset. 20pp. Cover design and drawing by Barbara Winkler. Cartoons by Jerry Kristal. Includes features on Syd Barrett (“pink freud?”); the Pretty Things and Twink; the Flamin’ Groovies (by Leon Lebowitz); record collecting and New York’s record stores; Roger Corman; Jeremy Spencer (with cover photo by Frank Kornelussen); record reviews and news; and “Which Way Rock?”, Alan Betrock’s views on the current state of rock. Two old horizontal creases (from mailing folds), o/w Very Good;
ii) #2 (October 1971). Offset. 20pp. Lettering and drawings by Jerry Kristal. Contents include an editorial in which Betrock explains his intentions for JAMZ, and expands on his comments on rock from the first issue, as well as other features on The Move (with discography); Denny Laine; Jackie Lomax; Spooky Tooth; The Herd; the Ann Arbor scene; and fan club news, including from the Kinks and Velvet Underground appreciation societies;
iii) #3 (February 1972). Mimeographed on different colour paper stock. 34p., with fold-out insert. Cover drawing by Jimmy Spina. The third issue, “bigger and better”, “highlighting the phenomena of punk rock” and increasing “our use of outside writers” offering “some of the best commentary on rock available today.” Among them were Greg Shaw (on Terry Knight and the Pack), Mike Saunders (on the Shadows of Knight), and Wayne Robins (on the Vagrants). Also prints features on Mick Farren and the Pink Fairies, T. Rex, record labels, new releases, and fan club news (including from the International David Bowie Society). Very Good;
iv) #4 (May 1972). Mimeographed on different colour paper stock. 54pp. Cover drawing by Jerry Kristal. “With this issue, we’re catching up with a lot of English items like articles and discographies on the Zombies, Idle Race, Fleetwood Mac and others. We have a nice Yardbirds discography, and a listing of the English Harvest labels’ single releases.” Other articles feature Pete Brown, Andy Bown, Kevin Ayers, and Jim Morrison (by Richard Meltzer, 4pp.), along with record reviews and news. Very Good;
v) #5 (c. Fall 1972). Mimeographed on different colour paper stock. 90pp. Cover drawing by Jay Kinney. The final appearance of JAMZ, a double issue in which Alan Betrock writes that he’s “thinking about a mag that will join together collectors of records, tapes, & memorabilia in a buying-selling-swapping-type publication” (his next magazine, The Rock Marketplace, followed in May 1973, item #91). Contents include a brief history of the Marquee Club; Greg Shaw, Richard Meltzer, Mike Saunders and others on rare singles; Greg Shaw on the I.D. Band Books (Denver and San Francisco, both 1966); the New York Dolls (“Superstardom or Obscurity?”), with photographic “Impressions” of them at the Mercer Arts Center in May 1972 by Fredda Goldberg; a full-page reproduction of the Velvets’ ‘Balloon Farm’ flyer; a “Mensa Trivia Test”, including “Rock Writers and their favorite magazines”; illustrations of ads. for bands and extracts from teen magazines; more. Final page detached from staples and with a horizontal crease; small paper loss to upper right corner of front cover; o/w Very Good.
A rare set of this seminal fanzine.