Record Label Profiles

In the New Grove Dictionary of Jazz, a blue note is defined as: “A microtonally lowered third, seventh, or (less commonly) fifth degree of the diatonic scale, common in blues, jazz and related musics."

Moving beyond musical theory, the term is most commonly associated with the groundbreaking jazz label Blue Note, founded in 1939 by Alfred ...

Since its launch in 2010, the SmallsLIVE record label has been offering a substantial sampling of the outstanding jazz talent consistently featured at Smalls Jazz Club in New York City's Greenwich Village. Musicians who appear on the label range from the great veterans Harold Mabern and Jimmy Cobb to contemporary players at the top of their ...

Jeff Levenson has been at the helm of Half Note Records since 2002, just a few years after it got off the ground. Through a combination of his leadership and vision and the great artistry of the musicians represented in its catalog--including McCoy Tyner, Elvin Jones, Lee Konitz and many others--the label has clearly made its ...

Whilst Ireland has long produced music of world renown, this tiny, most Westerly European nation has never been quite so famous for producing cutting edge jazz. However, as European jazz has gradually let slip the American accent--an evolution that perhaps gathered its greatest momentum with the birth of the ECM label--so, too, in Ireland, a new ...

The Fresh Sound record label has released another superb batch of late 1950s and early 1960s recordings by jazz legends, greats, near-greats and now obscure artists who, then and now, deserve wider recognition. As detailed in previous pieces, Fresh Sound is the only organization out there issuing these essential works, which otherwise would remain lost. Without ...

If the importance and the contributions of jazz are measured by its recorded legacy, then Fresh Sound Records--and its founder, Jordi Pujol--must be duly recognized for rescuing a legacy that might otherwise be lost or nearly impossible to find, and for making it available to the public. Specifically, this legacy includes recorded works by saxophonist Charlie ...

It is always tempting to explain one story in the light of another, and in the case of guitarist and composer Dagobert Böhm's Ozella Music label, it is inevitable to be reminded of Windham Hill, the record company started by the guitarist William Ackerman in 1976. Like Windham Hill, Ozella started out as one-man project run ...

During the last decade, British jazz has been booming and London has become, once again, one of the jazz capitals of the world. To get a feel of what's happening, the place for live music is no longer Ronnie Scott's Jazz Club, but a place called The Vortex, directed by Oliver Weindling. Weindling is also the ...

Nowadays, creating a record label is closer to the norm than the exception. The real sign of success in a fleeting music business, where the sale of records constantly declines, is staying power. This year, 2012, the German record label ACT Music is able to celebrate its 20th anniversary. Not a mean feat for a company ...

The Merriam-Webster dictionary defines the avant-garde as: “an intelligentsia that develops new or experimental concepts especially in the arts." In jazz, the expression, at least to some, has negative connotations, describing music that is introverted, noisy, pretentious and/or difficult to understand. That negative image usually results from the fact that the music requires of the listener ...

Twenty seven years is a long time for a niche progressive music label such as Cuneiform Records not just to survive, but to remain inventive and, in the best sense, ambitious. Steve Feigenbaum founded Cuneiform back in 1984, and with his wife, Joyce, runs it from Silver Springs, Maryland. Hosting bands such as Universe Zero, digging ...

Music Matters has been reissuing classic Blue Note jazz records since 2007. It has dug deep into the catalog, remastering lesser known, infrequently heard titles, and done so with passionate attention to presenting the highest possible sound quality. Offering an analog solution in a digital age, this exceptional series is available on 45rpm vinyl records only. ...

On a moon of this past June, appropriately enough, Leonardo Pavkovic, owner of the progressive jazz label MoonJune Records, gave All About Jazz an interview at the label's office in Union Square, New York City. The name MoonJune Records, which Pavkovic started back in 2001, is taken from the title of a song, “Moon In June," ...

The online independent label re:konstruKt was founded in 2008 by Umut Çağlar, an Istanbul-based guitarist and leader of the konstruKt quartet. The label was formed few months after the band's first rehearsals. Its initial purpose was to document the evolution of the Istanbul experimental scene.

Çağlar's development as a musician is a good example of the ...