You'll Hear It: Full Album Deep Dives with Jazz Musicians - Our 7 Favorite Jazz Labels - #139

Episode Date: June 20, 2018

In this episode, Peter and Adam discuss their favorite jazz record labels of the past and present. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

I'm Adam Manus. And I'm Peter Martin. And you're listening to the You'll Hear It Podcast. Daily Jazz Advice coming at you Monday through Friday. That's right. We are not doing weekends. We're taking the weekends off. This is a new development in the You'll Hear podcast.

How are you feeling about it? I'm feeling pretty good about it. You know, we have a bit of a dip in the listenership in the weekends. Not that we're checking that every 20 minutes. No, we don't really care about any of that stuff. But also, you know, we're on what episode like 150 something. So it's like, you know, it's time to rain it in as far as like the seven days a week. Right.

I've been missing you on the weekends, though. Yeah. Then Monday coming up. Yeah. Everybody says, oh, you guys must bundle this. No, Peter and I meet every morning at 7.30 a.m. Right. This is live, actually.

This is live. I mean, you guys might have listened to it live, but this is live. So what are we talking about today? So today we're going to talk about our seven favorite jazz labels. Ooh, I like it. Yeah. So, you know, I was looking up some, some Freddie Hubbard. I was actually doing research for a future you'll hear at episode.

And I was looking up some Freddie Hubbard records, and you were like, oh, is that from the CTI era? And I was like, what the hell is CTI? And then I go to the CTI Wikipedia page, and I'm like, I know all these records. How have I not like ever put this together that this is the label? And so we thought we'd do one of our seven favorite jazz record labels. You're going to have to stay tuned to see if CTI made the cut.

Well, and I can answer your question, how did you not know it? Because you're young in, and you came up in the Spotify, Apple Music Days, apparently where you'll actually see the record labels. I'm not that. But I did come into the CD days. Yeah. And from my research, CTI was way finished by the time I was around. Yeah, and it might have, it's possible it even got like Sony or Columbia or something like. CBS. CBS, right. Yeah, yeah. Right. Okay. Well, let's start out. Yeah, I like your idea. We'll see if it makes it.

Yeah, you got the first one. Okay. First, I'm going to go with a controversial choice, an obscure choice. An obscure choice. Blue note records. Blue note records. I mean, when you think of jazz, you've, probably think of blue note at some point. I think so. I mean, I think even if you grab someone on the street that hates jazz, doesn't know what jazz is, is upset by jazz, is confused by jazz, or it's just mystified, they're still

going to make an association with Blue Note, you know? But what's interesting is a lot of people, if you say something about Blue Note records or jazz, and like, oh, that's so cool, like the Blue Note Jazz Club in New York. And I'm like, no, actually, it's got nothing to do with each other. In fact, there was a lawsuit between them. I think when the Blue Note Club opened up

Was it really? There was like a thing? I believe so. Oh, man. Because everyone thinks, oh, the Blue Note Club is so historic. There was, of course, a Blue Note. There was many Blue Notes around the country,

but there was the famous one in New York. I believe that was either Midtown or Uptown. But the current Blue Note on West Third or West Fourth, whatever that is in the village. Now, here we are talking about clubs instead of the record label. But the current location was like opened in the early 80s. It's not that historic. But anyway, Blue Note Records.

I think Blue Note Records, set this, you know, Alfred Lyon, German immigrant that founded it in, I want to say the 30s. Is that possible? If not 30s, in the 40s. No, that actually is possible. Yeah. So, I mean, just has documented so many

wonderful and important artists over the years. I mean, up until now, you know, there was a short period where it was sort of on hiatus, I guess, and there was some corporate restructuring. But there was always the catalog. There's always been the new artists.

and they're still doing their thing. Don was is the artistic director or the, whatever you call it, the head of the label, I guess. Yeah, they're still making good music over there. They're making great stuff. And they're still having some hits occasionally. It's having some hits. And I mean, they, you know, that's actually always been part of their thing. They've always snuck some pretty big pop hits in almost every era, which has been cool.

You know, there's kind of the boogaloo stuff in the 60s. That's one of my favorite blue-nob era is, all that stuff. The groove stuff, man. The groove stuff is great. And then, I mean, of course, the artwork. I mean, you can't say enough about the design, the photography, and how, you know, link that is with the label and the music. Just groundbreaking, iconic albums.

And I love it, Bluno Records. That's awesome. Yeah. So my first pick here, and I'm going with somewhat of a local pick, but I think, and a sentimental pick, definitely for both of us, but that's Max Jazz Records. This is a label that was founded here. here in St. Louis by Richard McDonald in the late 90s. And in a brief, very brief time, he sort of started making some of the best jazz records of the early 2000s.

When you agree, I mean, he signed a bunch of really great pianists and singers and jazz musicians of all stripes. You made a couple of records with him. Is that right? I got to record a couple of jazz records. There was, Keiser was on there. Mulgrew Miller. can't get better than that. Eric Reed. Eric Reed.

And then Renee Marie had some great recordings. Renee Marie, Bruce Barth. I mean, just a ton of talented people. What was so great about being on that label and making records was that there was a real passion for jazz. That's all they did. There was no other like, they weren't trying to make super hits. They weren't trying to reinvent the wheel. They just love jazz.

They love jazz musicians. Richard McDonald's. Richard McDonald unfortunately passed away a couple of years ago, which has just left a huge hole, I think, here in the St. Louis jazz community.

But his legacy lives on in those recordings. Absolutely. And I mean, I think, you know, I knew Richard for many years. I actually knew Richard since I was a child. He claims to have heard me play piano when I was in elementary school,

which is actually was, I shouldn't say, claimed he did. I don't remember it, but I went to school with one of his sons. and elementary school but he had always talked about starting a record label and he was such a jazz lover and when he actually did it

he had such a great vision for it certainly inspired by Blune Odin some of the other labels we're going to talk about but he didn't copy anything like he created his own look his own sound everything he took great ideas like he took from Blune and I would say their love of photography and design but he didn't try to imitate

theirs he came up with his own I was just going to say he created a look for Max Jazz you know Jimmy Kassie who's a genius photographer and is a jazz photographer, I would say, forced and foremost in New York. I mean, really created a great look, those black and white covers that just look amazing. Yep. Great stuff. Great stuff.

Miss you, Richard. Okay, number three, I'm going to go with, I'm trying to think. We have some good choices here. We have to narrow it already. Well, I'm going to go with Criss Cross. Now, Chris Cross is a record label from, I believe it's the Netherlands, and I'm, I'm totally forgetting the gentleman's name who started. And he's such a great, funny guy.

And, you know, basically, Chris Cross Jazz has been like, oh, Gary, Gary Teakins. Yeah. Gary Teacons. And he was like, he's kind of like a crazy, I shouldn't say crazy. He's German or Dutch or something, you know, engineer. And he's a musician, I think a drummer and stuff. But he, like Richard McDonald and the heads of all these labels, the founders normally has such a love of the music and an understanding of the music that you really can just see by

the types of artists and recordings that he makes. So it doesn't matter if it's somebody that's super well-known or lesser-known. It's always, there's a reason that they're there on the label, and it's like, aha, that makes sense. Even if no one's heard of them, you know you want to hear them because they can play, and someone's going to be good on there. And so he's had a lot of, like, you know, musicians that are more known as sidemen and then featured them. Had a bunch of just great players.

I mean, Wycliffe Gordon, the trombonist, did a bunch of records. Kenny Garrett did some early stuff. I think the first time I heard, Orrin Evans was either on a crisscross record or his own record. Chris Potter has done, I mean, everybody, especially in New York. And then the great thing, the way they do, the crisscross recordings is it's always in one day and sometimes two in a day. But it's just you're moving fast. Like two from the same artist? this in the day? I believe so. I know I recorded two with two different on, I don't know if it was

two complete records, but we did a whole record and then it's part of another record in one day. I remember doing that. But, you know, just a great institution and people around the world, you know, you go to Japan and the whole catalog is available, Japanese versions. They love following that stuff. So, crisscross. That's awesome. My next choice is this is, I think, kind of considered a major label, not just a strict jazz label but this is Atlantic Records I mean they're still around they still have big name pop artists

but you know I think for most jazz fans you're gonna think of the great series of records by Mingus by Charles Mingus you're gonna think of the amazing series of records by Ornette Coleman by John Coltrane

Sonny Stitt the modern jazz quartet these are all the Atlantic recording artists in their prime and in the labels prime also you know Ray Charles there's that whole era of his Atlantic recordings that are some of his best stuff. Really, really an amazing label at an amazing time.

That's a timing thing, you know? Yeah, absolutely. Any label that puts out with back-to-back, giant steps, and then the genius of Ray Charles, they got something going on. Yeah, they got something going on. Great stuff. Okay, so that's four, right?

So now we're on number five of our seven, are we calling this our seven favorite jazz label? Yeah, you know, seven of our favorite. We're not going to lock ourselves. I like that. So I'm going to go with one of the biggest labels, one of the biggest catalogs probably after Bluna, and that's Columbia.

Yeah, that's pretty good. Columbia Jazz. You know, I was always a little bit confused because when I first came up listening to a lot of jazz as a teenager, it was kind of CBS Records, and then it was Sony owned it, and then it was kind of switching over to CDs and stuff. But Columbia was kind of the original thing.

And really, you know, you think about Miles Davis because he recorded for so long, I mean, of course, earlier he was Blue Note and then prestige and maybe something else. But then when he hit Columbia, that's when things, you know, really kind of got rolling, I think both for Columbia and for him. And he's, you know, so much linked with them for these great recordings. Well, Columbia had the power behind them to, like, fulfill Miles' vision of, you know, the full artistic experience, which was pretty good.

Yeah, and, yeah, exactly. And they, you know, some of the great stuff with Gil Evans and, you know, Porgy and Best, sketches of Spain. I mean, some of the most iconic records occurred there with miles, milestones around about midnight, great stuff. And then all the way up into the 70s, you know, like on the corner, which I love

that record. That's when I always think about I don't know why Columbia and stuff. That's a great record. But then also Billy Holiday recorded for Columbia, Charles Mingus, a number of great people, but Columbia. And then they really had a real song because they had their own studio. They're the famous church, the chapel studio where kind of blue and a bunch of recordings

were made with that, that great ambient open sound. New Jersey. Manhattan, actually. In Manhattan. Yeah. That's what I meant. Jersey would be Rudy Van Gelder's. Right. Sorry, that's Inglewood Cliss. That's a good one too. Yeah. So for number six, I'm going to go with ECM. Now, this is the label famously here on this podcast. I don't know a ton about.

I mean, I know some Keith Jarrett stuff and I know some Pat Metheny stuff from it. But other than that, man, I mean, there are some ECM nerds out there who will, like, argue about Paul Blay additions till they can't breathe anymore. And we better be careful because if we mess this one up, we're going to be hearing from every one of them. Oh, no, most of our listenership, I'm sure. Yeah. Well, and I, you know, I kind of came late to the, I mean, I'd heard the same thing, a few ECM records, and then I kind of hit, like, I guess sort of mid-late 90s.

Actually, Rodney Whitaker, great bassist, the great Rodney Whitaker from Detroit, Michigan, hit me to some great ECM records, and I got into a real phase of listening to it. And also kind of when I got into Keith Jared, even after that, listening, because, I mean, most of his great recordings. Many of his great recordings were on ECM. But they really, and some great classical recordings as well. I kind of got into that later, Keith Jarrett, Mozart, piano concertos. The sound of ECM records

is amazing. Yeah, I think for all these labels, that's the thing like ECM really has its sound, certainly with the live recordings that it did, you know, the famous ones with Keith Cole in concerts. But I think Manfred Eicher, who's the founder and also the co-founder was a guy named

I don't know if he was ever officially the co-founder, but he was there from the beginning. Tomas Stowson, who was a wonderful man from Vienna. Did you know? Not from Vienna, from Austria. I did. I knew him a little bit. When I first toured Europe with Betty Carter in 1991, when I was 20 years old.

Thomas Stousen was the booking agent for Betty Carter. And he was kind of the booking agent for like the top jazz artists around that time. He passed away. I want to say maybe mid or late 90s, but he was just a wonderful man. And he really took some time. I remember with me, just a sort of young punk kid playing with Betty, you know, when I kind of asked him about some different things and he told me about his involvement with ECM and talked about, you know, Disney Gillespie and all these great artists that he had been booking and working with.

And, you know, he really had an encyclopedic knowledge of the music, but also the sort of European touring scene, jazz touring scene. So it was kind of cool for me to catch the tail end of that whole sort of era. But, I mean, you know, Dave Holland, Keith Jarrett, Dave Leidman, Charlie Hayden, Chikari. I mean, so many great artists recorded on ECM and very prolific label, very important label, and still to this day, I mean, so much wonderful stuff happening there. That's awesome.

So, all right, we're at number seven. It looks like CTI has made the cut. And that's only because we're so into them, like literally right now. Yeah, we got to. But actually, as I was not having known much about CETI as I started researching stuff, I love a lot of CTI records Stanley Tarrantine Sugar You know

All of the great Freddie Hubbard Records from the 70s Yeah exactly red clay I'm so good A lot of really cool George Benson stuff A lot of really cool Stanley Turrentine

Milt Jackson Yeah Ron Carter I mean really really cool lineup And you know CTI'm just remembering too Because when I used to have a bunch of those LPs There was always

I think CTI kind of had its own sound not even so much for the studio I mean it was a very studio sound as opposed to ECM and Bluno and stuff but it was because you know like Don Sebeschi was very involved you know with Cree Taylor and from the beginning of the label of doing a lot of arrangements a lot of the string stuff

a lot of the studio stuff yeah yeah yeah so that was the kind of thing that was together and I remember Don Sebesky has a great arranging book I remember learning from that from the UCITY Public Library I had a copy of that it's a musician's label it's a musician's label absolutely It's dope.

But they had a lot of crossover appeal because of the kind of studio and a little bit pop-friendly sound of a bunch of those recordings. They got Bob James and George Benson. I mean, that's going to get, especially during the 70s, those will get you some pop hits, you know. Exactly. Yeah, that's cool. Well, we hope you enjoyed our list here of labels. Please let us know your favorite labels, who we miss. I know, I mean, we left off some really good labels too.

Oh, yeah. Some iconic labels for sure. But that's okay. You know, you'll hear it, as always. And, you know, if you want to leave us a rating and review, we're not going to be mad at. you. We're not, no, we ain't mad at you. No, if you want to leave us five, six, seven stars we've heard, you know, have been attempted. We, we, you know, aim high. Aim high.

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