Favorite boutique labels?

[Stonewall15]

I am not sure if the Los Angeles Jazz Institute (LAJI) CDs can be considered to be on a boutique label. The were issued in a limited quantity to members only and contained many unreleased sessions of West Coast jazz. The LAJI also released two box sets. In any case these CDs were West Coast jazz at its best. 

[Niko]

12 minutes ago, Stonewall15 said:

I am not sure if the Los Angeles Jazz Institute (LAJI) CDs can be considered to be on a boutique label. The were issued in a limited quantity to members only and contained many unreleased sessions of West Coast jazz. The LAJI also released two box sets. In any case these CDs were West Coast jazz at its best. 

I'd say those are "treasure chest" not "boutique" 

[clifford_thornton]

3 hours ago, mikeweil said:

He observed the younger people under 35 he sees at his and neighbouring stands on the vinyl events show no interest in jazz before 1950

Maybe it is different in the US. It is a niche audience, for sure.

oh, I understand now. The buyers are definitely going for 1950 or later, yeah.

[mikeweil]

5 hours ago, Niko said:

the people who are now buying all those tonepoets are not from the "corresponding generation"

I wonder who they are. They definitely have some money.

[Big Beat Steve]

Re- the observations of Mikeweil, Niko and Ghost:
From what I have observed, all this is hit and miss and you have to be lucky to find the right buyers at those record fairs. But it does happen.
Somehow with all the purchasing I have done during the past 2-3 years my "stock" of jazz records for sale increases despite all I've sold.  Sometimes it is a matter of me upgrading (such as an LP that can go because I bought its contents and MORE on a 2-LP album), sometimes because in the end I do already own this or that record I just brought home. Usually the latter is either a case of a pressing with a totally different cover but exactly identical contents, or a matter of me saying "what the heck" because the records were very cheap and I figured it just was not worth the effort to go back home first to check and then return downtown again. Overall what I have is way too little for a record fair (which are nothing to enthuse about in my area anymore anyway) so I display them at my fleamarket stalls. I also find that pre-1950 vinyl moves rather slowly, and from what I see in the Special Offer bins of the few remaining local record shops this is a general trend. But even modern jazz from the 50s and early 60s is not as hot as I had figured (neither on CD). Though my prices are very affordable, I'd say. Or maybe my offers are too "obscure" for the general jazz layman listener - e.g. a Brew Moore LP from his Danish period has been sitting in my crates for quite some time by now. Same for some Uptown CDs. (BTW - Uptown would be another favorite "boutique label"  !!)

So, to forestall idle inquiries, last year I decided to mark the divider panel in the crates (that shows what is inside):

JAZZ - SWING - BOP - COOL
No Free, no Jazz Rock, no Fusion!

This has gotten me a few smiles and laughs ...

As for pre-Swing Era jazz, this has always been only a small part of what I try to sell, but amazingly last year, over the course of 3-4 fleamarkets, I sold off almost all of it! Most of them to buyers who looked like "40" was quite a few years away. It is an amazing experience if a couple picks your Bennie Moten LPs from one crate and you then have to advise them that that other Bennie Moten LP that you have in your "Swing" crate (for better exposure of the artist) and that they pulled out too offers no new contents over what they just picked from that Oldtime Jazz section!  

As for "boutique labels", quite a few of my records are on such collector labels, but most buyers at such events do not seem savvy enough to appreciate them. Though amazingly one Paul Howard Quality Serenaders LP on the The Old Masters label I really had bought from the Special Offers section by mistake (because I did not remember all of its contents are on that RCA LP I have by this band) was snapped up at the first fleamarket I took this record to afterwards.  

So, overall it all looks indeed like a niche market within the niche market of jazz - even modern jazz from the 1945-65 era that goes somewhat beyond the "usual suspects" of the big names.
To me it seems like it is not the lack of interest as such among a generation of (relative) youngsters but the lack of interested younger listeners who are prepared to explore a style of jazz  DEEPLY and go significantly beyond the usual suspects. And of course this hurts collector or boutique labels, in particular. (But maybe that deeper interest will mature as they get older - but if the collector labels wil then still be around except in the secondhand sections is anybody's guess. )

 

Edited Thursday at 08:25 AM by Big Beat Steve

[Niko]

I also have that impression that pre-1950 Jazz sells hardly at all, and that the 1950s used to do better  a decade ago while the 1970s are comparatively popular at the moment (as shown also by things like the Jazz Dispensary reissue series which has its focus there)... And yes, that could be a pattern of aging generations but I believe it's simply a matter of fluctuations in taste... At least when it comes to vinyl sales rather than CDs since those older generations seem to care mostly about CDs...

[EKE BBB]

1 hour ago, Big Beat Steve said:

(...) (BTW - Uptown would be another favorite "boutique label"  !!)

(...)

 

Timeless Historical would be another one. 

[paulfromcamden]

7 hours ago, Niko said:

I also have that impression that pre-1950 Jazz sells hardly at all, and that the 1950s used to do better  a decade ago while the 1970s are comparatively popular at the moment (as shown also by things like the Jazz Dispensary reissue series which has its focus there)... And yes, that could be a pattern of aging generations but I believe it's simply a matter of fluctuations in taste... At least when it comes to vinyl sales rather than CDs since those older generations seem to care mostly about CDs...

Agreed - I think the market is focused on 'audiophile' album reissues making anything before the LP era a more difficult prospect.

8 hours ago, Big Beat Steve said:

no Fusion!

Or no con-fusion as Sweet Papa Lou would always remind us 😂

[Big Beat Steve]

46 minutes ago, paulfromcamden said:

Or no con-fusion as Sweet Papa Lou would always remind us 😂

 

Which I understand made him pass for a moldy fig in the opinions of certain "progressivists"! 

[romualdo]

There are a multitude of "boutique" labels abounding in the "jazz" realm, some with a long history (Ogun, Emanem & Incus: all UK based initially) - the labels really took off with the advent of CDs (Evan Parker wrote about this years back) - more compact/mobile (cheaper shipping costs) products.

Some of my fav "boutique" labels include

No Business (Lithuania) - archives series is outstanding (Sam Rivers, Oliver Lake etc)

Fundacja Sluchaj (Listen Foundation) - impressive run of Cecil Taylor releases

Not Two (Poland) - lots of Vandermark plus Brit/Euro free/improv

Nimbus West & Dark Tree - Tapscott galore

Jazz In Britain (been a subscriber since inception) & British Progressive Jazz

False Walls (UK) - impressive recent UK label

Triple Point (exxy LP's ony)

Okkadisk, Atavistic

Corbett vs Dempsey

Burning Ambulance

Leo (UK) Leo Feigin's label focusing on Russian/Eastern European jazz

Recommended/ReR Megacorp - Chris Cutler's label 

[Dub Modal]

1 hour ago, romualdo said:

There are a multitude of "boutique" labels abounding in the "jazz" realm, some with a long history (Ogun, Emanem & Incus: all UK based initially) - the labels really took off with the advent of CDs (Evan Parker wrote about this years back) - more compact/mobile (cheaper shipping costs) products.

Some of my fav "boutique" labels include

No Business (Lithuania) - archives series is outstanding (Sam Rivers, Oliver Lake etc)

Fundacja Sluchaj (Listen Foundation) - impressive run of Cecil Taylor releases

Not Two (Poland) - lots of Vandermark plus Brit/Euro free/improv

Nimbus West & Dark Tree - Tapscott galore

Jazz In Britain (been a subscriber since inception) & British Progressive Jazz

False Walls (UK) - impressive recent UK label

Triple Point (exxy LP's ony)

Okkadisk, Atavistic

Corbett vs Dempsey

Burning Ambulance

Leo (UK) Leo Feigin's label focusing on Russian/Eastern European jazz

Recommended/ReR Megacorp - Chris Cutler's label 

I'm hoping sites like Bandcamp are helping some of these labels with driving some revenue and getting exposure, especially since the American market for CDs is a fraction of what it once was. I really dig the Jazz in Britain label along with several others you mention. Without Bandcamp I'm not sure how I would have heard about some of them.