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Which jazz label/s has been the best over ...


wolff

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Very broad topic. Depends what jazz.

In order of importance-

Black Saint and Soul Note are #1, overall, imo.

Followed by ECM,

and small and smaller independent labels, like Hat, Gramavision and OmniTone[so far 10 for 10 for me from this label].

Welcome to the 21st century. I'm just catching up to the 1920s myself.

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Unfair to single out 'bests' - there are labels which have attained a financial viability that gets them a higher profile and thus gives them the opportunity to put out more. ECM, Enja, Fresh Sounds come to mind.

But then there are scores (if not hundreds) of labels which put out much less, have short life spans yet still add to the overall diversity of the jazz gene pool.

And, of course, 'best' would be dependent on what you're looking for. To one listener Intakt might seem best whilst Nagel Heyer would be hardly worth considering. And vice versa.

One thing I feel very firmly. Despite the reissue programmes of the majors which have brought forward some great music it's the smaller labels who are the real heroes of the last 10-20 years.

Long may they prosper.

Edited by Bev Stapleton
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Unfair to single out 'bests' - there are labels which have attained a financial viability that gets them a higher profile and thus gives them the opportunity to put out more.

One thing I feel very firmly. Despite the reissue programmes of the majors which have brought forward some great music it's the smaller labels who are the real heroes of the last 10-20 years.

Long may they prosper.

My thoughts exactly!

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Let's hope there will be many that will be able to live long...

some favorites:

enja

ECM

Soulnote/Blacksaint

hatART/OLOGY whatever

TCB

Palmetto

INTAKT

Altrisuoni

OWL

and one that's not exactly an independent label: Gitanes. In my opinion, they produced some if not the best music to come out of Verve/Universal in the last 15 or so years (Helen Merrill, Charlie Haden, RANDY WESTON...)

ubu

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Keep an eye on Pi.

Funny- you beat me to the punch... so far, they are 9 for 9 in my mind... and have compiled an amazing roster of artists. I am eagerly looking forward to what's coming next.

Also, I would second the nomination for Palmetto, as well as the obvious choices Soul Note/Black Saint, Hat, and ECM, who would go into that category for Dave Holland's work alone, if nothing else.

I also have my eyes on a couple of labels that look promising and are starting to live up to it: 441 Records, which has recently put out two stellar sessions by Pianist Don Friedman and Joe Chambers. Also, the Spanish label Satchmo Jazz Records, whose website is unfortunately mostly in Spanish...but I have been impressed by a disc from Ugonna Okegwo (with Sam Newsome on soprano and Xavier Davis on piano) as well as one from trumpeter Chris Kase, with the awesome rhythmic duo of Johannes Weidenmuller and Ari Hoenig.

Which reminds me of a couple of other impressive labels over the last couple of decades: Dreyfus Jazz and Arabesque... not 100% of the time, but a much larger percentage than most.

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Current favorite: Hat Hut

LOVE the hatOLOGY series and the hat ART Morton Feldman releases are classic.

The Hat catalog has grown fairly large and / but the level of consistency truly amazes me.

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