#Michael Cuscuna

[fredseibertdotcom]

Michael Cuscuna, photograph by Jimmy Katz

Michael Cuscuna

Michael Cuscuna, one of my great inspirations and sometime collaborator, passed away this weekend (April 19, 2024) from cancer. Being a cancer survivor  last year myself, when someone I’ve known and worked with for over 50 years it hit particularly hard.

Blue Cuscuna: 1999 promotional sampler from Toshiba-EMI [Japan]

Michael has been the most consequential jazz record producer of the past half century, a man who had not only a passion, but the relentlessness necessary to will the entire history of the music into being. Don’t believe it? Check out the more than 2600 (!) of his credits on Discogs. Substantial and meaningful he might have been, but to me, he was a slightly older friend who was always there with a helping hand. Hopefully, I was able to hand something back on occasion. 

As I said when he answered “7 Questions” eight years ago: “I first encountered Michael as a college listener to his “freeform,” major station, radio show in New York, and was fanboy’d out when a mutual friend introduced us at [an] open rehearsal for [Carla Bley’s and Michael Mantler’s] Jazz Composer’s Orchestra at The Public Theater (MC has a photographic memory: “It was Roswell [Rudd]’s piece or Grachan [Moncur III]’s. You were darting nervously around the chairs with your uniform of the time – denim jean jacket, forgettable shirt and jeans.”) By 1972 or 73, he’d joined Atlantic Records as a producer, and since that was my career aspiration, I’d give him a call every once in awhile. He’d patiently always make time for my rambling and inane questions, and I never forgot his kindness to a drifting, unfocused, fellow traveler. 

“...patiently always make time for my rambling and inane questions...” says a lot about Michael. His raspy voice could sometimes seem brusque, but ask anyone and they will tell you that he always made time to talk. Especially about jazz. 

I desperately wanted to be a record producer and Michael was one of the first professionals I encountered. He had already produced my favorite Bonnie Raitt LP when somehow or other I bullied my way into his Atlantic Records office, where he was a mentee of the legendary Joel Dorn. Over the next few years, Michael was often amused at some of the creative decisions I made, but he was always supportive and even would sometimes ask me to make a gig when he couldn’t. When I spent a year living in LA, he invited me over to the studio while he was mining the history of Blue Note Records that would define his life for the next half century. I completely failed to understand what the great service to American culture he was about to unleash. Along with Blue Note executive Charlie Lourie, Michael’s research resulted in a series of double albums (”two-fers” in 70s speak), but little did the world know what was on Michael’s and Charlie’s minds.

The Cuscuna/Lourie Blue Note “Two-Fers” that ignited Mosaic Records

“I don’t think it’s generally understood just how imperiled the musical and visual archives of Blue Note Records were at one point, and just how heroically Michael stepped in to make sure this unparalleled American music survived for future generations. If you like jazz, you owe the man.” –Evan Haga 

(Joe Maita does a great interview about Michael's career here.) 

Fast forward a few years. The air went out of my record producing tires, I became the first creative director of MTV, I quit MTV and along with my partner Alan Goodman started the world’s first media “branding” agency. Leafing through DownBeat one day I saw an ad that started a new relationship with Michael that would last, on one level or another, for the rest of his life: the “mail order” jazz reissue label Mosaic Records. 

Charlie Lourie & Michael Cuscuna at Mt. Fuji Jazz Festival, Japan 1987. Photograph by Gary Vercelli / CapRadio Music

Long story short, in 1982 Michael returned my check for the first two Mosaic  releases with a note asking for some help. Initially, Mosaic wasn’t the sure fire, instant success Michael and Charlie had hoped for, did I have any ideas? I did, but no time to do anything other than make suggestions, we were busy trying to get our own shop off the ground. This cycle repeated itself for another couple of years when this time when Michael called he said Mosaic was on death’s door. Fred/Alan was in better shape, so Alan and I, on our summer vacation, came up with the first Mosaic “brochure,” convinced the guys we knew what we were doing (I’d read a few paragraphs in a direct mail book in a bookstore) and, with nothing to lose, Charlie and Michael took the plunge with us. Success! 42 years later, the former Fred/Alan and Frederator CFO at the helm, Alan and I always answer any call from Mosaic.

The first Mosaic Record box set 1983

There aren’t many people in the world like Michael Cuscuna. The world’s culture will miss him. I will miss him. Most of all, of course, his wife and children will miss him. 

#Michael Cuscuna #Mosaic Records #Alan Goodman #Blue Note Records #RIP #Carla Bley #Michael Mantler #Jazz Composer's Orchestra #producing Records #producingrecords #jazz #mentors

[aquietexplosion]

#michael cuscuna

[fredalan]

Michael Cuscuna by Jimmy Katz

Michael Cuscuna R.I.P. 1948-2024

Our fantastic friend, then client, Michael Cuscuna, record producer/historian extraordinaire and co-founder of Mosaic Records, passed away on April 19, 2024. Both of us –Alan and Fred– wrote remembrances that we’re reposting here.

.....

Michael Cuscuna by Thomas Staudter

I knew the voice of Michael Cuscuna before I ever met the man. Growing up in an area of New Jersey where we could pull in both New York and Philadelphia stations, I would listen to him DJ at WMMR out of Philly. He had a quintessential FM DJ voice — soft-spoken, intimate, gravelly, authoritative. He didn’t yammer on, but I remember he was clever and his sense of humor was dry as a bone. He played a mix of progressive rock and some things that clung to the precipice of musical genres.  

Years later our paths merged. I started seeing his name on the backs of albums I’d play on my college jazz radio show — now I was the DJ, and he had become a prolific producer, supervising dates for a diverse list of artists, including many dedicated to the avant garde. He also produced for Bonnie Raitt and other groundbreaking musicians. I am searching my memory in vain to recall how we became connected, but he was also creating a monthly promo disk sent to radio stations by Crawdaddy Magazine and I became his producer, using the free facilities of the college station to record and edit. He would collect the interview tapes from the magazine’s feature writers, I would edit them into a coherent radio show, then he would come in and record his host segments. Out of that association, I started writing reviews for Crawdaddy of new jazz releases. He was as wickedly funny in person as I remembered him on the radio. I was a little in awe of his extraordinary knowledge of music — an artist’s historical significance, how a musician’s style linked that person to the artists that came before and after, and why certain artists deserved more recognition than they had received by the public. He turned me onto a lot of music. I think we did the show for a couple of years.   

More time passed, and Michael came into my life again through my partner at our media advertising agency, Fred/Alan. By now, Michael had established himself as an important compiler of jazz reissues that went above and beyond what was typical at the time. Starting with Blue Note Records, but ultimately including the libraries of other labels, he’d go into the vaults and unearth the unreleased sides and alternate takes and place them alongside the more well-known songs. His two-fer series for Blue Note was particularly noteworthy. On the back of that success, he and a former Blue Note executive named Charlie Lourie created Mosaic Records. Their concept was to do numbered, limited editions in luxurious box sets aimed at the collector market. Initially vinyl only, they switched to CDs when that was the prevailing release format. The boxes were gorgeous, each with a booklet filled with photos, an essay by a prominent jazz historian, and absolutely accurate discographical information. They specialized in “complete” collections depending on the frame they decided was relevant. That frame might have been the three-day recording binge from 1957 by organist Jimmy Smith that resulted in enough material for three CDs, the unreleased complete recordings of Charlie Parker’s live solos recorded by Dean Benedetti, or the complete Capitol recordings of the Nat King Cole trio, a box that weighed-in at 18 CDs. They were sold only through the mail, direct to consumers. But they weren’t reaching the market and needed help. In an earlier era, my partner Fred Seibert had attached himself to Michael to learn as much as he could about producing records. Knowing the two of us, Michael asked if we could come up with a direct marketing campaign. In our typically arrogant belief that we knew how to do almost anything or could figure it out, we said yes. 

We began producing a catalog that was mailed out to jazz enthusiasts, slowing building a list of devoted listeners and buyers. My job was to write that catalog. We dissolved the advertising agency in 1992, and mailed catalogs gave way to internet promotion, but I continued writing the sales copy for each release, save one or two that I didn’t do for reasons lost to time. I just wrote one last month for an upcoming set featuring vibraphonist Bobby Hutcherson.  

I developed a format for my essays. I started with some thesis about why that artist deserved more recognition, or why the music from that era was crucially important — in other words, why you absolutely had to own that collection. I segued into a couple paragraphs of biography, followed by a few paragraphs where I singled-out important tracks or tried to convey in words the feeling, the sound, the artistry of the musician. I wrapped it up with more “don’t delay” language. In all those years, each and every time I approached a new assignment I had two thoughts crowding my mind — will Michael agree with my thesis? Will Michael take issue with the way I chose to describe the music? Each package gave me an opportunity to do a deep dive into the music, but I knew I didn’t have Michael’s personal connection to many of the artists, or his historian’s perspective on the music. And by the way, he was himself a damn good writer. It never stopped thrilling me when he’d send back an email merely correcting a calendar date, or the number of unreleased tracks, with a message that he thought it was otherwise perfect. More than anything I wanted to impress and satisfy Michael. I was alway so happy that I could.  

I think they had done four releases when we got involved in 1984. The company is closing in on 200 box sets. I can’t believe it’s been a 40-year association. 

We lost Charlie more than 20 years ago. This weekend, Michael passed after a long illness. I will miss his husky laugh, his personal stories about the musicians we both obsessed over, and the gratitude he expressed each time I turned in an assignment. 

To many, his name was a name on the back of an album jacket. To those of us who knew him, we know him as someone who single-handedly rescued the Blue Note archive and other treasures from oblivion, who introduced us to overlooked artists such as saxophonist Tina Brooks, and who demanded we take a second look at music that was significant and mind-blowing. As a colleague, as a client, but mostly as a music lover, I am forever in his debt. My sympathies to the family of this enormously important figure in music. RIP Michael Cuscuna. 

–Alan Goodman (repost from Facebook) 

..... 

Michael Cuscuna, photograph by Jimmy Katz

Michael Cuscuna

Michael Cuscuna, one of my great inspirations and sometime collaborator, passed away this weekend (April 19, 2024) from cancer. Being a cancer survivor  last year myself, when someone I’ve known and worked with for over 50 years it hit particularly hard.

Blue Cuscuna: 1999 promotional sampler from Toshiba-EMI [Japan]

Michael has been the most consequential jazz record producer of the past half century, a man who had not only a passion, but the relentlessness necessary to will the entire history of the music into being. Don’t believe it? Check out the more than 2600 (!) of his credits on Discogs. Substantial and meaningful he might have been, but to me, he was a slightly older friend who was always there with a helping hand. Hopefully, I was able to hand something back on occasion. 

As I said when he answered “7 Questions” eight years ago: “I first encountered Michael as a college listener to his “freeform,” major station, radio show in New York, and was fanboy’d out when a mutual friend introduced us at [an] open rehearsal for [Carla Bley’s and Michael Mantler’s] Jazz Composer’s Orchestra at The Public Theater (MC has a photographic memory: “It was Roswell [Rudd]’s piece or Grachan [Moncur III]’s. You were darting nervously around the chairs with your uniform of the time – denim jean jacket, forgettable shirt and jeans.”) By 1972 or 73, he’d joined Atlantic Records as a producer, and since that was my career aspiration, I’d give him a call every once in awhile. He’d patiently always make time for my rambling and inane questions, and I never forgot his kindness to a drifting, unfocused, fellow traveler. 

“...patiently always make time for my rambling and inane questions...” says a lot about Michael. His raspy voice could sometimes seem brusque, but ask anyone and they will tell you that he always made time to talk. Especially about jazz. 

I desperately wanted to be a record producer and Michael was one of the first professionals I encountered. He had already produced my favorite Bonnie Raitt LP when somehow or other I bullied my way into his Atlantic Records office, where he was a mentee of the legendary Joel Dorn. Over the next few years, Michael was often amused at some of the creative decisions I made, but he was always supportive and even would sometimes ask me to make a gig when he couldn’t. When I spent a year living in LA, he invited me over to the studio while he was mining the history of Blue Note Records that would define his life for the next half century. I completely failed to understand what the great service to American culture he was about to unleash. Along with Blue Note executive Charlie Lourie, Michael’s research resulted in a series of double albums (”two-fers” in 70s speak), but little did the world know what was on Michael’s and Charlie’s minds.

The Cuscuna/Lourie Blue Note “Two-Fers” that ignited Mosaic Records

“I don’t think it’s generally understood just how imperiled the musical and visual archives of Blue Note Records were at one point, and just how heroically Michael stepped in to make sure this unparalleled American music survived for future generations. If you like jazz, you owe the man.” –Evan Haga 

(Joe Maita does a great interview about Michael's career here.) 

Fast forward a few years. The air went out of my record producing tires, I became the first creative director of MTV, I quit MTV and along with my partner Alan Goodman started the world’s first media “branding” agency. Leafing through DownBeat one day I saw an ad that started a new relationship with Michael that would last, on one level or another, for the rest of his life: the “mail order” jazz reissue label Mosaic Records. 

Charlie Lourie & Michael Cuscuna at Mt. Fuji Jazz Festival, Japan 1987. Photograph by Gary Vercelli / CapRadio Music

Long story short, in 1982 Michael returned my check for the first two Mosaic  releases with a note asking for some help. Initially, Mosaic wasn’t the sure fire, instant success Michael and Charlie had hoped for, did I have any ideas? I did, but no time to do anything other than make suggestions, we were busy trying to get our own shop off the ground. This cycle repeated itself for another couple of years when this time when Michael called he said Mosaic was on death’s door. Fred/Alan was in better shape, so Alan and I, on our summer vacation, came up with the first Mosaic “brochure,” convinced the guys we knew what we were doing (I’d read a few paragraphs in a direct mail book in a bookstore) and, with nothing to lose, Charlie and Michael took the plunge with us. Success! 42 years later, the former Fred/Alan and Frederator CFO at the helm, Alan and I always answer any call from Mosaic.

The first Mosaic Record box set 1983

There aren’t many people in the world like Michael Cuscuna. The world’s culture will miss him. I will miss him. Most of all, of course, his wife and children will miss him. 

#Michael Cuscuna #Mosaic Records #RIP #Alan Goodman #Fred Seibert #Charlie Lourie

[therecordchanger62279]

Jazz record producer, and archivist Michael Cuscuna passed away this week at the age of 75. He worked on some of the best, and most important Jazz records in history. His story is a good one, and he tells it in this 2019 interview on the Vinyl Guide podcast. R.I.P.

#Michael Cuscuna #Jazz

[mosaicrecords]

Chick Corea, R.I.P.

On February 9, we lost Chick Corea to a rare form of cancer. Chick was an amazing artist who embraced the full spectrum of music. More than that, he was a smiling, warm spirit, a generous colleague and mentor and as good a friend as anyone could ever hope for. This Francis Wolff photo is from the Bobby Hutcherson Total Eclipse session on July 12, 1968.

-Michael Cuscuna

The following statement was posted on the Chick Corea Facebook page: It is with great sadness we announce that on February 9th, Chick Corea passed away at the age of 79, from a rare form of cancer which was only discovered very recently. Throughout his life and career, Chick relished in the freedom and the fun to be had in creating something new, and in playing the games that artists do. He was a beloved husband, father and grandfather, and a great mentor and friend to so many. Through his body of work and the decades he spent touring the world, he touched and inspired the lives of millions. Though he would be the first to say that his music said more than words ever could, he nevertheless had this message for all those he knew and loved, and for all those who loved him: “I want to thank all of those along my journey who have helped keep the music fires burning bright. It is my hope that those who have an inkling to play, write, perform or otherwise, do so. If not for yourself then for the rest of us. It’s not only that the world needs more artists, it’s also just a lot of fun. “And to my amazing musician friends who have been like family to me as long as I’ve known you: It has been a blessing and an honor learning from and playing with all of you. My mission has always been to bring the joy of creating anywhere I could, and to have done so with all the artists that I admire so dearly—this has been the richness of my life.” Chick’s family will of course appreciate their privacy during this difficult time of loss.

Follow: Mosaic Records Facebook Tumblr Twitter

#Chick Corea #piano #composers #Bobby Hutcherson #classic jazz #today's jazz #Michael Cuscuna

[mutant-distraction]

John Coltrane, Blue Train session, Hackensack, NJ, September 15, 1957. A cropped version of this Francis Wolff photograph became the cover for Blue Train, Coltrane’s only Blue Note album and his first recorded masterpiece. Pulling back to view the full image, Blue Note founder and producer Alfred Lion is seen behind Coltrane.

For years, many jazz fans, especially those that had once played saxophone, thought the Coltrane was moistening a reed in his mouth as saxophonists were wont to do before putting the reed on their mouthpiece. When we developed the full image, it became evident that John Coltrane at that moment in the Blue Train session was deep in thought and sucking on a lollipop!" - Michael Cuscuna

Michael Cuscuna (born Sep 20, 1949 in Stamford, Connecticut) is an American jazz record producer and writer. He is a leading discographer of Blue Note Records.

High quality 1469x1463

[dustedmagazine]

Art Blakey & the Jazz Messengers – Just Coolin’ (Blue Note)

As Blue Note owner and operator, Alfred Lion was famous for favoring an ambitious recording docket that often outpaced his humble label’s release schedule. The talent bench was so deep that dates quickly started to stack up and by the time Lion sold the venture to the larger Liberty imprint in 1965, a sizeable archive of shelved sessions numbered well into the dozens. Cue the adage of finite supply frequently acting as an amplifier of perceived worth. It’s a chief reason why finds like the previously unreleased Art Blakey session Just Coolin’ garner immediate cachet, ears unheard.  

In this case there’s also the presence of colorful pushback to any expectant claims of untapped greatness surrounding the six selections that originally made it to tape in engineer Rudy Van Gelder’s studio back in March of 1959. Producer Michael Cuscuna, who was granted the keys to the Blue Note vault in 1975, infamously referred to the music as “a funeral parlor where nothing caught fire.” He shared other choice epithets as well, and the disappointingly dismissive appraisal explains why the album never made the cut for the prolific revival campaign for the label that unfolded under his aegis.  

Now in commercial circulation thanks to the persistence of producer Zev Feldman, the album isn’t the abject disaster that Cuscuna made it out to be. Blakey was never much of a composer, preferring to defer to his sidemen in that department. Tenorist Hank Mobley, back in the Jazz Messenger ranks for a brief tenure, contributes three tunes to pianist Bobby Timmons one, with the standard “Close Your Eyes” and a fast blues, “Jimmerick,” rounding out the program. It’s standard hardbop fare for the quintet with accommodating heads-solos arrangements the order of the day amidst relaxed interplay.   

What pushes the music outside the otherwise quotidian is the judicious solo space allotted the players. Blakey parcels explosive improvisations fueled by his patented press rolls on several tracks and bassist Jymie Merritt even gets a rare spotlight the closing title piece. “Quick Trick” is the most harmonically challenging and brings out the playfully combative sides of Timmons and the horns. Blakey responds with another thunderous signature as sign-off and the horns amble amicably through a final summation of the theme statement.  

A month later, the same band would convene at the Manhattan jazz temple Birdland with Van Gelder once again manning a portable tape console. Selections from that date came out shortly thereafter on tandem Blue Note LPs, effectively initiating the earlier studio session’s sequestration and an exile that would end up extending sixty-years. While far from the aural equivalent of a Faberge Egg, it’s still a welcome opportunity to hear Blakey and crew in decent fettle.  

Derek Taylor  

#art blakey #just coolin' #blue note #jazz messengers #lee morgan #hank mobley #jazz #dusted magazine #albumreview #derek taylor

[blue-note-lp]

ModernJazzDaily: MosaicRecords: McCoy Tyner R.I.P. Our Michael Cuscuna remembers McCoy. https://t.co/7wChzrBMbC #jazz https://t.co/86uXbN7tOF http://twitter.com/BlueNoteVinyl/status/1236042672000901120 BlueNoteVinyl

ModernJazzDaily: MosaicRecords: McCoy Tyner R.I.P. Our Michael Cuscuna remembers McCoy. https://t.co/7wChzrBMbC #jazz https://t.co/86uXbN7tOF

— Blue Note Collector (@BlueNoteVinyl) March 6, 2020

from Twitter https://twitter.com/BlueNoteVinyl March 06, 2020 at 04:35PM via IFTTT

#jazz #vinyl #jazzvinyl

[modernjazzdaily]

MosaicRecords: RT fredseibert: American Routes Shortcuts: Michael Cuscuna | WWNO The story of ⁦MosaicRecords⁩ https://t.co/7n6bBibuHg

MosaicRecords: RT fredseibert: American Routes Shortcuts: Michael Cuscuna | WWNO The story of ⁦MosaicRecords⁩ https://t.co/7n6bBibuHg

— Modern Jazz Daily (@ModernJazzDaily) February 25, 2020

from Twitter https://twitter.com/ModernJazzDaily February 24, 2020 at 10:49PM via IFTTT

#jazz

[whileiamdying]

Miles Davis et John Coltrane, le printemps d’une révolutionMiles Davis et John Coltrane, le printemps d’une révolution

Un coffret rassemble cinq concerts de la formation des deux musiciens lors d’une tournée européenne, en mars et avril 1960.

Par  Sylvain Siclier   Publié le 29 mars 2018 à 09h01 - Mis à jour le 29 mars 2018 à 09h01

Une affiche de rêve pour tout amateur de jazz, le trio du pianiste Oscar Peterson, le quartette du saxophoniste Stan Getz et le quintette du trompettiste Miles Davis. Tel est, du 21 mars au 10 avril 1960, le triple plateau, une trentaine de minutes par formation, proposé par le ­producteur Norman Granz pour une tournée européenne. Laquelle donnera lieu à des publications de certains des concerts enregistrés par des radios. En particulier ceux de l’orchestre de Miles Davis.

Cinq d’entre eux viennent d’être réunis pour ce que les producteurs Steve Berkowitz, Michael Cuscuna et Richard Seidel présentent comme la première parution « légitime » de ces documents, et dont la prise de son a été améliorée. Ils constituent, dans un coffret de quatre CD, le sixième volume de la collection « The Bootleg ­Series », consacrée à Miles Davis.

Les évolutions les plus récentes de Coltrane sont encore peu connues lorsqu’il arrive en Europe

Avec le trompettiste, il y a le saxophoniste John Coltrane, le pianiste Wynton Kelly, le contrebassiste Paul Chambers et le batteur Jimmy Cobb. Tous figurent sur le récent album de Davis, Kind of Blue, sorti en août 1959 – avec Bill Evans au piano pour quatre des cinq compositions et Cannonball Adderley au saxophone, lui aussi pour quatre titres. Kelly, Chambers et Cobb ont aussi participé aux séances de Giant Steps, de Coltrane, publié en janvier 1960.

Les albums ne sortent pas alors au même moment aux Etats-Unis et en Europe, les concerts ne se retrouvent pas sur Internet quelques heures après avoir eu lieu. Les évolutions les plus récentes de Coltrane, même si son précédent album en leader, Soultrane, a donné des pistes, sont donc encore peu connues lorsqu’il arrive en Europe. C’est son premier séjour au sein du groupe de Miles Davis. Et ce sera leur dernière tournée ensemble. Lors des concerts, les interventions solistes de Coltrane, circulation autour d’une même note ou d’un groupe de notes, vibrato aux extrêmes du spectre sonore du saxophone, tranchent avec la manière plus classique de ses camarades. Miles Davis, suave, sensuel, délié, Wynton Kelly dans un superbe découpage swing.

Envols lyriques

Il est dit dans le livret que Coltrane aura suscité quelques réactions négatives. Surtout lors des deux concerts à l’Olympia, à Paris, le 21 mars. Au milieu des applaudissements, quelques siffletsà la fin des solos de Coltrane sur On Green Dolphin Street et Walkin’, plus marqués au cours de Bye Bye Blackbird. Son solo le plus avancé à Paris.

Le lendemain 22 mars, au Konserthuset de Stockholm, là aussi pour deux concerts, puis le 24 mars au Tivoli, à Copenhague, le public est plus réceptif à son art. Ces trois concerts débutent par So What, tiré de Kind of Blue, pour dire l’urgence musicale à venir. Thème esquissé, tempo plus rapide que sur l’album, Miles Davis qui entre tout de suite dans le jeu, en courtes phrases, avec des silences qui sont de la musique, avant de laisser à Coltrane toute latitude pour développer les envols lyriques, emportés, qui seront sa marque dans les années suivantes. Il est magistral durant All Blues à Stockholm, l’un des sommets de cette parution.

Miles Davis & John Coltrane, The Final Tour : The Bootleg Series vol. 6, 1 coffret de 4 CD Columbia Records-Legacy/Sony Music.

#miles davis #john coltrane #jazz #en français

[the1959project]

March 10, 1959

Wynton Kelly, 1957 (Michael Cuscuna)

Wynton Kelly recorded part of Kelly Blue on March 10, 1959 as a trio with his Miles Davis bandmates Paul Chambers and Jimmy Cobb.

#1959 #the1959project #wynton kelly #jazz

[diginsider]

Excellence in Design: The Look of Jazz

Excellence in Design: The Look of Jazz

You probably don’t know the name Reid Miles, but you probably know his work. He was the art director for an extensive series of significant Blue Note jazz albums. For those who care about jazz, and design, and typography, and photography, this is a lesson worthy of your time and attention.

You may know the name Francis…

View On WordPress

#Art Blakey #Blue Note #design #Francis Wolff #Herbie Hancock #jazz #Joe Henderson #Michael Cuscuna #record cover #Tony Williams

[diyeipetea]

365 razones para amar el jazz: un libro de fotografía. Jazz Katz In NY (Jimmy Katz & Michael Cuscuna) [326]

Un libro de fotografía de jazz. Jimmy Katz & Michael Cuscuna: Jazz Katz In NY (Jazzprezzo, 2007)

Seleccionado por Sergio Cabanillas

View On WordPress

#Jimmy Katz #Michael Cuscuna #Sergio Cabanillas

[mosaicrecords]

Jaco Pastorius: Introduction to a Jazz Legend

Martin Johnson’s essay on Jaco Pastorius took me back to 1974, when Paul Bley asked me to produce a series of albums with him on his newly created Improvising Artists Inc. label. The most unusual of the bunch was an album recorded at Blue Rock studios on Greene Street, with Bruce Ditmas on drums and two relative newcomers: Pat Metheny on guitar and Jaco Pastorius. Fusion was in its heyday thanks to Return To Forever, Headhunters and Weather Report, but it was clear from that first exposure to these musicians that they were creating and pursuing their own paths.

-Michael Cuscuna

Read and listen from UDiscover Music… Follow: Mosaic Records Facebook Tumblr Twitter

#Jaco Pastorius #bass #classic jazz #Pat Metheny #Weather Report #Paul Bley #Michael Cuscuna

[fredalan]

Face the Music

Mosaic Editions Brochure 1991 on Scribd

We (Alan and Fred) have always been big photography fans and like a lot of other music nerds we were enamored with the jazz photographers like Roy DeCarava, Herman Leonard, William Gottlieb. And particularly Blue Note Records co-founder Francis “Frank” Wolff. Imagine how excited we were when Mosaic’s founders, Michael Cuscuna and Charlie Lourie –by far, our favorite friends and clients– told us that they had taken ownership of the entire Frank Wolff photography archive. After all, he’d shot virtually every Blue Note recording session from 1944 until 1967, even after they sold the company to Liberty Records in 1965!

Fred: “I had started doing a little collecting of jazz photography –probably due to our deep dive into Mosaic, and the shrinking size of CD covers– with non-vintage prints by Roy DeCrava, Bill Claxton, and Chuck Stewart. It occurred to me that a Frank Wolff archive would be a fantastic addition to body of jazz work starting to exhibit around the world.”

So we started bugging Mosaic Records to think about expanding their line from just their amazing, historically necessary box sets to amazing, historically necessary photographic history. In 1991, they started Mosaic Images, we created one of our nicest catalogs, and photography was a critical part of their business for 30 years.*

Now came the rigorous and joyous work of actually living up to the promise of a world class archive. Michael and Charlie selected three iconic photos featured on three classic Blue Notes, and did the deep dive research that helped make Mosaic famous. John Coltrane on “Blue Train,” Sonny Rollins on “Volume 2,” and Art Blakey on “The Big Beat.”   One of the last analog “master printers”, Chuck Kelton’s Kelton Labs, was contracted for the limited edition prints. And since high priced photography was new to the mainstream jazz public, we also decided to release high quality, limited edition posters of the photographs at a lower price. Alan’s background as a journalist –with a unique sensitivity to artists and a pitch perfect writing talent– wrote the catalog copy and Jessica Wolf produced one of our most beautiful brochures, with printing and paper quality that gave readers the assurance that Mosaic Editions was all about quality.

Needless to say, things worked out beautifully, in all ways. Jazz fans from across the world responded overwhelmingly.

* Update: Mosaic's photography business started with this catalog in 1991. The Francis Wolff archive was acquired by the Universal Music Group, the current owner of Blue Note Records, from Mosaic Records in 2022.

....

Mosaic Images Catalog written by Alan Goodman Production by Jessica Wolf

.....

You can read the scan of the original Mosaic Editions catalog above, or the entire text here. Aside from the gorgeous images, Alan does some of the first writing on the subject of Francis Wolff’s photography. It was just the beginning of his discovery by the photography and art communities –even the jazz fans– as a virtually unknown genius that was in our midsts.

.....

FRANCIS WOLFF PHOTOGRAPHED EVERY BLUE NOTE RECORDING SESSION FROM 1944 TO 1967.

Now for the first time you can see, own and display jazz history in the form of limited-edition, museum quality Francis Wolff photographs.

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ABOUT THE FRANCIS WOLFF COLLECTION

“Frank, you’re clicking on my record!” –Alfred Lion, during a Blue Note recording session, circa 1956

Nobody has ever documented an era more lovingly, or more thoroughly, than Blue Note founders Alfred Lion and Francis (Frank) Wolff. The era that they chronicled: the inception and rise of bebop in America.

Lion’s charge was the music. He recorded a staggering array of seminal jazz artists from 1939 through 1967.

Wolff’s contribution to history was more subtle but no less significant. Using a hand-held Leica or Rolleiflex camera, he too recorded every Blue Note artist for posterity. Yet Francis Wolff never considered himself an archivist. He took pictures simply because he loved doing it.

Even during the days of 78s in plain paper sleeves, before there appeared to be any use for his photographs, Wolff and his camera were a ubiquitous presence at every Blue Note session. Whether attempting to fade into the wallpaper, or blatantly seeing out the perfect combination of light, angle and expressions to capture an artist’s spirit, Francis Wolff never missed an opportunity to indulge his two passions in life … music and photography.

With the dawning of the LP, a new opportunity for graphic innovation arose, and 300 of Francis Wolff’s jazz photographs were artfully cropped, integrated with typography and given immortality as Blue Note album covers.

More than 5000 others went into a file drawer … never to see the light of day in any shape or form until Mosaic began publishing a few of them in its booklets.

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UNCOVERING A LOST TREASURE

Wolff began his career as a photographer, but once Blue Note was under way he found himself inundated with recording contracts, finances and the day-to-day operation of a thriving record label. Soon he considered himself a record executive first, a photographer only as a means of supplying Blue Note releases with cover art. The idea of exhibiting, or compiling a book of his unpublished photographs, was never given serious consideration.

With his death in 1971 Francis Wolff’s entire collection of priceless photographs went to his Blue Note partner and childhood friend, Alfred Lion. For years Lion couldn’t bear to go near them. It was only when Lion formed a warm friendship with the principals of Mosaic Records that anyone outside the original Blue Note family became aware of this treasure trove of Francis Wolff photographs still existed.

After Alfred Lion passed away, his wife, Ruth, turned the photographs over to Mosaic to organize and administrate. We at Mosaic spent days going through the wealth of visual images. Here were literally thousands of never-before-seen photographs of everyone from Ike Quebec and Sidney Bechet to John Coltrane and Andrew Hill.

The photographs most appropriate upcoming Mosaic reissues of Blue Note sessions have been set aside for that purpose. Many of the rest will eventually be published in a long-overdue hardcover collection. And three of the most striking and historically significant photographs are now being made available to jazz lovers and art collectors the world over in two limited edition configurations as the first offering by our new offshoot, Mosaic Editions.

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ABOUT THESE PHOTOGRAPHS

Each of the three classic Blue Note album cover photographs we’ve chose to launch Mosaic Editions with will be instantly recognizable, and have special significance, to every long-time collector of jazz recordings.

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THE COLTRANE LEGACY THAT GOT AWAY

Jazz lovers have wondered for over 30 years … what if John Coltrane had signed with Blue Note instead of Prestige? Well, it almost happened. Up at the Blue Note office to pick up some Sidney Bechet records, Coltrane was offered a recording deal by Alfred Lion … and he accepted! To clinch the oral agreement Lion paid Coltrane a small on-the-spot advance. But a short time later Coltrane was offered a firm written contract with Prestige, and he signed it. All might have been lost for Lion if Coltrane hadn’t volunteered to honor his commitment to Blue Note and record one album for the label.

The brilliantly conceived and executed music on Blue Train, along with the classic Francis Wolff photograph used for the cover, is the only evidence we have of what a Blue Note/Coltrane legacy might have sounded and looked like. The original photograph, taken on September 15, 1957, was severely cropped for the album cover. The photograph as released bu Mosaic Editions has never been shown to the public.

Edition limited to 50 numbered and authenticated custom-processed photographic prints and 3000 numbered photographic reproduction posters worldwide.

Poster dimension: 23 5/8” x 31 1/2” Print dimension: 11” x 14”

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CAPTURING A COLOSSUS

In 1957 Sonny Rollins was a busy man at the top of his game. In addition to winding down his stint with Max Roach, he was playing in the Miles Davis group, forming his first band as a leader and recording the four Blue Note albums that would further establish his reputation as on of the all-time masters of the tenor saxophone.

It’s safe to assume that Francis Wolff was somewhat busy himself at the April 14, 1957, session for Sonny Rollins Vol. 2. Like all Blue Note sessions of that era, it took place in the living room-recording studio of optometrist-turned-engineer Rudy Van Gelder. And here, among the lamps and microphones, venetian blinds and patch cords, was Rollins leading Thelonious Monk, J.J. Johnson, Horace Silver, Paul Chambers and Art Blakey into jazz history. The pensive, moody shot of Sonny Rollins used for the album cover showed him in a relaxed moment, betweens takes, in Van Gelder’s house. It is unquestionable one of Francis Wolff’s masterpieces.

Edition limited to 50 numbered and authenticated custom-processed photographic prints and 3000 numbered photographic reproduction posters worldwide.

Poster dimension: 23 5/8” x 31 1/2” Print dimension: 11” x 14”

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JUST A DRUMMER? THE TRUTH ABOUT ART BLAKEY

Art Blakey never wrote a tune … yet there are scores of Blakey tunes. He didn’t play a melodic or chordal instrument … yet he brought life and shape to every tune and every sideman who passed through his Jazz Messengers. From his drums Art Blakey literally conducted the music, pacing the dynamics, controlling tension and release, and arranging each composition with just the right punctuation and drama. His sound reached beyond the drums to encompass every facet of the music that came from the the Jazz Messengers.

On March 6, 1960, Blakey’s recording career, which began with Blue Note in the late 40s, was riding high. After some 20 albums as a leader, he recorded with one of the greatest editions of the Jazz Messengers ever, featuring Lee Morgan, Wayne Shorter and Bobby Timmons. As Frank Wolff’s lens peered though the drum set, Blakey’s infectious joy of playing was never more evident. Art Blakey was the happiest man alive when he was playing, and that photograph captured the magic. Cropped and tinted, it became the cover for The Big Beat, the album that introduced a legendary band as well as such jazz standards as “Dat Dere” and “Lester Left Town.” Mosaic’s photograph, untainted, embodies the essence of Art Blakey and the spirit of his music like nothing else.

Edition limited to 50 numbered and authenticated custom-processed photographic prints and 3000 numbered photographic reproduction posters worldwide.

Poster dimension: 23 5/8” x 31 1/2” Print dimension: 11” x 14”

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THIS OFFERING

THE POSTER

To capture every nuance of Francis Wolff’s photographic originals, Mosaic Editions has gone to one of the premiere find arts presses in America, Eastern Press, the printer of choice to such prestigious and demanding organizations as the Smithsonian Institution, the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, the Museum of Modern Art, the Metropolitan Museum of Arts and the Japan Society.

The paper used for our photographic reproduction posters is heavyweight, Grade #1 coated, archival acid-free stock. Mosaic posters will not yellow or deteriorate during your lifetime … or even your grandchildren’s lifetime. The poster image is reproduced using a special scanned duotone process with the colors black and gray. Though more expensive than straight single-color reproduction, this process allows richer lights and shadings, giving the photographic image more “snap.” Each poster in our limited edition of 3000 is individually numbered and comes with a stamp of authenticity. The dimension: 23 5/8” x 31 1/2”. The price: $40.

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THE PRINT

For connoisseurs of fine photographic art we are also offering an extremely limited edition of 50 photographic print, each one individually processed to archival standards by Master Printer Chuck Kelton. This time-consuming processing regimen, previously employed by Mr. Kelton whole working with such photographers as Ansel Adams, involved a costly chemical washing process to neutralize all kids, and selenium toning to enhance the photographs natural tones. Each museum-worthy, customer-processed photographic print is numbers, and comes with stamp of authenticity signed by Mr. Kelton. The dimension: 11” x 14”. The price: $500.

These limited edition editions are numbered, authenticated and authorized by the estate of Alfred Lion. Order now. It is expected that this first-ever Mosaic Editions offering will sell out quickly. Be assured of owning a lasting monument to the jazz photography of Francis Wolff by placing your order today.

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ART FOR JAZZ’S SAKE

From the beginning, jazz lovers have come to expect, and take for granted, innovative and avant-garde photography, illustration and design on their record albums.

Maybe then it stands to reason that it too the art world, not the jazz world, to elevate the works fo William Claxton, Herman Leonard, William Gottlieb, Charles Peterson, Charles Stewart and Francis Wolff to new heights of status and monetary worth.

Well, what goes around comes around. In the past couple of years Mosaic has been receiving a growing number of requests from customers for more photographs like the ones we publish in our booklets. But unlike requests for music, we’ve been at a loss to where to send jazz lovers interested in high-quality jazz-related art.

When the entire body of Francis Wolff photographs became available to us, we had our answer. With the creation of Mosaic Editions, photographic reproduction posters and custom-processed photographic prints that abide by Mosaic uncompromising standards will allow those of us committed to jazz to satisfy and display our passion as never before.

[Signed] Michael Cuscuna & Charlie Lourie

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MOSAIC EDITIONS PROMISES

1. Important Photographers Mosaic Editions posters and prints will concentrate on the handful of inspired photographers who defined the “look” of jazz for all time.

2. Historic Photographs of Major Jazz Artists Each Mosaic Editions reproduction represents a meaningful artist whose music helped shaped jazz history.

3. Powerful Visuals Those are exciting images that capture exactly what the photographer saw through the lens.

4. Impeccable Reproduction Mosaic is using the finest processor and printing press that our research has been able to turn up. Every Mosaic photographic reproduction poster and custom-processed photographic print is fully guaranteed to be of archival quality, to bring you pleasure throughout your lifetime.

5. Number Limited Editions Each Mosaic photographic reproduction poster is numbered and limited to an edition of 3000 worldwide. Custom-processed photographic prints are numbered, authenticated by the processor and limited to an edition of 50 worldwide.

6. Value The prices we charges are almost unheard of for appreciating works of art.

7. Unconditional Guarantee If for any reason you are not pleased with you Mosaic Editions poster or print, you may return it for a complete refund.

8. Easy Ordering Order by mail or phone or fax. Pay with VISA or MasterCard, check or money order in U.S. currency.

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“Few things in life are so uniquely original as to be instantly recognizable. There’s the singular look of a painting by Picasso, the one and only sound of a Stravinsky symphony or the unmistakeable mise-en-scene of a film by Renoir. And then there is Blue Note records.”

“A large part of the recognition factor was due to the outstanding photographs –intimate, elegant, mostly monochrome images of the jazz lions of the day– by a Berlin-born refugee from Nazi German named Francis Wolff.”

“Stylistically, Wolff’s photos are gracefully composed and full of shadow, his subjects’ faces often floating up out of an inky background.”

“Without harboring any preconceived visual concepts, he approached each session determined just to capture the best possible shot.”

“Wolff was a gifted photographer whose candid style belied a trained and disciplined eye. Neither a ‘decisive moment’ advocate like Cartier-Bresson nor a seeker of monumental photographic themes like Eugene Smith, Wolff’s talent lay in capturing his subjects’ personalities through subtleties: a telling expression or gesture that helped reveal the man behind the musician.”

“Over the years Wolff short … a body of work that can stand comparison of any collection of jazz photographs, yet his oeuvre was largely taken for granted during his lifetime, and Wolff received little recognition.”

“Finally, after too many years of languishing in obscurity, his photographic legacy will once more be brought into the public eye.”

Reprinted with permission from Darkroom Photography Magazine

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#Mosaic Records #jazz #photography #John Coltrane #Sonny Rollins #Art Blakey #Mosaic Images #catalog #brochure

[jkottke]

The Iconic Jazz Album Covers of Blue Note Records

In part 2 of Earworm's series on jazz, Estelle Caswell talks to producer Michael Cuscuna about the iconic album covers of Blue Note Records.

Inspired by the ever present Swiss lettering style that defined 20th century graphic design (think Paul Rand), Blue Note captured the refined sophistication of jazz during the early 60s, particularly during the hard bop era, and gave it a definitive visual identity through album covers.

The covers were the work of Reid Miles, who was paid $50 per cover but later landed a gig making ads for the likes of Coca-Cola to the tune of $1 million per year. Here are a few of the covers designed by Miles for Blue Note: