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Home , Carl Jefferson, Concord Jazz, Concord Music Group, Concord Records, Emily Remler, Fantasy Records

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And his time feel, which was amazing. But what really got On Scott LaFaro to me was the interplay between him and . The idea of a musical conversation was not really that new but proved to be By the combination of Bill Evans and Scott LaFaro amagicalone and together they took that concept to a whole that gave Scotty the In the movie lt's a Ll/onderful Life,Jimmy Stewart gets to see new place. Bill had provided the setting to feel it' the world as it might have been if he had never been born. freedom to play the music however he happened freedom comes This is something everyone thinks about now and then. We all Being free is one thing but along with that to work in like to think we will have made a difference in the world but agreatresponsibilify and it takes agteatmusician had nobody ever knows for sure. that setting and really succeed on all levels' Scotty great time, In music there are people who are so important that it is everything he needed to make it work. He had much impossible to imagine the world without them. Think about extraordinary ears, a fantastic sense of form, and so into his music without Bach, Mozart or Beethoven. Think abott chops he could play pretty well anythingthat came without , or John Coltrane. In head. He was also blessed with the gift of melody and the history of jazz there have been only a handful of real counter-melody but most important of all he had a beautiful respond and innovators on each instrument. These people have shaped the musicality and sensitivity that enabled him to them' way their instruments have come to be played' On the piano interact with the other players without playing a1l over and no matter what the list would include , , McCoy Tyner, He knew exactly what the music needed music Keith Jarrett and Bill Evans. On saxophone there would be he played, or how much he seemed to be playing, the Lester Young, , Charlie Parker and John was always his first concern and he never let the music Coltrane. On bass there would be , Oscar down. is still Pettiford, , Red Mitchell and Scott LaFaro. Of that What Scotty played was amazingthen and amazing group ofbass players, Ray Brown and Scott LaFaro stand out today. His solos were technically overwhelming but melodi- my from the rest. Ray Brown personifies the bassist's role in a cally breathtaking. The solo on My Romance is one of pure melodic rhythm section. With his beautiful sound, amazinggroove and favorites and the last eight bars, in particular, is Bach-like lines, Ray was the man everyone wanted to sound perfection. who like. That is until Scott LaFaro came along. Scott LaFaro is one of a small group of musicians imagine where The first time I heard Scotty play was on really changed the course of jazz.It;s hard to with Bill Evans. I had been playing the bass for three or four he might have gone with music had he not been taken so years but was not really that interested in it. I was playing a early in his life, For me, and probably most of today's bass the bass lot of piano and vibes at the time, so playing the bass didn't players, it's even harder to imagine the world of to the really matter to me that much. But when I heard that track of without Scotty in it. He brought a brand new concept play Autumn Leaves, all that changed. There was a spirit of bass and in doing so he changed the way people would probably the most adventure and freedom I had never heard before and all ofa it forever. Forty-five years later he is still sudden it became very important to me to really learn how to powerful influence there is on the bass. he always be a play the bass. Hearing Scotty play with Bill Evans had opened I regret never having known him but will for everything up a whole new world of music to me, and I wanted to be a part ofmy world and I will always be thankful part of it. he contributed to it. Everything about Scotty's playing killed me. His sound, Toronto his solos (which actually reminded me a bit of Red Mitchell) - Don Thompson,

March2007 believe that?) an owner, can cofilmand the government to Engulf and Devour declare war on another sovereign nation to acquire its petroleum resources, at the cost of (thus far) some 3,000 of Iraqi civilian You may not know who she is, but she is to my mind and yorrg American lives, countless thousands - a nation but its history, that of Doug Ramsey, Nat Hentoff, and Gary Giddins, among lives, the destruction not only of western civilization in others one of the most important business figures in the reaching back into the dawn of jazz world.- Teni Hinte was, until she got dumped, the Mesopotamia. As I wrote in Ten Ton Truck: publicity and public relations director of ' But aside from all the .t e is much more than that. Her dismissal by the Concord You will recall those days when, recording being done at Fantasy Music Group troubles quite a number of us. Behind jazz and high-quality pop and Capitol, there were a this lies a tale, and an ominous one. Columbia, RCA, Decca, labels doing excellent Fantasy was founded in 1949 by the brothers Sol and Max number of small independent Pacific Jazz,Dial, Savoy, Weiss with recordings by the Trio and Quartet, work, such as Dick Bock's and an upstart in , who had a big hit with Cast Your Fate to the Prestige, Commodore, Riverside, whose first artist was Wind, andCal liader. It pioneered recording comedians live San Francisco called Fantasy, later years, Fantasy dwindled with the innovative and influentiat nightclub performances of Dave Brubeck . . . . In a buyer of cata' Lenny Bruce, and then turned to pop music with the group as a source of new music to became Debut, Milestone (the Creedence Clearwater Revival, which was so successful that logs, acquiring Contemporary, catalog), Prestige, Pablo, and the Fantasy building at Tenth and Parker in Berkeley, Califor- old to rhythm and , rock, and nia, was known as the house that Creedence built. SaulZaentz various labels devoted Fantasy a major joined the company and then with a group of investors that pops. Creedence Clearwater ' . . made generate new included Ralph Kaffel bought out the Weiss brothers. Zaentz force. If Fantasy now does little to resource in keeping avail- became chairman of the company, eventually become a major music, it was an invaluable those of movie producer, making such films as One Flew Over the able classic records from the past, including Pablo and Bill Evans on Riverside' Cuckoo's Nest and Amadeus. on Evan afresh in albums The company continued to expand, buying up jazz, blues, And it did indeed record Bill sets. The Fantasy catalog is a and pop labels, including the catalogs of Riverside, Prestige, now available as boxed Milestone, Contemporary, and Pablo, becoming the largest national treasure. Fantasy in recording new independent jazz rccord label. This meant that Fantasy now Far more active than owned by a used-car dealer controlled a larger body of work by major jazz artists, among music was Concord, protested too much his them Miles Davis, Bill Evans, , Sonny named who limited to Jefferson's Rollins, and Oscar Peterson, than any company in the world' honesty. Concord's catalogwas jazz, which prompted one A couple of years ago I wrote a two-part piece called Ten conventional tastes in on that label ifyou Ton Truik, in an attempt to delineate who owns what in the musician to say you were welcome War. Its catalog includes worlds not only of jazz but publishing and communications were born before the Civil Byrd, , Stan including newspapers, magazines, and television. It took me records by Ray Brown, Charlie Tito Puente, and Mel weeks to research, because the great conglomerates don't Getz, , Robben Ford, homogenized pop want you to know who owns what. Torm6. It also has a line of )' The broader significance of Karl Marx was not his pro- performers (and one brilliant singer, was sold at last to posal and espousal of communism but in his (for the time) At the end of 2004,Fantasy Music Group, which revolutionary idea that history was determined not by kings Concord, creating the Concord independent, adult- and dictators and heroes but by economic forces. And one of called itself "a new leader in Marx's contentions was that corporations would devour each focused music." purchased by Norman other until they reached such a size that governments would Concord had by then been a partnership with take them over. Marx was wrong: bien au contraire: they Lear and Hal Gaba, who entered Partners. Tailwind defines itself as "a have grown to such a size that governments aren't taking them Tailwind Capital focused on media and other over, they are taking over governments, as the recent history leading private equity firm capital of Enron (George W. Bush's friends) and Halliburton, of growth sectors," saying it "provided new equity It owns companies, which Vice President Dick Cheney is formerly (do you really to the '"

March 2007 merged ranging from orthopedic devices ankle braces and Concord has completed its acquisition and has - called the the like to Next Media, which, according to its own the two companies to form a new entity publicity,- "has become a key player in the media Concord Music Group, Inc. is a label focused on business offering clients traditional outdoor ads in six of prominent 3l-year-old, active record the top ten markets, indoor ads in 35 of the top 50 jazz, traditional pop and adult contemporary formats success with the markets, and 60 radio stations in l5 mid-sized markets." that is currently enjoying considerable Charles' final recording, It is hard to see how and where Concord-Fantasy multi-platform release ofRay will fit among its priorities. One can imagine it sailing (in association with the world's largest off into the mists of some California sunset, leaving a ). Fantasy owns one of jazz,blues, R&B and slight glow like that from a distant Viking funeral ship. and most prestigious catalogs of , including certain music publishing assets What I wrote is already obsolete, because the carnivorous and legendary recordings of John Coltrane, Creedence Evans, Ella takeovers have continued, reminding one of the motion Clearwater Revival, Miles Davis, Bill Little picture company in the 1976 Mel Brooks picture Silent Movie. Fitzgerald, Vince Guaraldi, Isaacs Hayes, , Art It was called Engulf and Devour. It's a very funny movie, Richard, Albert King, , and numerous done in the manner of the silent-film era, with subtitles. It's Pepper, Otis Redding, , world-class also a cogent one. Brooks stars himself as a once-famous others. Fantasy also owns and operates the California. comedy director hoping to make a comeback in Hollywood. Fantasy Recording Studios in Berkeley, Music Group will Sid Caesar plays a producer who is willing to give him a Following the merger, the Concert music companies chance. The crooked executives of the Engulf and Devour be one of the foremost adult-focused conglomerate an obvious play on Gulf and Western in the world. - Capital Part- want the new film- to fail, lest Caesar's company become so As part of the transaction, Tailwind investment firm focused successful that he won't be interested in selling out to them' ners, a leading private equity sectors of the economy, So they set out to sabotage the picture. on media and other growth the Concord Music If there was ever a man who saw what was coming, it was provided new equity capital to Records, Mel Brooks. And that picture was thirty-one years ago. Group. The existing owners of Concert share- A few years back, I was in the Fantasy building in Berke- and Hal Gaba, remain substantial ley, talking to Ralph Kaffel, then the president of the com- holders in the combined entity. Concord management pany, in his office. I expressed my concern that Fantasy and will also have a share of the new company. "During its glorious catalog would fall into the hands of one of the Ralph Kaffel, president of Fantasy, said, process, we got to conglomerates. He assured me it wouldn't. the negotiations and due diligence of Concord A day or two earlier, I had been in Carl Jefferson's office know the principals and key employees the correctness of our at Concord Records in Concord, California. Jefferson was a quite well, which re-affirmed proper home for successful automobile dealer who in 1969 otganized the initial judgment that Concord is the years in the record Festival. He established the Concord label in our catalogs. Having spent fifty cata- 1972, which went into recordings by "mainstteam" jazz business, 33 of them at Fantasy building up the performers including Sc6tt Hamilton, Warren Vache, Dave logs, my primary concern as well as that of the other was that the acquiring entity should have McKenn a, and G eorge S hearin g. Jefferson imp o s e d his tastes principals, and respect for the treasures on the performers signed to the label. You have no idea what the proper understanding be willing to perpetu- an original, inventive, and brilliant guitarist we are tuming over to them, and these catalogs represent. With was unless you heard her in person rather than on her Concord ate the historical legacy all the other talented recordings, But Jefferson produced more than 500 sessions Norman, Hal, Glen Barros, and Music Group, for his company, and Concord's is a large and quite good people now at the helm at the Concord convinced the Fantasy catalog catalog. Jefferson died in 1995. my colleagues and I are Then came this press release from Concord, reading in is in very good hands." Concord, and part: Glen Barros, president and CEO at now president and chief executive officer of the Beverly Hills CA December 1,2004 Concord Concord Music Group, said, "I am incredibly honored - Fantasy legacy into Records, Inc., and Fantasy,- Inc., today announced that to be in a position to help carry the

March2007 the Jazz Jotmalists Association had the future. I am so enthusiastic about this merger, about "It's ironic that her. At its 10'h annual jazz working with the talented professionals involved from already planned to celebrate at New York's B.B. King Blues Club and Grill, both sides, and the great opportunities for the combined awardi show its behind-the-scenes A-team honors, companies going forward." Hinte received one of inscribed as 'De Facto Curator of Fantasy Records" has been reluctant to talk about her dis- The first thing you have to do on reading that is fight back "While Hinte journalists have been weighing in on her a mild nausea inspired by this minuet. Then you have to missal, esteemed translate some of it into English, if you can. What does behalf. notes scribe Bob "multi-platform release" mean? "Grammy Award-winning liner best,' while author As ior Kaffel's "perpetuate the historical legacy these Blumenthal calls her, 'hands down, the praises her for her 'personableness, intelli- catalogs represent" and Barros' unctuous "catry the Fantasy Gary Giddins He wonders how safe Fantasy's catalog legacy into the future," one of the early acts of the new com- g"n"., and humor.' idea what to do pury *r. to drop that beautiful blue-boxed multiple CD ieally is. 'The new owners seem to have no or market it,' Giddins says' collection of The Complete Riverside Recordings of Bill with this stuff, how to treat it let go the one person in the company who Evans. And as for Barros' remark about "working with the 'And now they've talented professionals involved from both sides," one of the did.' president Glen Barros counters: 'We're com- next acts was the firing of Terri Hinte by Nohman, as Lear is "Concord jazz jazz catalog we've invested in''He obsequiously addressed by some of the sycophants around mitted to and the has 'tremendous respect' for Hinte as 'a great him, and./or his associates adds that he fot jazz.'However, Terri Hinte is a quite remarkable woman. She studied caretaker, proponent and spokesperson' are unfortunate consequences' French, German, and linguistics at Washington Square when companies merge, there Terri's deparhrre means that we have any College ofNYU, Portuguese attheBerlitz School in Oakland 'But I don't think Fantasy catalog."' prior to extensive travels inBrazll,did private study of Czech less respect for the for double-speak, Barros could have tefore going to Prague, as well as basic Italian, had consider- With that kind ofgift political speeches able writing and editing experience at magazines in New a solid career as a writer of didn't stop there. Doug Ramsey wrote York, and was appointed Arts and Culture Commissioner of The repercussion the city of Richmond by Mayor Irma Anderson' Over the inhis Rffiides: has been fired by Concord Records' Her years she has worked with and done publicity for just about "Terri Hinte most of you, but her work has gvery major jazz artist you can think of. name will not mean a thing to serious jazzlisteners for decades' The Publicists are a mixed breed. There have been a number of indirectly benefitted is intense interest to many writers them in record companies over the years who have done their news of her dismissal of very model of what a record work decently and well, including Sol Handwerger at MGM because Ms. Hinte is the should be deeply knowledgeable about and Herb Helman and Elliot Horne at RCA Victor' There are company publicist players, intelligent,- responsive, resourceful, others who are hustlers, aggressive and unpleasant' Teni is the music and its substantive ways . . . . among the best, and high in the hierarchy of that group' No helpful in countless i'Far out review copies and news or" .u.. contacted her for information on Fantasy's catalog from simply sending companies do, Terri Hinte made it her or about individual artists. or, for that matter, anything else, releases, as many catalog inside and without getting a prompt and efficient response, usually business to know the extensive and varied importance of the hundreds of providing you all that you needed. She also commissioned and out and to understand the labels over more than five the liner notes for the company. There is no one alive artists who recorded for its and advisories wefe light years "alt"Awho knows that Fantasy catalog better than she does' It's decades. Her newsletter passes for publicity in too many what you can't buy: knowledge in the head. beyond the puffery that They contained news that Imagine the shock, then, when she got sacked. Billboard pricincts of the music business. those who broadcast it, could on July l,2006, ran an article under a six-column headline: writers about the music, and better informed listeners' Her phone Fantasy Diminished by Hinte's Departure. Dan Ouellette and did use, resulting in writers valuable story ideas. The catalogs wrote: "It was disconcerting to hear that Terri Hinte, a Fantasy calls often brought reference works packed with information' employee for 33 years and director of publicity for 28 years, she produced are bought Fantasy eighteen months ago, fueling was laid off May 31, with three business days' notice' Jazz at 'toncord jazz professionals and listeners about Fantasy lost one of its true advocates. speculation among

March 2007 what would happen to the invaluable recordings in the LOS ANGELES After ten years of providing fully - professional Fantasy archivei. The dismissal of Ms. Hinte has only in- funded annual scholarships to over 800 instructional and live- creased nervousness concerning the future of those treasures." young musicians and hands-on programs to over 30,000 One of Doug's readers wrote: "Jazzfansprobably ought to performance music education Henry hurry to purchase titles from Fantasy's vast catalog before students in Los Angeles-area schools, the close its head- Concord deletes them wholesale as they did with their own Mancini Institute (HMI) will officially effective December label a few years back. quarters and cease its operations by Ginny Mancini, "I'm sure that Terri Hinte will do well as an independent 31,2006, it was announced today widow of the publicist and writer, but her unjust termination is one more president of the board of directors and sign that Concord's management doesn't really give a damn legendary composer. "After ten years of abott jazz." According to Mrs. Mancini, introducing hundreds of I have never seer. anything like the hue and cry set up by nurturing, mentoring, and world, our board of the unceremonious dumping of Terri Hinte, or such a consis- emerging young musicians to the future, and the omi- tency in outrage. One of the most illuminating pieces on the directors took a hard look at the The decision to subject was written by Nat Hentoff for his Final Chorus nous landscape of funding for the arts. yet assessing the rising column in JazzTimes. Nat wrote: close was difficult, realistic in level of "When I heard, in Novembet 2005, that Concord Records costs and our commitment to maintain the had bought Fantasy Records, I called Concord's owner, excellence and integrity this organization was founded Norman Lear (creator of All in the Family and other television on." find comfort and a breakthroughs). Since we're both civil libertarians, Lear and She added, "I'm thankful to Mancini's legacy lives I had spoken before in connection with People for the Ameri- sense of closure in that Henry have realized this effect'" can Way (r.vhich he founded) and his tour of the nation a few on in over 800 alumni who is in discussions with other years ago with a very rare contemporary copy of the Declara- The institute currently continuing its very tion oflndependence. organizations in the hopes of music-education "This time I called to urge Lear to keep the Fantasy catalog successful in-school and after-school academic year in intact, with its extensive catalog oftimeless jazz recordings on programs scheduled for the current mentors of that Riverside, Prestige, Milestone, Norman Gtanz's Pablo, Les nearly 40 schools. Teachers and HMI personnel Koenig's Contemporary, 's Debut, et al. The program, along with dozens of other remain available for music, I told him, embodied the very spirit of the Declaration living in the Los Angeles area, of Independence." professional performances. Clearly Nat's exhortation on Terri's behalf fell on indiffer- who go trudging along ent ears. But then, I've always seen Norman Lear as a That should jolt any persons of music in America conquering hypocrite. telling themselves that the conditions won't perhrrb them, Since the merger of Fantasy and Concord, the new are healthy and even improving. But it from reality. Or company has acquired Telarc, which has a distinguished for such people remain hermetically sealed mine many years ago' catalog of jazzand classical music. We'11 see what happens to to put it in the phrase of a friend of sands of time' it, but those familiar with its recent issues and those projected they're leaving head prints in the gave some wonderful for next year say the dumbing down of the label has already The Mancini Institute orchesffa not really made of undergradu- begun. programs. The orchestra was the graduate level or beyond, just Engulf ancl Devour marches on. ates, but of musicians at entering on the professional life. Ginny Mancini was incredibly generous to them. They were housed (in the Noble Effort surrmer months) in various residences of UCLA, fed, and even given credit cards for some of the restaurants in the And another bit of news for those who think, like Dr' Westwood area. counter force to the Panglosse, that all is for the best in the best of all possible The Mancini Institute was a noble you need only worlds (Voltaire was satirizing Leibniz): gradual destruction of music in America: commercials, commis- The Institute and with it the HMi orchestra listen to the "music" in television grew up on rock and rap have ceased to exist. As its press release put it: sioned and written by people who

March2007 war, he studied geology and dentistry in and know nothing else, or to the current movie scores, to Home from the singing in bars and other places' know what is happening. Now the Institute and all that it was Baltimore, meanwhile heard him and signed him' In the accomplishi ng are swePt awaY. Someone at Victor records 1920s, he told 86,000,000 records, with hits on When My Sugar Walks Down the Street, How Come You Do Me Like Forgotten Singer yi OoZ and Lonesome Road, all of which he wrote, and others that he introduced, including My Melancholy Baby, Girl of My Dream* Ramona and Carolina Moon' Other hits Baby, Sleepy Time Gal, Five I made a discovery recently that quite surprised me. included Yes Sir That's My Blue, Bye Bye Blackbird, Thinking of You, In writings aboui. jazz, there is a preoccupation with who Foot Two Eyes of and Can't Give You Anything but copped what from whom that at times becomes quite destruc- Someday Sweetheart, I years, from1925 to 1930' His tive. Nobody makes much fuss about the debtBizet's Sym- Love. AJlof these were in five than twelve million copies, the phonyin C owes to Beethoven. But in iazz it's all Miles-got- My Blue Heaven sold more Crosby's White Christmas' it- from-Dizzy-who- got- it- from-Roy-who- got-it- from-Loui s biggest single-record sale until had a spontaneous, improvisational style which is and G etz- got-it-from-Lester-who- got-it- from-Trumbauer, and Austin admirers said he was so forth, which passes for musicology but isn't. Stravinsky probably the reason some of his jazz rightly said that all music comes out of the tradition, and the essentially a musician. use and Austin, it would fact is that every artist begins as an imitator. In earlier times, Electric recording came into possibilities. You didn't particularly in painting, imitation was used as a teaching tool' seem, immediately understood the "belt" be heard: recording, he apparently In American singing- I'mtalking ab ottsinging,not what have to shout or to which his light tenor voice goes on in rock-and-roll and its abysmal successors it's saw, was an intimate medium, to - thus became known as a always that Peggy Lee got it from Billie (she didn't, as you was particularly suitable. He this condescending know if you ever heard her do her deliberate uncanny imita- .rooni., the first to be saddled with tion of Billie Holiday), Sinatra got it from Billie. Or Mabel designation. he quit the business in Mercer. Actually, whatever influences he absorbed, Frank was I read somewhere once that his sales of recordsfell to (we million an absolute original, although I think that he, along with Doris disappointment when this is unlikely. He continued to Day and many others, owed much to Mildred Bailey, particu- o. ro-. such, but I think in the W.C. Fields My larly in the phrasing. tour and make movies, appearing 1940 at the request of his friend May When I was a kid, you heard a lot from a man named Gene Little Chickadee in Austin, a singer, pianist, guitarist and songwriter now forgot- West. and retired in the late 1950s ten. I listened to him very early in my life, and liked him, But quit he eventually did, California, where he was although tiy the time I heard him his career was in decline' I with his fifth wife to Palm Springs, recording royalties' recently looked up his history and found that Frank Sinatra, able to live comfortably on his song and 1972, of lung cancer, which , and Russ Colombo all cited him as a major He died there on January 24, the incidence of the disease source of the American stYle. adds to my curiosity about the smoke of nightclubs. He was an interesting man. Bom Eugene Lucas onJune24, among those who work in and you can look him up on 1900, in Gainesville, Tex4s, he acquired the other name when You can get his records still, his singing' That's his mother married her second husband, Jim Austin, a the internet and find short samples of you know who sings blacksmith. From him Gene learned to shoe horses. He grew where I found the revelation. Do down to the little appoggiaturas? up in Louisiana and joined the Army when he was seventeen' remarkably like him, even Stationed for a time in New Orleans, he played piano in the Fred Astaire. red light district. Because of his knowledge of horses, he went to Mixico with the cavaky under General Black Jack Pershing who, as one historian put it, might still have been The Jazzletter is pub- wandering around Mexico looking for Pancho Villa had he Copyright @ 2OO7 Gene Lees' at PO Box240, Ojai CA 93024' not been recalled to head the American Expeditionary Force lished i2 times ayeat U.S. forthe United States and was sent to France, where he almost lost a war the 0240. Subscriptions are $70 for other countries. exhausted French, British, and their allies had pretty much and Canada, $80 won. Gene Austin went to France with the AEF.

March2007