It was back
in the 1980s and through the late, great John Peel that the teenage 'Jazzman' Gerald
started to get into a wider variety of music than the usual mix of pop and rock
that everyone else was into. Peel sometimes threw on the odd old jazz, blues or
R&B side - even some funk at times - and it was these oldies but goodies
that struck a chord in his musical imagination. This was all before the
internet existed, so in order to get closer to hear more of these amazing
sounds he made the move from his home town of Middlesbrough to London. As far
as music is concerned, this was the centre of the universe, and it was also
where all the records were. Or so he thought...
Most of the
records that caught his ear were American in origin, and as such were highly
priced in the capital city, way beyond what he could afford. So he saved up
some money in order to fly to the US to unearth, discover and buy these old and
obscure records. Living on a budget and sleeping on floors, he travelled
throughout the US to find old LPs & 45s. Finding them in quantity and at
low prices, he established Jazzman Records to import the records back to the
UK, and set up a mailorder business based around his new record stall in Camden
Market.
In the mid-‘90s the records started to become
harder to find, the American stores and dealers began to put their prices up,
and continual demand caused prices to start rising. So Gerald decided to start
his Jazzman label in order to reissue the records that were either most in
demand or were so rare that people who would never otherwise get to enjoy
hearing them would be able to do so. These days some of the rarer records can
now fetch thousands of dollars, so we endeavour to acquire the rights to
reissue them so everyone can listen, not just the lucky few who can afford the
high prices.
t can take a
lot of time, effort and money to locate some of the old guys who made these old
records, but to Gerald it’s worth it. Having met many artists and musicians on
his travels to the US, Gerald has great respect for them, their music and their
struggle to get their records made and heard all those years ago. Jazzman now
employs Fryer, Orsi, Liam and Dom to help run the website and many record
labels. We now over 90 titles reissued on the Jazzman series of 45s, and over 50
albums on CD and LP. There are also almost many more titles on our Jukebox Jam,
FUNK45, SOUL7, TTShake, Popcorn, Fryers and Soul Spectrum labels, with new 45s
released every month!
Name: Jazzman Gerald
Job title: Jazzman
Some things you like: Music & records, cacti, Japanese
food, cats, real ale, hawaiian shirts
Some things you dislike: Kenny G, rain, garlic
Some info about you: I started the Jazzman label in 1998
when I realised that the demand for rare soul, funk n' jazz records far
outstripped their supply. Prices of the original records were getting higher and bootlegs were rife, so I decided
to start a label determined to reissue my favourite rarities legally, on vinyl,
and with full respect to the artist, wherever possible telling their side of
how their records were made and their life in music. We continue the journey to
this day and beyond, with ourfamily of
labels including Jazzman, Jukebox Jam, Fryers, Soul Spectrum, SOUL7, FUNK45, Stark Reality, Popcorn and TTSHAKE.
Website: http://www.jazzmanrecords.co.uk/
No comments:
Post a Comment