JazzNotes on the Web



INTERVIEW - 'STORYVILLE' - THE MAKING OF A LABEL While the passing of Storyville Records founder Karl Emil Knudsen in 2003 marked the end of an era and the company’s subsequent acquisition by The Music Sales Group has marked the birth of a new one, the original ethos that made the label such a respected and enduring success continues under the aegis of his long-time co-workers Anders Stefanson and Mona Granager, who remain central to the running of the business. They spoke briefly to Jazznotesuk about their roles and aspects of the label’s past. Read the complete interview with Anders and Mona >> Send us your Feature for Inclusion In This Section >>

INTERVIEW - Neil Cowley - A New Breed - ( Hideinside Records ) A new breed of British jazz artist is emerging. Erudite, thoughtful and with a strong sense of purpose, they are redefining the language of modern jazz and opening up new musical vistas. Growing up in an era when British music was a dominant force in the world, the cultural experiences of these rising stars are very different from those of their predecessors in the 1950s and 60s and it is this background that informs their attitudes and ideas. Pianist and composer Neil Cowley is the epitome of the new face of British jazz and, on the release of his trio's rapturously received debut album, Displaced, he spoke to Jazznotes in an exclusive interview that provides a fascinating insight into the development of a contemporary jazz musician. Read this complete interview with Neil Cowley >> Send us your Feature for Inclusion In This Section >>

JAZZ LATIN - DOING AS THE ROMANS DO - ( DDE Records ) From the day in 1904 when a group of Creole dancers and singers, styling themselves as the ‘Creators of the Cake Walk’, strutted onto the stage of the Teatro Eden in Milan, Italy has been a melting pot for American and home-grown jazz. A combination of their historical love for every kind of music and the cultural cross-fertilization seeded by the massive emigrant movements of the late 19th and early 20th century attracted young Italian musicians to the new music, in turn inspired by its rhythmic and harmonic innovations and absorbing it into the existing musical melee. Following on from the Dixieland imitators of the 1920s and big bands of the 1930s and outlasting the retrogressive Fascist era, jazz in Italy began to find a large audience in the early 1950s, paralleled by the cinematic new wave and bringing forth successive generations of indigenous musicians. Read this complete feature on DDE Records >> Send us your Feature for Inclusion In This Section >>

FROM DK TO UK – HISTORY IN THE MAKING - ( Storyville Records ) It was no coincidence that Europe’s oldest extant independent jazz label was named after the first home of jazz. The spirit of the Storyville district of New Orleans was a guiding light for the 23-year old Karl Emil Knudsen when he released his first Storyville record in 1952. It was a Louis and Lil’ Armstrong 1924 recording with the Red Onion Jazz Babies and it ushered in a steady flow of rare recordings by American jazz and blues artists to his native Denmark and the European market. From then until his death in 2003 Knudsen remained devoted to the label and in the process became one of the world’s most respected jazz producers, to such an extent that his renowned musical integrity and the empathetic relationships he formed with some of the jazz greats carried over after their passing to their heirs and estates, enabling him to issue many previously unreleased or less well known works. Read this complete feature on Storyville Records >> Send us your Feature for Inclusion In This Section >>

Oliver Nelson - The Man Who Did It All With one or two notable exceptions, making jazz is a team effort. Great performances are invariably great because all of the constituent parts – each artist, the arranger, and with recordings the producer and the engineer – make an essential contribution to the whole. Since the beginning of recorded music performers have striven for new heights of technical and artistic achievement and over the years a continuous stream of jazz men and women have set extraordinary standards of excellence in their particular disciplines. Many have found success in more than one skill, such as playing and arranging, but only a few have attained the peripatetic success of instrumentalist, leader, composer, arranger and producer Oliver Nelson. Read this complete feature on Oliver Nelson >> Send us your Feature for Inclusion In This Section >>

3 IN A BOX MAKES A GREAT SESSION - ( Blue Note ) The attractively priced triple album set has proved to be a very popular concept and Blue Note have now entered the arena with the launch of their Great Sessions series. Every one of the eighteen albums comprising the first six sets stands up in its own right and more than a few are true classics. Particularly noteworthy are the all-star casts that Blue Note assembled for what turned out exactly what the series title claims. Read this complete feature on Blue Note Records >> Send us your Feature for Inclusion In This Section >>

MILES DAVIS - THE CELLAR DOOR 1970 SESSIONS - ( SonyBMG ) May 25th marks what would have been the 80th birthday of one of the most influential personalities in the history of jazz whose legacy permeates the entire contemporary music scene. Miles Davis was a dominant presence throughout the second half of the 20th century and, although he was not a virtuoso player, his musical insight, partly instinctive and partly intellectual, coupled with an irrepressibly revolutionary spirit, continually led him towards new horizons and placed him in the vanguard of new musical movements. Scores of books and millions of words have been written about the Alton, Illinois-born and East St. Louis-raised son of middle-class parents so there is no need (or space) to detail his life here. For the average enthusiast, the minutiae of the private lives of most great artists is invariably less interesting than the result of their labours and jazz musicians are no exception. Read this complete feature on Miles Davis >> Send us your Feature for Inclusion In This Section >>