Bruce Lundvall comments

[Chrome]

Lundvall to speak at Curb Center

By Ron Wynn, rwynn@nashvillecitypaper.com

September 30, 2004

Bruce Lundvall, president and CEO of EMI Jazz & Classics, said that the key to success for any record label in today's environment revolves around putting the music ahead of fiscal considerations.

Getting there

What: Curb Lecture with Bruce Lundvall and Bill Ivey

When: 4 p.m. today

Where: Wilson Hall, Room 103, Vanderbilt University

Cost: Open to the public

Info: 322-6397

"I learned many years ago at Columbia from the great Goddard Lieberson that you have a responsibility to the business and to the art form," Lundvall said. "If you get the music right, most of the time you get the commerce right."

Lundvall is in Nashville today discussing his career and the industry at Vanderbilt University as part of the second annual Curb Lecture. Bill Ivey, director of the Curb Center for Art, Enterprise and Public Policy, is leading the discussion with Lundvall. Ivey served as chairman of the National Endowment for the Arts from 1998-2001.

The Curb Center is funded by Vanderbilt University and a $2.5 million endowment from music industry executive Mike Curb and the Curb Family Foundation. The lecture series was started in 2003 to honor Mike Curb.

Lundvall was formerly a chairman of the Recording Industry Association of America and the Country Music Association. During his 21-year career at Columbia he presided over the company's domestic division and recently spearheaded the revival of the legendary Blue Note label. But Lundvall said that the company's signing of acclaimed vocalist Norah Jones was more the product of luck than design.

"I returned a phone call - which a lot of people in this business don't do," Lundvall laughed. "It wasn't even from somebody in the music end, it was an accountant. Her husband had a jazz band in New York and told her there was this great singer making appearances with them. He said she should go see Lundvall. Norah Jones came in with this demo that had the greatest version of 'Spring Can Really Hang You Up The Most' I've ever heard. I told her she was signed right there. She had 21 songs on there, everything from Ray Charles and Mose Allison to Billy Strayhorn, some country and some pop. A lot of those songs wound up on that first album. It wasn't until later that we found out she had been born in New York City but grew up in a small Texas town, that she had won two or three Down Beat student awards and that she was the daughter of Ravi Shankar."

Lundvall's signings at Blue Note have also included Anita Baker, Wynton Marsalis, and other marvelous jazz musicians.

"There are some artists that you sign because they are great musicians, and you know you won't sell as many records. You can't afford to have too many of those, but there are people like (pianist) Jason Moran and (saxophonist) Joe Lovano that are geniuses and they make your catalog for years down the line. Anita Baker hadn't recorded in 10 years, and she called and asked about making a jazz album for Blue Note. I told her why don't you make all your records for us? Wynton Marsalis said he loved the people at Columbia, but it was great to be on a label where the head actually liked jazz. We're a music label first, and we're always in the market for great artists."

While he's now immersed in jazz, classical and adult pop material, Lundvall also has a longtime love for country music.

"The first records I ever bought as a 10-year-old were country 78s," Lundvall said. "People like Roy Acuff, Gene Autry, Roy Rogers - I still love that music. When I was working closely with Nashville, Billy Sherrill wasn't comfortable romancing artists and doing that type of thing, so that's what I did. I signed Willie Nelson, Moe Bandy, Janie Frickie, and resigned Marty Robbins who had left the label, as well as Johnny Cash and later helped out with the singing of Rosanne Cash. Unfortunately, today I can't keep with country as much as I would like, but two people who I think have really bright futures are Keith Urban and Dierks Bentley. Both those guys are going to be superstars."

Edited September 30, 2004 by Chrome

[Matthew]

...Lundvall's signings at Blue Note have also included Anita Baker, Wynton Marsalis, and other marvelous jazz musicians.

Things that make you go hmmmmm.....