Record Label Profile
Ogun Recordings: Small Is Beautiful
by Duncan Heining
In 2023, Ogun Recordings celebrated its fiftieth anniversary, making it the longest living independent British jazz label. It was a huge achievement for an undertaking that was begun somewhat reluctantly by its co-creators ex-pat South African bassist Harry Miller, his partner Hazel and recording engineer Keith Beal and was run out of the Miller's home in North London. As Hazel Miller notes on the label's site, “Harry was working with several bands and a friend had ...
Continue ReadingGleAM Records: Italian Passion And Dedication
by Neil Duggan
Founded in 2017 by musician and producer Angelo Mastronardi, GleAM Records is an independent Italian label and music publisher based near Lecce. What began as a jazz-focused venture has since expanded to embrace a broad spectrum of recordings, from new artists and modern post-bop to experimental jazz and live sessions. Archival reissues and unreleased tape also form a major part of the label's framework, beginning in 2023 with the audio restoration and remastering of Modern Art Trio by Franco D'Andrea ...
Continue ReadingThe Blues Period: The First Decade of Nola Blue Records, 2014-2024
by Scott Gudell
Start with a degree in Business Administration and Management and you might just wind up running and owning a record company. Sounds like a long shot but that's what happened to Sallie Bengtson in 2014 when her passion for all things blues--especially if it has something to do with jny: New Orleans--inspired her to visit the city. “It started with the atmosphere--it's a gumbo of the architecture, the food, the music and the spirit. “It's 'my' place" she recalled during ...
Continue ReadingThe Mosaic Records Story
by Michael Cuscuna
In memory of Mosaic Records co-founder Michael Cuscuna (1948-2024). Although Mosaic Records' first release came out in July of 1983, the seeds for the business were planted in 1970. As a journalist, radio show host and record producer, I began coming into contact with many musicians who had been major players in Blue Note's repertory company. Since Blue Note had always been my favorite label for its consistent quality, conversations would ultimately drift to those great days of ...
Continue ReadingEdition Records: A Guide To The First Fifteen Years
by Ian Patterson
Edition Records celebrates its 15th anniversary in 2023. The label founded in Cardiff in 2008 by keyboardist Dave Stapleton has come a long way in that time. Initially conceived of as a means to release his own music and that of his friends, Edition Records went from being a cottage industry to a position as one of hottest European jazz labels in just a few short years. Since 2014, when Stapleton signed tenor saxophonist Chris Potter to the ...
Continue ReadingRhythm And Blues Records: Small But Perfectly Formed
by Duncan Heining
Back in 2007, music fan Nick Duckett walked into a record shop hoping to buy a comprehensive history of rhythm and blues on CD. To his surprise, the owner told him no such set existed at the time. Having a bit of time on his hands, Duckett thought to himself, “Well, there bloody ought to be?" From that small acorn, the oak that would become Rhythm and Blues Records took root. The Middlesex-based UK label now boasts some ...
Continue ReadingWe Jazz Records: Finland's indie label shaking up the global conversation
by Rob Garratt
The past decade's genre-bending jazz renaissance has been well-documented, but between the trailblazing players taking improvised music to increasingly hip places, and the ever-growing audience queuing up to hear them, sits the homegrown labels bottling these brave, thrilling (r)evolutions for all to hear. In conversations about the state of jazz today, it's often easier to distil the music's disparate scenes and sounds by referring to the labels who document them, instead of the musicians who play it. And it's not ...
Continue ReadingJazz World Records: From Hong Kong with Love
by Rob Garratt
"I've had plenty of labels in the past--three or four, I can't remember--and I always swore I'd never do it again," begins Clarence Chang as he sits down to lunch. And yet here we are, chewing linguine and discussing the label he just founded, Jazz World Records. “The only true jazz label in HK" proudly claims the new venture's online bio. If creating an indie imprint of any kind is a distinctly brave proposition in 2022, then ...
Continue ReadingAnalog Africa: digging deeper into gold mines of global groove
by Rob Garratt
For casual but curious collectors of eclectic sounds and global grooves, Analog Africa might be the Holy Grail. Since being founded in Germany by Samy Ben Redjeb in 2006, the Tunisian crate digger's deeply personal and highly idiosyncratic imprint has birthed a steady stream of 40 peerless releases and counting—carefully curated collections of rare and obscure analogue-era recordings which invariably act as thrilling sonic transporters, touristic time capsules and irresistible dance-floor fillers. The story begins in 2000 when ...
Continue ReadingAstral Spirits: Lifting the Spirit of Jazz
by Jakob Baekgaard
While pop often follows predictable musical patterns, one of the greatest qualities about jazz is its sense of adventurousness and the ability to take the listener on a journey where the destination is unknown. The Astral Spirits label, based in jny: Austin, Texas, and run by musician Nate Cross, truly embraces this quality of jazz. This year, 2019, the label celebrates its five-year anniversary and the quality and scope of the catalog is already dazzling with 100+ releases ...
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