mfs@mhuxr.UUCP (SIMON) (03/21/85)
Hear, hear. "The finest in jazz since 1939" is back. Some people, like me, used to think that Blue Note WAS the representative from Jazz Central and that the other labels were just window dressing for the rejects (:-) We can thank Bruce Lundvall for bringing the label back to life. At least we will now have access to all those reissues at domestic, rather than at Japanese or French import prices. [Maybe I can now find that elusive copy of Randy Weston's LITTLE NILES, from 1957.....] But a label does not live by reissues alone. What kind of new music can one expect from Blue Note? Unfortunately, Lundvall does not have such a great track record. He did start the Columbia Jazz Masters series but it was all reissues. His Elektra Musician, started with great fanfare, has proved embarrassingly short on quality. The problem is that people like Lundvall refuse to admit the value of anything recorded after 1960. Why start a label with Charles Lloyd or Grover Washington Jr when you have Sam Rivers, Cecil Taylor and Andrew Hill without contracts? There is nothing wrong with Lloyd or Washington, they are just not ... earthshaking. Well, they did sign Stanley Jordan, who is a brilliant young musician, despite what Gary Giddins says. My question is why not go after people like Olu Dara, Vernon Reid, Jamalaadeen Tacuma, Ricky Ford, Julius Hemphill..... Let's face it, bebop is no longer where the action is in jazz. Although beboppers are still making fine music (Give me Milt Jackson any time) there is an whole group of musicians who have absorbed the lessons of swing, bebop and "free", and are now moving on to new territories. A visit to any large city jazz club will prove that there is an audience out there that wants to hear these people. Given that jazz will never make millions, and that there are many small labels doing quite well, why not go for it, Mr. Lundvall? Marcel Simon