Christiern

The fact that Roy's left eye is where he usually had his right eye is a dead giveaway.

Mike has now taken the action that the situation called for, IMO.

I agree, Bev. JC is also heading for trouble thanks to GregM--he is relatively civil right now (measured by a very low standard of civility), but it is clear that he is revving up.

I told Jim about it, but he may also have heard it elsewhere. Junior Mance and I were reminiscing about this a couple of years ago, it was no secret among musicians.

Ray Bryant, Houston Person, and Johnny Griffin come to mind, although Bob may not have worked with them directly--and a call to Ira Gitler should be helpful. I can give you his number if you need it.

As I recall, someone once tabulated the sales figures for Stan Getz's Long Island Soundalbum and concluded that it had--in the total of its various releases--earned either gold or platinum. The point being that if one measured total sales, some jazz albums actually outsold some of the more heralded pop fare. Ask Bob about Long Island Sound. It also occurred to me, Dan, that you should think about doing some preliminary interviews with surviving Prestige artists--that will undoubtedly inspire questions for Bob--it will also give the interview broader scope (and more Cadence, as it were . )

Is it really going to be a Coleman Hawkins show or will it be the Phil Schaap show, with incidental music by Hawkins? BTW Is Schaap still there, or have they come to their senses?

Labels like Prestige, Riverside, and Blue Note could not compete with the majors as far as distribution and promotion was concerned, but Bob was smart to take advantage of them. He recorded artists like Miles and Monk prolifically and either for scale or a relatively low fee. When a company like Columbia signed them up (and this is particularly true in Miles' case), Bob's vaulted tapes became even more valuable--Columbia spent more money on promoting someone like Miles than Prestige ever could afford, so Bob splurged a bit on 4-color covers and went to market in the wake of what essentially was free publicity. I know that's a simplified explanation, but what I am saying is that losing an artist to a company that will give him/her heavy promotion is rather desirable if you have "product" to put out there. You should ask Bob about that M.O. BTW, the majors' jazz A&R departments were staffed with people who knew the Weinstocks, Cadenas and Grauers, and shared their interests, so if there was competition, it was friendly. As for Esmond and Don, both were into photography. Don, as I recall, was also good at doing layouts. It was a lot cheaper to have them snap the cover photos. Don Schlitten produced several albums that were outside of the jazz realm, like Burgess Meredith reading Ray Bradbury, Monologues by Hermione Gingold, and a Billy Dee Williams cabaret album. I was assigned to recording a flamenco album by a group called Los Morenos. I still have no idea why Bob wanted that in the catalog--I don't know much about that idiom, and I knew even less in 1961. I think they were from Brooklyn!

I'll ask her.

It was not uncommon, especially in Europe, to use the term "supervisor" rather than "producer." Actually, it was a far more appropriate job description at sessions where the proceedings were, in fact, produced by the artist(s) under the label representative's supervision. Make sense?

Jazz labels routinely advertised in publications like Metronome and Down Beat, but the promotional value was minimal. All musicians read Down Beat, so seeing their recordings advertised there was more something that kept them happy than something that sold records. A good article or review, on the other hand, was effective. Other than a good write-up in a national publication like TIME or a Tonight show-level TV appearance, I believe regular local radio exposure and a good performance schedule was the best way to sell albums. Besides boosting the morale of musicians, an ad in Down Beat kept alive a magazine that could be relied on for free publicity.

Dan, I can always do a Rummy--and leak!

Thanks, P-funk, actually some of my more interesting experiences are going into a book that I have been working on--on and off--for a few years.

Definitely a good question, Dan, I just wanted to give you a bit of background.

Friendship did exist between allegedly competing label owners. Many of them were friends long before they established their companies--they were record collectors who swapped 78s and attended the same meetings. Having been in the collected company of several of these men, I have never seen any sign of animosity among them--on the contrary. When I had had enough of working for a racist radio station owner in Philadelphia (Dolly Banks of WHAT-AM, FM, who thought I was too friendly with the black staff of her AM side), I quit my job. Having not called the shots herself, she was enraged by my decision and issued a rule that no albums bearing my name could be played on her station. Bob Weinstock and Bill Grauer (who owned and ran Riverside) sent her a joint letter stating that WHAT would not be serviced by them as long as that rule was in effect. The rule was rescinded. BTW, WHAT was a round-the-clock jazz station (I think the only one at that time--1959/60--so it was important to jazz labels; Prestige and Riverside had the same distributor in Philadelphia (Ed Cohen), and probably also in other cities. I never sensed that these companies regarded each other as competitors--for one thing, the jazz record industry was relatively small and the average jazz record consumer put music before label. The Blue Note cult (well, it at least borders on that sometimes) was not in evidence, but there was respect for that label because of its consistent quality and its longevity. Secondly, as stated, these were old friends with an abiding common interest.

Apropos resale value, I think Prestige albums bearing the NYC address on the label are up there with BNs. I base this on a California collector who used to pay me annual visits in search of early LPs. BTW - Dan be sure to ask Bob about Esmond Edwards. The circumstances under which he went from van driver to session producer. When I was with Prestige--on the payroll, that is--I regularly found a memo from Bob on my desk when I came in, informing me that I was now something other than what I had been when I left the office the day before! I was always having to print new business cards. Once I was the head of promotion, but I think I became something else before I had an opportunity to function as such.

Dan, I'm so glad you contacted Bob! One reason why Bob moved Prestige to Bergenfield NJ from NYC was to make it inconvenient for musicians to hang out at the office in search of an advance. That was almost a daily thing at Riverside. Anyway, I don't think disappearing LPs was a problem for Prestige--it was easy to rip Riverside off because musicians worked in the storage across the street. Ask Bob why he stopped producing sessions. Ask him about experimenting with 16 rpm releases Have him do his Miles Davis imitation for you Ask him about his novel Ask him about Pop Weinstock, his father, who used to drill holes through the labels of discounted (dumped) albums. I'll come up with better questions as I think about my days at Prestige.

I always use View New Posts--it seems so logical. And I don't even have pointed ears!

I just received this...

Having congratulated you privately, let me also do so here. Congratulations--let there be more to come. Now, How about Bob Weinstock, while there's still time?

I know exactly what you mean, Paul--I reluctantly gave up break dancing a couple of years ago. The old cardboard I so gracefully used to spin on now is a cherished wall hang.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY PAUL! HOPE YOU HAD A BLAST!

I hope some of you look into Riverside's New Orleans: The Living Legends, the series of 1961 N.O. sessions that inspired Ahmet Ertegun to go down there. I hasten to add that, although I produced these sessions, I have no financial interest in them, whatsoever.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY HERR WEIZEN!

Steve Jobs has said that he wants to see a $100 iPod--and when it comes to things Apple, he usually gets what he wants.