Atlantic shuts down their Jazz division.

[Rudy]

From a recent article I posted here, I read that times were so rough for Atlantic's jazz division that they closed it down. Currently signed artists were let go, apparently.

My concern, though, is what will happen with the back catalog. Not sure if anyone can answer it. I know during his heyday, Jean-Luc Ponty sold a fair share of fusion jazz CDs in the 70's and 80's. Coltrane, too, was on the label IIRC. One thing I'd noticed with a couple of more recent Ponty reissues was that they were released on the Rhino label with an Atlantic imprint on them. (Big deal--it's all the same T/W/AOL family anyway.)

I just wonder what the story is. Any newly-recorded jazz on Atlantic isn't going to happen. Does this mean no more reissues? Or will reissues now go through Rhino? (They certainly won't sign Wynton...nobody wants Wynton anymore! ) I just can't imagine a lot of the music in their vaults will remain untouched for the forseeable future.

-= N =-

 

[William]

Atlantic has certainly released its share of great jazz albums... as well as many by Coltrane, Charlie Mingus, and Ornette Coleman. Brubeck, Art Farmer, Herbie Mann, even Sergio & Brasil '65 were all on Atlantic.

I think we can count on Atlantic reissues continuing through at least two avenues: Koch Jazz and Collectables. (The latter, at least, shows no sign of slowing down their usual pattern of releasing twofers of unrelated albums by unrelated artists, with poorly remastered sound and amazingly sh!tty cover design.) Anyway, they license material from Rhino and release it all the time. I'm guessing that Atlantic's termination of its current jazz division won't have too much effect on the back catalogue.


- William

 

[jimac51]

Atlantic's vault,jazz,pop or otherwise,has been overseen by Rhino since early 1992. When Rhino took its distribution to WEA,one stipulation was that no one on Atlantic's staff was to have anything to do with reissuing catalog. As Warner eventually gobbled up Rhino completely,Rhino was also put in charge of any Warner,Electra,Atlantic back catalog item. With the Chicago group/label deal,a new wrinkle seems to be developing where these aquisitions,Time-Life Music(the book part is completely shut down),TV marketing and possibly special marketing is being handled by a seperate arm of the conglomerate. They are looking for Chicago-like set-ups,-rich catalogs that have not been exploted and when you think about it,you gotta think think that Herb,by owning his masters,would be a potential candidate. I wonder....Mac

 

[snapcrotch]

Nesuhi Ertegun must be spinning in his grave -- while Ahmet , out of the WEA corporate loop, lounges by his mansion pool in the Hamptons. But then, why should he put up a quarter million bucks to put out a single new jazz album -- with no radio play and most of the promo copies going into the shelves of jazzbos? The Big Corporations can hardly be bothered. The era of patriarch jazz sugar-daddys like Norman Granz, Carl Jefferson, and yes, Ahmet Ertegun are over. We are governed by major label pablum -- computer programmed via chains of radio outlets (Clear Channel). And for tiny independent labels, the mom-n-pops have vanished and the chains won't carry or pay for what they do order. Perhaps it's good Nesuhi checked out in '91 -- cause he's in a better place while the rest of us live in Music Hell. (Only our personal album collections can help us survive.)

 

[snapcrotch]

Some Ertegun bio: Nesuhi was the older brother of Ahmet, and was -- by far -- the more courageous, risk-taking, and prescient sibling in seeking and signing the more outre jazz musicians of the late 50's-early 60s. To wit: Ornette Coleman, Charles Mingus, John Coltrane, Teddy Charles, John Lewis, Jimmy Giuffre, Art Farmer, and Third Stream-ist Gunther Schuller. All can be attributed to his extended listening and forward vision -- both traits being completely unrequired by executives in today's marketplace. Nesuhi died on April 15, 1989. a time when the recording scene still offered some hope of greater discoveries to come. In 2002, these 'corps' wouldn't even recognize a 'new' John Coltrane, if such a miracle were to occur. In fact, by closing the Atlantic jazz division, they have no intention of looking.

 

[Rudy]

All can be attributed to his extended listening and forward vision -- both traits being completely unrequired by executives in today's marketplace.

Amen to that!! Music executives today only need to be able to show how to improve the corporation's bottom line.

In 2002, these 'corps' wouldn't even recognize a 'new' John Coltrane, if such a miracle were to occur. In fact, by closing the Atlantic jazz division, they have no intention of looking.

Even so, the marketing departments had a tendency to proclaim someone the Next Miles Davis or the Next John Coltrane, without having an inkling as to what made these artists special.

And moreover, a lot of what Atlantic released during the past few years wasn't all that great anyway...the Ertegun era long past. Maybe it's just as well it closed up.

Not jazz-related, but one of my favorite EPs is the Honeydrippers. As most everyone knows, it was basically a cover for Robert Plant, Jimmy Page and his buddies to throw together an anonymous five-song "oldies" jam just for fun...and it was produced by the Fabulous Nugetre brothers. (Nugetre spelled backwards...) You could tell everyone, from the musicians to the control room, were having a blast with this project!

Ahmet Ertegun also did a string arrangement for Phil Collins ("If Leaving Me Is Easy", from Face Value) that he's fond of. It sends shivers up my spine! It's too bad that talents like these are often just sent "out to pasture". Retirement is nice to a point, but great minds like the Erteguns (and dozens of others) are something future generations are going to miss out on hearing.

-= N =-

 

[jimac51]

IMHO,Cyrus Chestnut and,especially,James Carter,were two bright spots in Atlantic's roster. Carter must be singled out as THE potential reed leader of this new century but he was already on his way before his Atlantic years and that stuff will probably be re-released as some kind of Complete box set years from now. While Atlantic closed a tiny but important door,Elektra plans on bringing out many,if not all,of their important Explorer albums on CD- field and studio recordings of blues,roots and world music,a la Alan Lomax.