Nick Perls

J. Nicholas Perls (4 April 1942 – 22 July 1987^[1]) was an American audio engineer and the founder and owner of Yazoo Records and Blue Goose Records.^[2]

Early life

"Nick" Perls was one of a handful of serious east coast collectors of 78-rpm country blues recordings during the 1960s. As a young man, he made two trips through the deep south, knocking on doors and acquiring old blues records. He also was a frequent patron of antique shops throughout the New York area, always searching for rare blues sides.

Career

In 1968, Perls began re-recording the sides in his collection, using high tech equipment in his home, and issuing 33-rpm record albums. These releases generally contained 14 blues tunes each, and often included highly informative liner notes by fellow collector Steve Calt. This enterprise was Yazoo Records. (The catalogue was later acquired by Shanachie Records.) Perls operated Yazoo out of his home in New York City's West Village until just before his death, in the 1980s, from AIDS.

As a recording engineer, Perls' most renowned talent was his ability to ride a phonograph needle along the grooves of an old record much like a bobsled through an obstacle course, moving left, right, up or down to avoid as many scratches and gouges as possible. Yazoo releases were always derived directly from 78-rpm shellac originals. By collecting and re-releasing such forgotten blues recordings, Perls managed to preserve many classic blues performances (and later, those in related musical forms like ragtime) that otherwise might have been lost to the ages.

In 1970, Perls began Blue Goose Records as a side project, using that label to release music by a variety of live performers that Perls recorded himself, often right in his West Village living room. Perls was also himself a finger-pick guitarist but would only play the guitar socially, and strictly in imitation of one or another 1930s blues master. Stylistically, his playing ethos was summed up when he stated that the phrase "too choppy" is a contradiction in terms. His one foray as a recording artist can be heard as a duet on the song "My Game Blues", on the very first Blue Goose release, Fast & Funky by bluesman Larry Johnson.^[3] Also, Nick Perls is pictured (in blackface) on the cover of the Yazoo recording Mr. Charlie's Blues.^[4]

Perls operated his business mostly by himself, occasionally employing assistants. The two labels stayed small and rarely caught very much public attention beyond the hardcore blues devotees who clamored for each new release. One notable exception may have been Perls' three Blue Goose albums of R. Crumb & His Cheap Suit Serenaders. These were enormously entertaining recordings by cartoonist (and fellow collector) Robert Crumb and several of Crumb's California friends. Perls rarely broke even, financially, on any of his business endeavors. He would state that the "pop" bigtime did not appeal to him. He was doggedly independent and was already independently wealthy from his grandmother's art dealings at New York City's Perls Gallery.

References

External links

• Nick Perls appreciation page
• Illustrated Yazoo Records discography
• Illustrated Blue Goose Records discography
• 'Objects of Desire: Canon Formation and Blues Record Collecting' by John Dougan