Reviewed By Nils Jacobson
"Jazz isn't pure any more," declares Tony Reif, the head of Songlines Recordings. "Sometimes people say that they really hate jazz--I can sympathize with that. Jazz in its narrow purist mode can be really suffocating."
If you suffer from the type of oxygen deprivation Reif describes, look to Songlines for welcome relief. Recent records on his label include bold fusions of jazz with Balkan music, South Indian music, and contemporary classical music. "I think of the music I put out as jazz, but not jazz," Reif says. "Maybe that's the definition of avant jazz. It can be so many other things, too."
Reif started Songlines in Vancouver in 1992. Twenty five records later, the Songlines catalog includes some of the major milestones in modern jazz. For example: the self-titled '94 debut recording by Dave Douglas's Tiny Bell Trio, which explores a creative fusion between jazz and Balkan music. Another early landmark: Jazz Trash, the debut '95 CD by the Ellery Eskelin trio, which ties together unrestrained free jazz and old-school melodicism using a crazy, mixed-up jump-cut approach.
The 1996 Patrick Zimmerli Ensemble record, Explosion, organizes improvisation around a modern classical structure. Reif explains, "Pat's an example of a composer who's taken his understanding of contemporary classical music--including twelve-tone music and the extended harmonic and rhythmic vocabularies of contemporary classical composed music--and made jazz out of it... it's through-composed, but all these improvised solos are happening."
In Zimmerli's music, explains Reif, "there's no group improvisation, because under those solos there's still this complex pattern of written music going on... to the extent that you really sometimes don't know for sure who's improvising."
When asked why he started up a record label, Reif responds with a chuckle. "Pride? Idiocy? ... I don't know. I guess for a long time I've been an avid collector of jazz."
While he historically collected a lot of jazz records, he's found his interest drawn lately to medieval music. Go figure. But Reif has an explanation for his current phase in music appreciation: "Late 14th century music, in some ways, is the most complex western music before the 20th century. Certainly rhythmically it is."
Expands Reif, If you listen to Ars Subtilior (the refined late 14th century court music), you'll find counterpoint and polyrhythm being taken to new extremes. It's fascinating stuff. I don't pretend to be able to analyze it, but I love listening to it.
As for the jazz in his collection, Reif refuses to be pinned down: "I'm very scattered in my collecting. I just sorta follow my nose... some of the jazz players I've been most in love with over the years are people like Ornette [Coleman], [Eric] Dolphy, and Miles [Davis]." Reif admits he doesn't have time to listen to his old Miles Davis records any more.
Of his Dolphy records, Out to Lunch stands head-and-shoulders above the rest. "A record like Out to Lunch has almost everything that I love about jazz," explains Reif. "It has great melody, for example, and that's something I always respond to. Although I don't have any training in Western harmony, it seems pretty interesting harmonically... and there are a lot of different moods on that record."
Reif originally planned to use Songlines to document local (Vancouver) music. "Originally it was going to document jazz and and creative music in Vancouver," he explains. "But I pretty soon came to the conclusion that there was no way to do that financially, because there just weren't enough people who were going to be interested in the results... Who (outside Vancouver) was going to pay any attention to Vancouver music?"
Once reality struck, Reif began to open his mind to other possibilities. One burgeoning scene was growing up close to home in Seattle: Brad Shepik, Briggan Krauss, and Aaron Alexander were already making creative music as BABKAS. Other prominent Seattle players, including Andrew DAngelo, Chris Speed, and Jim Black, had already gone off to school in Boston, later to work in New York. Reif explains the gradual geographic transition of Songlines: "It started in Vancouver, then my interest moved to Seattle, and then all those Seattle guys went to New York... And so the connection was made in New York, in a way, through them."
At this point, despite his initial intentions, Reif now finds that his label ironically documents a surprising amount of New York improvisors. "I keep getting people asking me to do stuff from the States, because that's where the label is really best known. Particularly New York," explains Reif. "But I also think that a lot of the best music is being made there. Surprise, surprise!"
Of course Reif is quick to avoid underestimating the importance of the Vancouver scene. Pianist Paul Plimley and clarinetist François Houle both maintain a presence on the Songlines roster. Lesser known soprano saxophonist Mark Nodwell expects his first Songlines CD to come out this fall.
"The Vancouver Jazz Festival and the events they do throughout the year bring a lot of great musicians to Vancouver," says Reif. "And it's an opportunity to hear them play live and make contacts. Certainly some projects were born that way." Dutch drummer Han Bennink, for example, visited the city of Vancouver several times before making the '96 duet recording Serpentine with Dave Douglas.
Like many small independent labels, Songlines does not make a profit. But because Reif has the financial means to support the label, it's not going out of business any time soon. To improve his financial situation, Reif recognizes he must pay more attention to the bottom line: "I'm trying to improve the business side of things... really react in a more timely way. Just do more things to let people know the music is out there. But I'm not a businessman--it just doesn't come naturally to me." Devoting more attention to the business means taking his attention away from the other aspects of running a label, namely planning and production.
Part of making ends meet is coming to terms with the audience of Songlines. "I think there are two core audiences," explains Reif. "One would be the already-commited jazz fan, who's already interested in avant jazz, or improv, or at least music that isn't just in the jazz mainstream. Group two is young people coming from the rock side of things, or maybe electronic music--who might get into jam bands, might have heard of Sun Ra--and who start checking out avant jazz from that side of things."
As for the music itself, Reif has new record releases planned for Junk Genius, Jerry Granelli and Badlands, and Vancouverite Mark Nodwell. New Patrick Zimmerli and Wayne Horvitz CDs will appear next year.
"The generation that's doing it now is really moving it ahead," explains Reif. "The people who are moving it ahead are the ones who are willing to say, ' I don't care what it's called!'"
