Don Was Tries to Revive Blue Note Records

[JSngry]

[CraigP]

Not to highjack the thread, but I think Danger Mouse is a brilliant pop producer, and I like Norah's more recent work versus what made her famous.

[.:.impossible]

Something seems to be bothering them. Oddly, I get the impression that it isn't the same something.

Norah was photo-shopped in?

It is weird. They actually both look photoshopped in.

How hard could it have been to have gotten this shot though? I don't know... I'll defer to some of the photographers in the house, but it is a very distracting composition.

[paul secor]

Something seems to be bothering them. Oddly, I get the impression that it isn't the same something.

Norah was photo-shopped in?

It is weird. They actually both look photoshopped in.

How hard could it have been to have gotten this shot though? I don't know... I'll defer to some of the photographers in the house, but it is a very distracting composition.

Perhaps the music on her new recording was photoshopped in also.

[.:.impossible]

Perhaps. A friend of mine once wrote a tune called "You Can't Protools Your LIfe".

[JSngry]

Not to highjack the thread, but I think Danger Mouse is a brilliant pop producer, and I like Norah's more recent work versus what made her famous.

No argument here.

[.:.impossible]

So what is Was' story? I am not familiar with Was (Not Was). May be that I was born in 77. Lots of things slip through the cracks. Then he suddenly began producing major records out of nowhere it seems! I know there have been previous threads about him becoming head of BN. Maybe there is more info there? Is he a Tchad Blake type character?

Isn't he the guy in the Knicks jersey (not looking so hot tonight) in the Classic Albums The Band documentary?

I mean shit. If he can rescue Brian Wilson (Not Brian Wilson), maybe he CAN rescue Blue Note (Not Blue Note)!

[BFrank]

Was (not Was) released a handful of albums, mostly in the 80's, that were both creative and humorous. The earliest albums also featured guest vocalists like Frank Sinatra Jr, Mel Torme, and Doug Feiger (the Knack). They later settled on a regular duo of singers, Sir Harry Bowens and Sweet Pea Atkinson, both excellent soul/jazz singers. You can usually find these albums for cheap in the used bins - easily worth a few $$.

[.:.impossible]

Ok, but how did he go from making humor with Mel Torme to hits with Hootie etc.? How did he become the guy that helped Brian re-enterthe modern world?

[imeanyou]

How did he become the guy that helped Brian re-enterthe modern world?

He produced and directed ' I Just Wasn't Made for These Times', a documentary that contributed a great deal to brian Wilson's re-entry into the public gaze after his 'difficult period'. The music accompanying the film is generally excellent.

http://www.amazon.co...s/dp/B00000JLV7

[JETman]

With all this talk about reviving Blue Note, has anyone given any thought to what they'd actually like the "revived" Blue Note to look like should Mr. Was succeed in his endeavors? I mean, most of us have all of the important archival Blue Note dates in our grubby little hands, don't we? What else do we need? Aside from sentimentality over a label that is near and dear to our jazz-lovin' hearts, but that has been a shell of what it used to be over 4 decades ago, what could we possibly want/need? An even better sounding "Out to Lunch"?

I'm all for starting a label which produces vital music. But I believe that the name "Blue Note" is so deeply ingrained into each of our minds as being synonomous with pioneering music that any music produced going forward could not possibly be "Blue Note" in character. The world is different now, and so is the music industry.

Just wondering.

Edited May 4, 2012 by JETman

[JSngry]

Ok, but how did he go from making humor with Mel Torme to hits with Hootie etc.? How did he become the guy that helped Brian re-enterthe modern world?

You're asking how somebody goes from labor to to lower-management to middle-management to upper-management.

Same way(s) as anybody else, I'd bet.

For the most part, I like how he's used his business skills. The results, anyway. Haven't heard how the sausage got made, and don't really want and/or need to, not particularly.

[Dave James]

With all this talk about reviving Blue Note, has anyone given any thought to what they'd actually like the "revived" Blue Note to look like should Mr. Was succeed in his endeavors? I mean, most of us have all of the important archival Blue Note dates in our grubby little hands, don't we? What else do we need? Aside from sentimentality over a label that is near and dear to our jazz-lovin' hearts, but that has been a shell of what it used to be over 4 decades ago, what could we possibly want/need? An even better sounding "Out to Lunch"?

I'm all for starting a label which produces vital music. But I believe that the name "Blue Note" is so deeply ingrained into each of our minds as being synonomous with pioneering music that any music produced going forward could not possibly be "Blue Note" in character. The world is different now, and so is the music industry.

Just wondering.

Agreed. Blue Note is a concept. It no longer exists. If anyone is at all conflicted about this, just try to imagine Mssrs. Lion and Wolff releasing a Norah Jones recording.

[JETman]

I think it would be much more honorable to go forward with a new label name. This way, prior ghosts wouldn't be attached, and any new music could have half a chance to enter our hearts (or not) on its own merits. Otherwise, guys like Joe Lovano will always be "that white Italian dude who just can't do it for me like Joe Henderson once did".

[Dave James]

I think it would be much more honorable to go forward with a new label name. This way, prior ghosts wouldn't be attached, and any new music could have half a chance to enter our hearts (or not) on its own merits. Otherwise, guys like Joe Lovano will always be "that white Italian dude who just can't do it for me like Joe Henderson once did".

How about the ecologically sound Green Note?

[JSngry]

Yeah, and try to imagine Johnny Mercer releasing a Beatles record on Capitol.

[JETman]

Yeah, and try to imagine Johnny Mercer releasing a Beatles record on Capitol.

C'mon, Jim. Not the same thing, and you know it! Capitol is a much bigger label, releasing records of many more musical styles than Blue Note. I think you get the gist of what I'm saying, don't you?

Enough with all the fanboy shit -- Blue Note is dead and has been for decades.

Artists like Norah Jones have viable talent, but her talent will NEVER shine when she's constantly associated with the Blue Note recordings of greats like (dare I say it) Herbie Hancock. And now she's got some hip new 25 year old producer backing her up! Oy! Blue Note has way too much baggage.

Don Was being asked to revive it reeks of things like Nick Cannon being asked to head up Nickolodeon just 'cuz he's hip. I ain't buyin' it. The music industry continues to insult us, all the while expecting us to just drop our hard-earned cash on their shiny new wares.

[jazzbo]

Nah, I think the label name should live on. If Was can get them to make a few more albums like the last few Andrew Hills, or the Lovano-Jones ones, then that's fine. I don't think the label has to become what it was, and the change has already been done, and one could argue that it could become a trusted name in jazz again. And those guys that refer to Lovano as "that white Italian dude who just can't do it for me like Joe Henderson once did" --- those people really don't matter.

Besides, there is value in having a living label name with a connection to a storied past. It keeps that storied past active in a different way than if there were no active label.

Edited May 4, 2012 by jazzbo

[A Lark Ascending]

Full quote:

Mr. Was has also initiated two new Blue Note reissue programs: a “Mastered for iTunes” series, and a partnership with HDtracks, which specializes in digital downloads that surpass the sound quality of CDs.

Now, what's that all about?

Making you buy your recordings yet again.

[JSngry]

Yeah, and try to imagine Johnny Mercer releasing a Beatles record on Capitol.

C'mon, Jim. Not the same thing, and you know it! Capitol is a much bigger label, releasing records of many more musical styles than Blue Note. I think you get the gist of what I'm saying, don't you?

Yeah, I get it, but I ain't buying it. Capitol of the 40s was a label with a reasonably singular vision (their forays into "hillbilly" being the exception, but in that, they parallel another great non-NYC indie label, King). As they grew in the 50s, they expanded their vision but still stayed within certain esthetic parameters (I mean, you got Billy May arranging for records by Sylvester and Tweety Pie AND Frank Sinatra). but eventually (in 1955, to be precise), they went corporate, sold out to EMI (who?), and the rest is history. From Martha Tilton to The Knack, from Albert Ammons to Norah Jones, hey, business happens.

Besides, I keep hearing all this talk about "vital" music..."vital" music comes in all forms and all styles. If Don Was can get vital albuums out of both Wayne Shorter (very likely) and Van Morrison (very unlikely, but you never know...) as well as whatever young folk with young ideas he happens to round up then I'll be happy, and not really worry about what the name of the label is.

And really, what does "vital" mean anyway...seems to me to be less a subjective quality than an objective one, at least up to a point. However, I don't think that expecting 20-somethings to be "vital" to 50-somethings (and vice-versa) is exactly a subjective proposition... the old folks waiting for the young ones to speak to them and their concerns are more or less delusional, as are the young ones expecting love and respect from the old ones for trying.

"Legitimacy" is best bestowed retroactively. In the meantime, take aim, and shoot true.

[JETman]

With all this talk about reviving Blue Note, has anyone given any thought to what they'd actually like the "revived" Blue Note to look like should Mr. Was succeed in his endeavors?

You've managed to avoid my original question. It seems that most get giddy at the mere mention of Blue Note without really knowing why. Not singling you out, Jim.

So, why are we so giddy enough to start a thread about this latest development? Nothing better to do? The thread title contains the words "Blue Note"? Don Was is a force to be reckoned with? We've all morphed into Chewy-bacca like characters? What?

[JSngry]

For me, it's casual conversation about the industry, nothing more.

I mean. "Blue Note" is a "celebrity name" and everybody talks about celebrities. You get some guy who only talks about people nobody else knows, like his brother-in-law in Muskegon, the guy on his block with the shut-in mom, his barber's two-year old, etc. , and after a while (pretty soon, actually)...there's no conversation to be had, ya' know?

Conversation is a social act before it's anything else.

Edited May 4, 2012 by JSngry

[JohnT]

A lot of people don't know that Don Was (real name Don Fagenson) was a great jazz bassist in the early '70's playing with pianist Lenore Paxton's group in and around the City of Detroit. Long before I knew who Jaco was, in the early '70's, to me, Don was our local "Jaco" (he even played a Fender Jazz bass and an Acoustic 360 amp and I don't think he knew who Jaco was at that time either but I could be wrong). He was a little older than me and I went to him to ask if he'd give me lessons but he turned me on to a great classical bass teacher who taught me to read, etc. for which I'm greatly indebted. My cousin, Kevin Tschirhart, played percussion with the original version of Was Not Was. Don did a lot of studio work at United Sound in Detroit and then went on to produce bigger names and the rest is history.

[.:.impossible]

How did he become the guy that helped Brian re-enterthe modern world?

He produced and directed ' I Just Wasn't Made for These Times', a documentary that contributed a great deal to brian Wilson's re-entry into the public gaze after his 'difficult period'. The music accompanying the film is generally excellent.

http://www.amazon.co...s/dp/B00000JLV7

I realize that! How did he get from humor music to that?

[Chuck Nessa]

Whatever. BN did what they did. It was a wonderful thing. The remnants are being tossed about by the collapse of the recorded music biz. Mr. Not Was found a nice corporate home, in charge of an icon. He will never please everyone. He will never please himself and he will never please me. He only needs to please his boss so he can keep getting checks. Not a bad thing, not a good thing.

Wish I had those tapes.