Don Was on Blue Note - Forbes interview

[JSngry]

Hey, this was free. Now it's not. Invest in the past!

https://www.amazon.com/One-Label-Under-Groove-Sampler/dp/B004HBAJUY

But you know what? This, that's what. I liked it then, I like it now. I wish Dianne Reeves's records all hit it like this.

 

[Scott Dolan]

37 minutes ago, Guy Berger said:

I didn't articulate well.  I meant to say that (at least prior to my post) the complaints in this thread were entirely about what was being reissued, nobody was complaining about the focus on reissues vs. new music.  "Jazz's corpse - should we burn or bury?"

Ah...

I actually was. But obviously in a cryptic manner.  

[felser]

On 3/29/2018 at 0:21 PM, JSngry said:

Hell, Pacific Jazz did a bunch of samplers, never mind the classic WB Loss Leaders series.

I still have the BN sampler from the 90s. I like samplers.

 

And Columbia did a few nice ones in the early 70's, but the WB's were awesome, especially with the associated advertising campaign.

Truth is, I'd be happy with a reissue of Larry Young's "Heaven on Earth" and willing to call it a day.  Seems like 75 would have been a more likely gala celabration point than 80.  I'm not opposed to complete boxes like the Columbia Hancock/Weather Report/RTF etc. if they do them nicely, and might spring for  them if the price was right (as they were with the Coumbia's - and their Woody Shaw added great value with the previously unreleased stuff).  Don't need a new set of single CD's of the usual titles regardless of the mastering/packaging.   I'm good with what I have in that regard.

[Mary6170]

This surprised me. I added the bold and underline.

Don Was: I actually got the job because of Gregory Porter. I had gone to see him when I was in New York producing a record in 2011. I had a night off and went to a club near Harlem called Smoke and saw Gregory Porter. The next day I was having breakfast with an old buddy of mine named Dan McCarroll, who I knew as a drummer years earlier. He became the president of Capitol Records, and when we were having breakfast I asked him if Blue Note was still part of Capitol. Then I said that if it was, he should sign Gregory Porter.

Unbeknownst to me, he told that they were considering shutting Blue Note down. With Bruce Lundvall retiring, no one quite knew how to push the aesthetic forward. There was some talk about making it a website that just sold catalog and Blue Note t-shirts. I think that anyone that walked in with an idea that day would’ve been offered the gig. [laughs] It was just chance that I brought this up, and he offered me the job over breakfast. It was irresistible, man.

 

Edited May 7, 2018 by Mary6170

[Gheorghe]

First I didn´t understand the title , thought it means "Don" (Cherry ?) was (part of the BN artists, of those who recorded for BN, as he sure did, which I love most).

Well, I must admit, I also have most of the classic material, I have periods when I need the BN groove and spin some of them, then months where I spin other stuff.

About who´s actually recording for the label, I don´t really know them. I still know a lot of hardcore jazzmusicians of the younger generation, who can play like hell, but if it´s not something I would understand as jazz (from bop to free to maybe a bit more funky), it´s very difficult for me to feel well while listening to music.

 

[Teasing the Korean]

On May 8, 2018 at 7:54 AM, Gheorghe said:

First I didn´t understand the title , thought it means "Don" (Cherry ?) was (part of the BN artists, of those who recorded for BN, as he sure did, which I love most).

Don Was:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Don_Was