The Jazz Pianists
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I produced my first recording of a solo jazz pianist in Manassas, Virginia on January 19, 1969, the day before Richard Nixon's first Inauguration. The pianist was Don Ewell, and I was in the Washington, D. C. area because I was minding a band of assorted ruffians led by Eddie Condon, who were scheduled to perform at one of the Inaugural Balls. The circumstances of the recording are outrageous, but that's another story; the important thing was the record that was produced that day was awarded five stars in Downbeat magazine. A year later, in 1970, I joined Marian McPartland and Sherman Fairchild in a business partnership and formed Halcyon Records. The first three recordings were of solo pianists; Marian, Earl Hines and Willie the Lion Smith. When that company was restructured in 1971, with Sherman Fairchild and myself going it alone, the first recording was also by a solo pianist, Mary Lou Williams. After Sherman Fairchild’s unexpected death, I became the sole proprietor of Chiaroscuro in 1971; eleven of the first twenty releases were of solo pianists: Earl Hines, Don Ewell, Willie the Lion Smith, Mary Lou Williams, Dave McKenna, Claude Hopkins, Dill Jones, Teddy Wilson and Dick Wellstood. This love of pianists, solo pianists in particular, has continued for over forty, resulting in many hundreds of records and CDs, as well as concerts and music festivals, where pianists were featured. I photographed these productions (often as Rollo Phlecks), kept notes about the events and remember hundreds of anecdotes. .
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