Results for “Jazz”

1993

Harold Battiste’s productions ran the gamut from ‘I Got You Babe’ by Sonny and Cher to Dr John’s “Gris Gris” LP. It was the latter aspect of Battiste’s talents that he brought to the label we licensed his New Orleans-based AFO (All For One) Records. This was deep, deep Crescent City, with early and many previously unreleased sides from Mac Rebennack, Dr John, Prince La La, Nookie Boy and soul chanteuse Tammi Lynn. The series title, “Gumbo Stew”, was as apt as could be. We also issued a jazz piano album by Ellis Marsalis, father of Wynton. 

1987

1987 was the transformative year for the label as we started to take on the rest of the Fantasy catalogue: Stax and the Creedence Clearwater Revival albums; then, in 1988, Prestige, Riverside, Milestone and all the other jazz Fantasy had tucked away. Pablo was added in 1989 and this all culminated in all the jazz labels being housed under the OJC umbrella in 1992. More of this later, but it had a big impact on what we were doing and even in the new Harlesden premises we were rapidly running out of space so we bought two adjoining buildings to expand the warehouse.

We also started two new labels to accommodate very different styles of music.

Initially BGP stood for Baz [Fe Jazz], Gilles [Peterson] Productions. The label was aimed at a different dance floor from the one that the Northern soul of Kent records was being played on. Named Rare Groove back then, though it went through a number of name changes, including Wah Wah Jazz. The first BGP release was a Mongo Santamaria compilation, the ideal Latin/jazz mix for the times. Right through its life the vast majority of BGP releases were drawn from the Fantasy jazz labels..

BLUE HORIZON was producer Mike Vernon’s label. It started in 1965 with a Hubert Sumlin outing and eventually mixed US-licensed material with recordings by Fleetwood Mac, Chicken Shack, Duster Bennett as well as US bluesmen like Otis Span and Eddie Boyd.

The early recordings ended up in the maw of CBS Records but Mike retained the label name. So, together, we resurrected it and as expected he brought us impeccably produced recordings by Blues And Trouble and Louisiana’s Lazy Lester and over the next nine years a series of mainly local blues and R&B artists. Mike also features in the Ace story as producer and later member of Rocky Sharpe and the Replays. A real gent to do business with.

We gradually eased into the deal with Fantasy, initially taking in the Stax catalogue and then Creedence Clearwater Revival. Our contact was their overseas licensing person, the highly knowledgeable Bill Belmont. He brought the labels to us piecemeal. At the start we weren’t sure we could handle such huge catalogues, so easing into them was actually a blessing. 

2014

We continued exploring Bob Thiele’s fascinating Flying Dutchman label, putting out Gil Scott-Heron’s second and third albums on CD and vinyl. Those records were as important as Marvin Gaye’s and Curtis Mayfield’s in the new wave of black awareness and commentary emerged in the US in the early 70s. Duke Ellington and Louis Armstrong may not be the names that immediately spring to mind when talking about this surge of black politically inspired music but the albums they made for Flying Dutchman were, in their own way, part of this new movement. Ellington’s album was a live celebration of a century of inspirational black figures. Armstrong’s was a celebration of the jazz pioneer himself, including ‘Give Peace A Chance’ and a re-cut of ‘What A Wonderful World’ - which Thiele co-wrote.

Orrin Keepnews, one of the most influential and respected figures in jazz died at the age of 92 at his home in El Cerrito, California on 1 March.

Keepnews founded the Riverside jazz record label in 1953 with the help of Bill Grauer, an old college friend. As editor of The Record Changer, Orrin was already on first name terms with most of the leading figures in jazz at that time.

Gene Norman, jazz impresario, disc jockey and record label owner, passed away peacefully at his home in Hollywood, California on 2 November 2015.  He was 93.