By Jason West

Independent record labels, like the artists whose music they represent, struggle to survive in an industry dominated by major labels, high-powered record execs, and massive advertising and public relations campaigns. Although indies have traditionally introduced the next new sound, while providing an opening for musicians who may not fit into the corporate music world, conventional wisdom holds that the average life span of an independent label is two years. Mention jazz indies and things really get bleak. Since jazz recordings make up about 2% of all music sold in this country - with virtually all sales being captured by mega corporations - the average independent jazz label is practically doomed from its beginning.

Amid these sobering pronouncements, however, there exist indie jazz success stories, and one still being written is the tale of Origin Records. Since it's inception, Origin has released 27 recordings, primarily of Northwest artists, making it Seattle's most prominent independent label for mainstream jazz. Origin offers these recordings online (www.originarts.com) and features a list of musicians that reads like a who's who of Seattle jazz, including Don Lanphere, Jeff Johnson, Marc Seales, Gregg Keplinger, Jim Knapp, Hans Teuber, Dave Peterson - the list of Origin artists goes on and on. Also included is one man who deserves particular attention: Origin's founder, John Bishop.

A Seattle native who grew up in Eugene, Bishop started Origin Records in 1997 for one, simple reason: He had made some music that needed to be heard. Having participated in three highly creative sessions at around the same time ("Now…Here…This" with Mike Denny, Rick Mandyck, Jeff Johnson; "Walk Spirit, Talk Spirit - live at the Old Town Alehouse" with Mandyck, Johnson, and Hans Teuber; and "Remember Why," the New Stories trio's second release) Bishop chose these three recordings to launch his label.

But rather than self-produce the recordings as he had done with the first New Stories CD, "Circled By Hounds," Bishop, encouraged by friends and a review in Seattle's Earshot Jazz magazine, created Origin Records and began doing business out of his Ballard Avenue apartment. "They [Earshot] kind of put it in a unit, which was nice, and people started talking to me as if this were something," Bishop recalls. "So, they were pretending along with me, is what happened." Not long after, Butch Nordal ("Notoriety") and Don Lanphere ("Get Happy") issued materiel on Origin and things began taking off. "At this point," says Bishop, "We had seven or eight CDs and it was like kind of a real entity."

1999 saw Origin releases from Steve Korn, Pax Wallace, New Stories (with guest Ernie Watts), Gregg Keplinger and Rick Mandyck. In 2000 Origin has issued fresh material from New Stories, bassist Jeff Johnson, New York saxophonist Yoshiyuki Yamanaka, pianist Butch Nordal; vibraphonist Ben Thomas; Flatland; saxoponist Don Lanphere, pianist Paul West, guitarist Hans Fahling, drummer Steve Korn, Matt Jorgensen (Origin's webmaster, vice-president of operations, and business wunderkind), and a special compilation release titled, The Piano: a Collection of Seattle's Finest Jazz. The coming months will see new releases from saxophonist Hans Tueber, Marius Nordal, and the Jeff Johnson trio.

Yet, producing great music is only half of Bishop's creative interest in Origin Records. The other half is visual, specifically, John's talent for designing all of Origin's CD covers, inserts and disc art. Armed with computer design software and artistic sensibility, Bishop has created a catalog of visual images to compliment Origin's musical library.

It's a talent he acquired "mostly, out of need to save money," says Bishop. "I had to do it to be able to put out records and do posters." After messing around on a friend's computer, Bishop, in '94 decided to purchase his own desktop and began to display a flare for graphic art - a trait not uncommon in the Bishop family. "We liked looking at things," remembers John, "and mom always made sure that there was a lot to look at."

John's mother, Jeanette Bishop, was active in music, theater and art, and encouraged her children to do the same. So it's no surprise that John's sister, Christy, runs a furniture/interior design/antique shop in Eugene, OR. named Provenance, while Scott Bishop, John's next youngest brother, works at Provenance as office manager and factotum, and is said to possess impressive cartooning skills. Todd Bishop, John's youngest brother, plays drums "really well" in Flatland (a member of the Origin Record family), and paints abstract oils paintings. Interestingly enough, as previously cited, Origin's first three releases feature Todd's artwork and, according to John, have largely shaped the way the label's look has developed.

On the subject of Origin's design look, Bishop declares, "I am very much going for a feel with the CD cover direction, trying to make each cover enhance the others." In fact, John's father, Mel Bishop has also gotten into the act. Although Mel died of a heart attack in 1971, he enjoyed taking pictures while traveling abroad - two of which can be found on Origin record covers (Mandyck/Keplinger's "Tribute" and Butch Nordal's "Notoriety").

To Bishop, operating Origin Records is kind of like doing a gig, or playing in a band. He's satisfied with the fact that the label is taking on a life of its own. "It's like another artistic presentation for me," Bishop claims, "even though all these things belong to all these people." But since he's not making any money, John insists the label reflect his tastes as far as the music and the look of the CDs. "I want to like all of it. I want to be able to play them, and listen to them, and enjoy them."

When pressed about his tastes with regard to the diversity of artists that appear on Origin Records, Bishop responds passionately by referring to the music of his formative years. "Growing up in the '70's, there didn't exist the heinous compartmentalization of music the way it is now. On any given day, I would listen to "Kind of Blue," Dave Holland's "Conference of the Birds," Coltrane's "Sun Ship," Clifford Brown/Max Roach Quintet, Zappa, Tower of Power, Oscar Peterson Trio, Billy Cobham, Elvin Jones and Creedance Clearwater Revival."

According to Bishop the music was all equal and all good. Diversity of sound worked the spleen, guts and liver in different ways that couldn't happen by listening to any one music, and this, generally, was the thinking of Bishop's musical friends growing up. "It was no big deal to put Barry Altschul and Mickey Roker next to each other," says Bishop, "It was all just quality music."

So, for Bishop, putting the vastly different sound of artists like Don Lanphere, Jeff Johnson, and Flatland on the same label is the only way it can be. "To do otherwise is like an insult to the artistic integrity of each of them," Bishop asserts. "It's putting them into an imaginary box that's been set up by the radio and record gods that be, and comparing their musical output to each other as opposed to letting it stand on it's own merits. By having a diverse selection of musical statements, it helps to point out the artistic specialness of each."

In the future, Bishop predicts there will probably be additional reasons for adding artists to the label, but thus far, the only thing he's focused on is putting out recordings of friends who he has overwhelming respect for. "I don't care what kind of music they're playing because I know it will be quality and I know it will inspire me."

On the business side of things, one of the difficulties of running an indie label is the lack of funds and clout as far as record distribution. Simply put, it's hard to get noticed. Fortunately, Bishop has made some progress in this area, securing an ordering agreement with Tower Records so that Origin releases now appear throughout Tower's worldwide catalog system.

Another important Origin partnership exists with NorthCountry Distributors, a New York-based company. For the last 25 years NorthCountry has been in the business of documenting and distributing all independent jazz records. Through their sister company, Cadence, they put out a monthly magazine that reviews a couple hundred releases every month in addition to conducting interviews with jazz artists not in the major label spotlight. "NorthCountry has a very good, no nonsense approach to distributing indie jazz, recordings that most other companies would likely never touch," says Bishop, who credits the company with being probably the single most vital entity to keeping independent jazz labels going.

One of the only problems with NorthCountry, however, is that to stay in business they have to work with record stores differently than the major distributors do. Basically, distributors and record stores do the all-American marketing dance with each other, leaving the artist on the sidelines to one day (or never) receive anything back. For example, Sony sends Tower 1200 copies of one CD; Tower sells 600 over the next year and returns the rest to Sony; Tower waits to pay Sony because there might be returns; and Sony waits another year before it pays the artist because it's quite possible that some of those 600 that were sold are going to be returned, and Sony would hate to have to take the money back from the artist.

The problem with all of this is that the companies enjoy this dance. That doesn't bode well for NorthCountry who deal with much smaller numbers of product - CDs that aren't necessarily going to sell in one year - and who can't afford to send out hundreds of recordings and not get paid. The result is that a lot of record stores don't deal with NorthCountry. Tower Records does; Barnes & Noble, Borders, and Silver Platters don't.

Bishop, however, isn't losing any sleep over all this, pointing out that Origin's best outlets are independent stores like Bud's Jazz Records, online sales, and Tower, with its rather expansive jazz selection.

As for ads, marketing, and the all-encompassing media presence, Bishop remains realistic, staying fairly conservative so as to avoid bankruptcy. "I start with entities that can't be taken for granted because of the overwhelming support they've given local jazz artists: Earshot, Bud's, KBCS, KPLU, etc." says Bishop. "I do advertising in Cadence occasionally because it goes directly to the people that actually buy this kind of music. We're trying to pinpoint and develop relationships with radio stations and stores around the country that are open to playing and selling the music while trying to avoid spending lots of money on blanket bombing ads in hopes of notice."

Bishop admits that Origin's website has probably been the best for avenue in terms of worthwhile exposure outside of Seattle. "Weekly, I get inquiries into the label or artists from distribution companies, online magazines, print magazines, radio DJs and the like," Bishop remarks. "This is all stuff that would never have happened five years ago without big budget ad blitzes in national magazines. The internet has made this whole thing possible."

Of course, in the final analysis, Origin Records is simply a way for musicians to get their music heard. All the artists own their own music, and agree to let Origin license their work as a part of the label. "Everybody handles their own thing," declares Bishop. "It's almost like a co-op except I do all the coordinating and all the work."

Originally published in Earshot Jazz Magazine