Storyville

[jazzbo]

So. . . just what is up with Storyville these days, under new management, and compiling previous reissuse, and . . . what else?

Anyone know?

It would be sad if the D. E. T. S. series ended.

They seem to be releasing a fourth "Louis Armstrong in Scandinavia" volume. . . only in a box set that includes the previous three (?)

Any .. .. .. good news or signs?

[Swinging Swede]

Rehashing previously released material, like the Duke box and the Masters of Jazz compilations, seems to be what they are about these days.

It's not only the D.E.T.S. series - remember the Cotton Club 1938 set that was supposed to come out? And I think it was mentioned in the liner notes of some Ellington release that there still was a lot more to come out from Duke's stockpile recordings. There also used to be new releases of material by so many other names from the Swing era and later.

This is a very unfortunate development. But then almost every label seems to have imploded recently. Only the Andorrans seem to be more active than ever.

Storyville doesn't seem to be distributed in America any longer either. That can't help sales.

[Brownian Motion]

The Secretary of the Navy has ordered Storyville closed.

[Christiern]

The Secretary of the Navy has ordered Storyville closed.

Actually, when Karl died, Storyville was bought by Wilhelm Hansen's music publishing co. A highly respected old firm, it is affiliated with (perhaps owned by) Schirmer. Mona Granager, who was Karl's right hand for decades and knew as much about the company as anyone else (other than Karl himself) is still there, so is Anders Stefansen, a man upon whom Karl relied heavily. These two people are in charge and they know the catalog as well as Karl's wishes. The new owners, not having been in the record business, leave things up to Anders and Mona, more or less. I feel very comfortable with them at the helm, as long as there is no serious interference from the new owners. So far, so good. I think Karl's son and daughter made the decision to sell--neither of them has any real interest in the record business. Of course, things will never be the same without Karl--he

was

Storyville and no one worked harder. I had know Karl since 1953, when he founded the label with the release of three vintage jazz 78s, (Clarence Williams Blue Five, Ma Rainey, and James P. Johnson)--the sound was dull and the discs were thick, but we Danes were starved for something to sip onto our turntables. Karl was a workaholic who got things done.

The last time Karl was in the U.S., he stayed with me (as he often did). It was the week of 9/11--we watched it together on TV as it unfolded. A fax come in from Fantasy, offering Karl a million dollars for his company. He wisely turned it down. As things have developed, we now probably stand a better chance of seeing Storyville products released in the future than we would have if Fantasy had eaten up the label.

What is missing is Karl's constant, exhaustive search for something new to license and release. We will also miss the film and literary side of his endeavors--would we ever have seen such books as these (see below) without his labor of love? And let us not forget that the discography he published (first Jepsen then Raben) were the most thorough works of the genre covering the post-war years. Unfortunately, Tom Lord came along and ripped this work off to produce his own, sloppy, error-ridden discography. In the process, he (Lord) made it impossible for Raben and Karl to continue

Jazz Records 1942-80

beyond Vol. 8 (Fre-Gi), which was only released in CD form.

Edited June 21, 2007 by Christiern

[Christiern]

Received this in my inbox this morning:

I guess it is proper that I disclose my authorship of the liner notes.

[jazzbo]

Chris, that's a selling point!

These are fun albums, thanks for the headsup.