Jazz Vocalists Connecting with Record Buyers

[Ed S]

Here's a link to an article in the Washington Post.

Jazz Vocalists Connecting with Record Buyers

Bruce Lundvall is quoted as is Ron Goldstein, who comments on "the instrumental disconnect"

Some interesting news about Al Green

Edited September 15, 2003 by Ed Swinnich

[Ed S]

I tried the link and you have to fill out some info that I'm not sure folks enjoy doing, so here's the article:

Jazz Vocalists Connecting with Record Buyers

Reuters

Saturday, September 13, 2003; 3:24 PM

By Dan Ouellette

NEW YORK (Billboard) - Jazz is most often associated with instrumentals, but today's charts tell a different story: Jazz vocalists are selling the most CDs.

Norah Jones' Blue Note debut "Come Away With Me" has topped the Billboard Contemporary Jazz list for more than a year. And Diana Krall's Verve recordings occupy lofty positions for months on end.

Meanwhile, such newcomers as Peter Cincotti (Concord Jazz) and Lizz Wright (Verve) are rubbing chart elbows with such veterans as Diane Schuur (Concord Jazz) and Tony Bennett With k.d. lang (RPM/Columbia).

"It's the human voice, the lyrics," says Bruce Lundvall, president/CEO of Blue Note Records.

"With vocalists, listeners have an easier time making the transition from pop music to jazz," says Lundvall, who has presided over Blue Note's big success with Jones. Her CD is approaching worldwide sales of 15 million, according to the label.

"Becoming a serious jazz fan -- to get into music by Charlie Parker or Joe Lovano -- requires ear training. You can't just jump into instrumental jazz from rock."

Under Lundvall, Blue Note has signed several vocalists who have risen to the top of the class, including Cassandra Wilson, Patricia Barber and Kurt Elling.

Lundvall also fostered the careers of Bobby McFerrin (who rejoined the fold recently), Holly Cole (who recorded five albums for boutique subsidiaries Manhattan and Metro Blue) and Rachelle Farrell (whose 1990 debut, "First Instrument," has sold more than 700,000 copies worldwide).

Among Lundvall's most recent signings are veteran vocalists Van Morrison and Al Green. Morrison's first Blue Note CD, the blues- and jazz-infused "What's Wrong With This Picture?," will be released Oct. 21. Green's label debut, "I Can't Stop," is due Nov. 18.

Has Jones floated the Blue Note boat in the past year? Lundvall says no. "Before the album was released, we were making a nice profit. But Norah gave us an extraordinary year. We've seen more black ink than red."

That's good news for such Blue Note instrumentalists as Lovano, Greg Osby, Pat Martino and Jason Moran.

"We don't have to worry about dropping people from the label," Lundvall says. "Blue Note is very serious about instrumental music. That's why we signed Terence Blanchard and Wynton Marsalis."

VERVE FOR VOCALS

Others share Blue Note's new emphasis on jazz vocals.

Ron Goldstein, president/CEO of the Verve Music Group, acknowledges that it is easier for vocalists to connect with audiences than instrumentalists.

Goldstein recalls making some controversial roster decisions in the aftermath of the 1998 GRP and Verve merger.

"I put in a big push for vocalists," he says. "It was very difficult, because Verve has always stood for instrumental jazz. But if business is slow, you've got to survive.

"So I've pared down our roster, keeping a nucleus of instrumental artists who are icons and whose sales are in the black," he says. "Herbie Hancock, Wayne Shorter, Roy Hargrove and Michael Brecker not only sell well in the U.S. but also overseas."

In general, Goldstein says, instrumental jazz sales are disappointing -- and unprofitable. "A strong-selling jazz album means only 30,000 units. But in recent years, even people like Wynton Marsalis and Joshua Redman have seen their sales figures slide."

Goldstein believes there's a fundamental reason why vocalists have been so strong in the jazz marketplace.

INSTRUMENTAL DISCONNECT

"I've been saying this for four years, and I've been criticized for it, but I feel there's a disconnect between artists who play instrumental jazz and the mass audience. The music is too intellectual, too heady. The playing is so far removed from what most audiences can comprehend.

"But if a singer renders an old Gershwin tune, people respond immediately," he adds. "That's why standards albums are selling. There's a demand for them."

Goldstein figures that labels are finally waking up to that marketplace reality. "A lot of these listeners grew up with Van Morrison, Steely Dan, Paul Simon, James Taylor. It's a natural progression for them to listen to vocal jazz."

Krall has been Verve's key retail draw in the past several years. Newcomer Wright, whose debut, "Salt," came out earlier this year, has been a strong seller as well.

In all, she has sold more than 51,000 units, according to Nielsen SoundScan.

Wright also has attracted the attention of Spike Lee, who has been so captivated by her album that he's signed on to shoot a video for her song "Open Your Eyes."

Italian-born, New York-based singer Chiara Civello is an upcoming Verve vocalist who is already creating a buzz. Her debut will be produced by Russ Titelman.

Linda Ronstadt and George Benson also have new albums tentatively scheduled for a first-quarter 2004 release.

VOCALISTS GALORE

In recent months, there have been plenty of releases featuring jazz vocalists, some with pop histories.

Earlier this year, Boz Scaggs threw his hat into the jazz ring by releasing "But Beautiful," an album of standards on his Gray Cat label.

The latest pop star to swing into the jazz zone is four-time Grammy Award-winning crooner Aaron Neville, whose debut jazz outing, "Nature Boy -- The Standards Album," produced by Paul Mounsey, was issued in August by Verve.

Some jazz fans worry that vocalist domination might not be such a good thing for the music in the long run. Will singers eclipse saxophonists in the marketplace?

Lundvall, who was honored Sept. 8 by the Nordoff-Robbins Foundation for his contributions to the music industry, has no such concern.

"I don't think it's that much different today than it was in the past," he says.

"Even though we don't have the sales figures, I would guess that in the '50s, Ella Fitzgerald, Sarah Vaughan and Dinah Washington outsold the instrumentalists of the day like Monk and Miles. That was certainly true in the '80s. After we signed Dianne Reeves in 1987, she became our best-selling artist. She's continued to be one of our biggest sellers."

Reuters/Billboard

[A Lark Ascending]

You can see their logic. Instrumental music - in the sense of improvising soloists - is very rare in pop music today (the mesmeric dance instrumental music seems to work to a very different drum (machine?) to jazz). Jazz is bound to sound rather abstract.

How different from the 60s/70s when the instumentalists - your Claptons, Hendrix's, Emersons, Garcias etc - were gods to listener's to 'rock.' Regardless of what you think of their actual skill compared with jazz improvisers it did mean that rock listeners often developed an ear for instrumental extemporisation. The leap to instrumental jazz was not such a distance.

It might also explain why you find so many younger posters on boards such as this who have come across from Metal, a music where instrumental prowess is still lionised.

Edited September 14, 2003 by Bev Stapleton

[JSngry]

Al Green on today's Blue Note?

Now THAT could be interesting!

[Ed S]

From what I read in another article, it's a secular record and reunites him with Willie Mitchell and some of the musicians from his 70s material.

[GA Russell]

Thanks Ed!

[JSngry]

From what I read in another article, it's a secular record and reunites him with Willie Mitchell and some of the musicians from his 70s material.

Now that could be VERY interesting, even if Al Jackson is no longer with us.

Teenie Hodges on Blue Note, maybe? Oh HELL yeah!