Monterey Jazz Festival Records

GIMME 5: Five Questions About Monterey Jazz Festival Records
ISSUE 2, DECEMBER 07

With Simone ‘4MuLA’ Giuliani
A&R Asst./Digital Audio Editor at Monterey Jazz Festival Records

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Question 1: Tell me, what exactly is “digital editing” and with respect to “live recordings” why is it even needed, let alone important?

4MuLA: What they call “digital editing” is a very delicate process. It consists in preparing a recording for publication and with the use of digital tools, refine it to fit the best industry standards. In plain English, it means making a record sound better when the original quality is somewhat compromised. As far as live recordings go, the digital editing process is essential because it brings out the spontaneity and nuances of certain moments captured on tape that would be otherwise hidden by noises and disturbances present in the original recording. In this specific case, some of the Monterey Jazz Festival recordings originate from different sources: sometimes portions of a full performance may have been recorded on a 10” reel tape and some others on a 12” reel. Jason Olaine and I often have to match the different tape speeds and take care of other anomalies, so that when listeners will enjoy the results they won’t know where the cuts are. Our job is to make the listener’s experience unique and sometimes -oftentimes- it takes a lot of surgery. That’s why we feel so honored to be a part of this whole process. The bottom line is, and always will be, to retain the full integrity of the live performance.


Question 2: What are the most challenging and rewarding aspects of this work?

4MuLA: The biggest challenge is to preserve the spontaneity of the recordings and deliver the magic of certain moments intact, while keeping a very analytical mind-frame. Of course, as Murphy’s Law goes, often an incredible performance sounds horrible sonically and a less inspired one has superb audio quality: here the human factor plays a huge role. The biggest personal reward? To sit back, relax and listen to the edits done on the Miles Davis Quintet concert of 1963.
Find the one in ‘Stella By Starlight’ if you can. I smile every time I hear it. I don’t think there could be a greater reward than honoring the genius of these music legends other than presenting their work, today, as it was really meant to be heard.


Question 3: How has your background prepared you for such technologically delicate and musically sensitive work?

4MuLA: I am a composer/music producer and this enables me to fully understand all the dynamics and interactions between the performers. There’s a lot more on these tapes than a simple static recording: these cats were single-handedly making history on the stage of Monterey Jazz Festival, year after year. Putting on musician’s ears gives me a privileged viewpoint on the whole affair. On the technical side, I have been cutting, pasting and chopping up samples since I was 17-years-old and I think this has built up a huge confidence in me when dealing with audio material. I firmly believe that when you are editing there are only solutions, not problems. If there’s a problem, it’s there to be solved.


Question 4: How did you come by this job and what are you looking forward to?

4MuLA: I received a call by label GM Jason Olaine at the beginning of 2007 asking me if I would like to help him out with ’some live recordings’. Almost a year later, I’m still here digging gold in the vaults of Monterey Jazz Festival Records and couldn’t be happier. It’s a constant thrill to guess what will be found in the next batch of tapes, since there are so many hours of unheard recordings. I just checked out the rough mixes of the Holland/Rubalcaba/Potter/Harland performance at the ‘07 Monterey Jazz Festival and they are just marvelous, it will be a great record to work on for 2008. Things to look forward to? Finding the Miles Davis’ tapes of 1969 -if they exist at all-. And having a glass of port with Clint Eastwood.

Question 5: When you are listening to these raw tapes, what are you listening for as an an A&R assistant and as a digital editor?

4MuLA: I think that the magnitude of the idea behind Monterey Jazz Festival Records could be underestimated by the public if not presented the right way and as an A&R assistant I make sure that all the recordings that we pick are always making a strong artistic statement, regardless of the stature of the artist or the year of the performance. There are no limits to what this project can achieve culturally and it’s a relief to know that part of the profits made from the releases are being re-invested in jazz education programs. It’s the perfect answer to those who ask where jazz is going. There is incredible talent out there and while Monterey Jazz Festival is contributing to push them forward it is, at the same time, honoring the legacy of the ones who paved the way and I humbly feel a part of this process. In my opinion jazz is changing as a musical language according to the times we live in, exactly as it was happening during the times of these recordings; they should be seen as colorful snapshots of those days. While working on the A&R side, I want to make sure that each listener will hear and feel exactly what was happening on stage at that precise moment. A joke by Dizzy can go a long way. The digital editor in me comes out to eliminate any technical problems that might prevent all of the above from happening: digital editing simply facilitates the process of delivering these gems to audiences worldwide.

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CLICK HERE TO CHECK OUT ‘GIMME 5′ Issue #1 with Tim Jackson & Jason Olaine

Hi Everybody,
Thanks for contributing to the fast growth of Monterey Jazz Festival Records online! We are excited about the new releases coming out on August 21st on our new record label and it’s a true honor to share this incredible event with all of you. These forthcoming gems are the direct result of the delicate process of transferring the original tapes into digital format for all the Monterey Jazz Festival live performances. We’ll go into more detail of that process later, but suffice to say we had the best folks in the business at Fantasy Studios on our team.

It has been an intense period of archiving and listening, followed by heartbreaking selections of the best performances and moments of the Festival to choose to release. Goose-bumps and burst of laughters are not-so-rare around here anymore. These recordings captured the true essence of the Monterey Jazz Festival in every album that you will listen to: you’ll recognize friendly voices, hear the audience interacting and appreciating the music, listen in on side comments and anecdotes and each time learn something different about these jazz legends who made history.

As we continue to grow and release new records, we will add our own stories and behind-the-scenes insights and invite you to do the same. We will have a section here where you can share your memories of Monterey -your favorite shows, favorite artists.

We feel privileged as a record label to be able to share these unforgettable moments with music fans of all ages and at the same time open a door into the room of a new generation of musicians, producers and DJs who will grow by listening to Miles, Thelonious, Satchmo, Dizzy, Sarah, and all of their friends. We’d like to uncover some secrets about how all this was possible by publishing ‘Gimme 5′: five questions answered monthly by key figures of Monterey Jazz Festival Records.

Enjoy!
Jason Olaine & Simone ‘4MuLA’ Giuliani

Here starts the first installment of our “Gimme 5″ series: five questions answered monthly by key figures of Monterey Jazz Festival Records.

GIMME 5: Five Questions About Monterey Jazz Festival Records
ISSUE 1, AUGUST 07

With Tim Jackson, General Manager of the Monterey Jazz Festival
and Jason Olaine, General Manager of Monterey Jazz Festival Records

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Question 1: How did the idea come about for initiating a MJF label imprint?

Tim Jackson: About three years ago we started looking for ways to maximize and leverage our 50th (Anniversary) to our best advantage and look for ways to create new projects that would carry on past the 50th and create new synergies for the festival. With 50 years and 1600 tapes in our archives, and with money raised to preserve and digitize the archives we felt we were ready to find a partner who could help us launch a comprehensive project like this. Jason Olaine had always advocated for the festival to undertake a project like this and after a meeting with Glen Barros (who was a JAI colleague and fellow board member) we were able to fashion a proposal to our board of directors for approval. In short, I had the original idea, Jason provided creative stimulation, encouragement and, now, staff leadership, and Glen offered us the opportunity of a quality collaboration and the expertise and influence of a high powered label.

Question 2: Is this the first time an active festival has taken on this kind of project?

Jason Olaine: While Universal Canada has had a commercial relationship with the Montreal Jazz Festival and Montreux has been selling DVDs and CDs of their Festival for years, to my knowledge, this is the first comprehensive undertaking of its kind. The Festival has hung out their own shingle — MJF Records — and is incorporated as a not-for-profit entity, with its stated mission to re-invest its profits back into its year-round jazz education programs. So, I think it’s pretty unique.

Question 3: What kind of condition are the tapes in and are you using any kind of special technology to best capture the essence of those experiences?

Tim Jackson: The entire archive was “on life support” as the old magnetic tape was slowly disintegrating. Orrin Keepnews and I discovered this problem when we produced the 40th anniversary 3-CD box set. About three years ago I initiated, with Janice Mantell our Development Director, a joint project with our partners at Stanford University to raise grant funds to preserve and digitize the archive. We were able to raise over $350,000 from a variety of sources including the Grammy Foundation. This allowed us to embark on a year long project with Fantasy Studios and the preservation department at Stanford to complete the project.

Jason Olaine: And while many tapes turned out to be straight transfers, per se, some of the older acetate and polyester tapes did require ‘baking’, which is a process whereby the original tape is placed in a convection oven so as to re-activate the binding agent thereby rendering the tape playable or transferable without decomposing. We were fortunate to have had master engineer George Horn and the top-notch crew at Fantasy on the case. Since these were primarily direct to two-track recordings there wasn’t any traditional mixing to be done — what was on the tape was there to stay. However, through the mastering process, we were able to clean up some of the tape noise and use other tricks to hide some e.q. issues in order to bring out the best possible audio quality.

Question 4: It must be hard coming up with the final choices. What determines those selections and the decisions on who you are going to record for future festivals?

Tim Jackson: Jason Olaine, as GM of the label, is making the recommendations for these creative decisions and he is successfully showcasing our legacy (Armstrong, Miles, Monk, Sarah, Dizzy, etc) while making sure we are moving forward with new artists (Holland, Rubalcaba, Potter, Harland Quartet and the MJF 50th Anniversary Band). Jason has been able to balance the needs of both MJF and CMG and still keep his creative vision alive.

Jason Olaine: At this point, I have 11 hard drives filled with over 2000 hours of never-before-released material, which is a lot of music. Since we’re launching the label to coincide with the Festival’s 50th Anniversary, it seemed best to lead with some of the best and most historic recordings, and that included the Miles and Louis and Monk, etc. In addition to consistently presenting the masters of the artform, the Festival has a rich history of presenting new ensembles, eclectic collaborations, and commissioning new pieces, while making forays into blues, latin jazz, contemporary jazz, and world music. I think it’s important for the label to reflect this diversity, while documenting the ‘now’ and the ‘future’ of this music by assembling special event concerts and recording them to multi-track for future releases.

Question 5: I am sure many people want to know if the famous Cannonball Adderley set that was shown in the Clint Eastwood movie “Play Misty For Me” will be released?

Tim Jackson: I am re-confirming this with Clint [who is on the Board of Directors] but I remember him telling me that Warner Bros. destroyed the extra footage he had taken of Cannonball. If true, it is most unfortunate

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CLICK HERE TO CHECK OUT ‘GIMME 5′ Issue #2 with Simone ‘4MuLA’ Giuliani