A Reissue Producer Pimps His Work

[wolff]

Yes, that was my second thought. He is promoting the product, which is great.

[Christiern]

Yes, that was my second thought.  He is promoting the product,  which is great.

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If, arguably, misguided.

[robviti]

If you want to shoot down Dexter and Brookmeyer reissues from Columbia and all fall into line like lovely lemmings praising the 36th remastering of Kind Of Blue, then you'll keep on getting more remasterings of the warhorses and stuff like the Brookmeyer will get cancelled.

i don't follow your logic, as i don't necessarily see this as an either-or situation. perhaps it is the profits from popular reissues, along with those awful compilations, that ultimately can help finance the release of less popular titles. i can't see how poor-selling titles like the wilkerson and braith bns help further promote a label's reissue program, although i'm all for releasing them.

Edited July 11, 2005 by jazzshrink

[Michael Fitzgerald]

The "strong support the weak" was how labels used to be run in the past. That was when musicians were involved in A&R and there was some consideration for art (not just commerce) and when it was important to have a good classical program because it gave "status". How quaint.

Nowadays, the CPAs and MBAs and PITAs want EVERYTHING to sell. They look at the fiscal quarter. They're not interested in waiting to develop long-term talent. They want their money NOW.

Mike

[Christiern]

Right, again, Mike.

There was a time when Columbia issued esoteric releases (especially under Lieberson); no one thought for a minute that they would sell enough copies to absorb the cost, but it didn't matter, because such sets lent prestige to the label, just as classical music did. BTW it was suggested to Columbia that they sign Duke Ellington to a contract that would allow him to record his extended works whenever he felt a need to, or simply to give him a guaranteed outlet. It would be a retainer of sorts, designed to encourage/subsidize a major composer and preserve important music for prestige rather than profit. Columbia's policy of recording dead composers for prestige was cited as an inspiration. The suggestion was turned down.

I recall several Columbia sets, like Eleanor Roosevelt's reminiscences on "My Husband and I"; an elaborate boxed release focused on the Wild West, with a great booklet; and there was one that featured readings of the Bill of Rights by James Earl Jones, Orson Wells, and others. These were prestige items.

Now it's all "product" and the people who call the shots see only the bottom line.

[sheldonm]

I'm sure mrjazzman will order a cool dozen or two.

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[jazzbo]

[bertrand]

I was not a witness to the Brookmeyer fracas, but I know that I wil NEVER buy a record by Danny D'Imperio

Bertrand.

[Christiern]

Your loss, IMO.

[Aggie87]

I have never heard any of Deep's music, but I do recall how rudely he treated Bertrand.

[jazzbo]

I agree . . . though the best stuff of Danny's I find was not commercially relesaed! (That's just my subjective opinion.)

[Jim Alfredson]

Why not pass on both and try something new fer crying out loud.  Jazz didn't end in the sixties, you know...

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Bingo! For instance, there's this great new CD by a certain organ trio coming out on August 8th...

[sheldonm]

Why not pass on both and try something new fer crying out loud.  Jazz didn't end in the sixties, you know...

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Bingo! For instance, there's this great new CD by a certain organ trio coming out on August 8th...

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Hopefully they are as good as Organissimo!

[bertrand]

Forget me! It's the shit he said about Butch Warren.

Bertrand.

[Son-of-a-Weizen]

Oh come on! Look at all the bad stuff Chris has said about me....and I still bought his book with the

'Weizen You %$#@ !!'

-- Love Chris.

inscription.

[Christiern]

You forgot to mention the white powder on page 287!

%$#@ Jesus Powder, I calls it.

BTW, did you ever read the damn thing?

[sheldonm]

BTW, did you ever read the damn thing?

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[Christiern]

Thanks, Mark.

Just one thing, there is no companion CD, the one containing excerpts from my Ruby interviews was just something I burned for you.

Chris

[jazzbo]

I was going to ask about that. . . what companion cd?

I've got the original edition of the book. . . I have the Ruby interviews in the final volume of the Columbia Bessies. . . . Man what a talent that woman was!

[Christiern]

Lon, that's the same disc. I do have quite a bit more of Ruby on tape--she was a remarkable person, but I guess you can hear that!

Sorry to hear that you only have the original version of my book--it is a source of embarrassment to me.

[jazzbo]

Well, I didn't realize THAT. I'll update at some point when my "to read" pile of books is less than four feet high! (Literally!)

[Son-of-a-Weizen]

You forgot to mention the white powder on page 287!

%$#@ Jesus Powder, I calls it.

BTW, did you ever read the damn thing? 

Yes, and listened to the interview in the car while idling away outside my kids school. Think I even saved that oversize address label/bookplate of Lil in Chicago. That's where the powder was.

[paul secor]

Brookmeyer himself, apparently (see the opening note...).

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AND some of us who bought the damn thing 40 years ago.

Better they reissue Red Allen.

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I bought Red Allen's Columbia release 40 years ago - still have it - but it would be a good thing if Columbia would reissue it so others could hear it. Perhaps if the Brookmeyer sells enough, Bob Belden can work on getting that reissued - hard to imagine it selling 800 copies, but stranger things have probably happened.

[sheldonm]

Thanks, Mark.

Just one thing, there is no companion CD, the one containing excerpts from my Ruby interviews was just something I burned for you.

Chris

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Sorry about the confusion ....I didn't really mean companion as much as a cd that gave a lot of insight to Bessie and your book.

Mark

[BruceH]

Yeah!

Let's show them what assholes they are by putting more money in their pockets!

Seriously, I'm game. I dig Brookmeyer and I'd buy this to prove that "the suits" are wrong about jazz.

After all the money they've made on their jazz catalog over the years. it's scary that they STILL think this way. What other recordings from the 1920s still contribute to the corporate coffers the way Armstrong's do? It's guaranteed that the big sellers of those days are dead in the water today. But record companies think horizontally, and jazz sells vertically.

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The only way to change "the suits" minds about jazz is to smack them over the head with a tire iron and dump the bodies in a ditch.

(Warning: won't do much for jazz.)