By Dave Nathan
There is only one group who spend more of their time forecasting gloom and doom than Economists and that's jazz writers. One of their complaints is that all the new, innovative music is being recorded abroad and the American companies limit themselves to the tried and true, sterile material and concentrate on reissuing albums by the jazz giants of the past. There is some merit to these whines, but not nearly as much as the naysayers of jazz would have you believe. They seem to be unaware of albums self produced by artists ÃÂ and there are lots of thoseÃÂ as well as the releases of small independent companies like Invisible Music Records of Maine. This interview is with Erika Aberg, president and owner of that company. To see what IM Records has to offer, go to their Internet site at www.invisiblemusicrecords.com.
All About Jazz: How and why did you get into the music business?
Erika Aberg: I want you to understand that I am not a musician at all. I don't play an instrument nor do I compose. Mark Kleinhaut {guitarist and Aberg's partner in the company} founded the company after a group of us did a Christmas album and needed a way to distribute it. That was in 1995.
It's interesting. Our "headquarters" is an old Federal type three story Maine building. The first floor houses the record company and studio. The second is our living quarters, and the third we rent out. There's a lot of comings and goings in this pace
AAJ: What turned you on to jazz in the first place?
EA: There was always music in our house. Then when I was in high school Lionel Hampton came and did a concert. That was it for me. I was hooked.
AAJ: Where did the name Invisible Music Records come from?
EA: There are a couple of sources for that name. First, the term "invisible" applied somewhat to me. I am the one behind the scene since I am a non-performer. Mark, on the other hand, as a performer is up front and seen. Also we feel that it reflects somewhat the state of jazz these days, i.e, too invisible to too much of the American public, and helping in a small way to change that has become part of our goal.
AAJ: What do you mean "part of our goal"?
EA: Both Mark and I, and those whom we record, are dedicated to bringing this music to the people who like music. Because of our size, our product is pretty much limited to Maine and to a lesser extent, New England. But we are beginning to move out a bit beyond our boundaries.
AAJ: How are you doing that?
EA: Well, we have now signed with North Country Distributors [Cadence] and that has gotten our albums somewhat more exposure. Also, we have built up a respectable catalogue of good material performed by strong musicians. So we are now in a better position to offer a sufficient quantity of a good product to the jazz listening public. But getting to this point hasn't been easy.
AAJ: What are the biggest obstacles that a small independent like Invisible Music has to overcome?
EA: The first is distribution. And as I said, that is being dealt with to a point by North Country. The other which relates to distribution is exposure -- getting our albums reviewed by national jazz magazines and widely distributed to local media. We have been fortunate to have some of our albums reviewed by Jazz Times Magazine and, of course, the albums are reviewed by Cadence Magazine. Also, reviews are starting to appear on important Internet jazz sites like All About Jazz and All Music Guide. That really helps in getting our releases some attention.
It also helps, of course, if you have nationally known performers. We hope as our distribution grows and we get reviews at places which have a large number of readers and viewers, out artists will gain more notoriety. Their talent certainly merits greater recognition.
AAJ: Where do you get your artists?
EA: These were people that Mark and I knew when we started the label. They are performers mostly from Maine and that was deliberate. There is an active jazz community up here, especially at schools like Southern Maine University where drummer Steve Grover teaches. [Note: Grover has recorded two albums for Invisible Music].
AAJ: Are you planning to expand beyond the current roster?
EA: We would like to eventually. But at the same time, we want to make sure we can handle the works of those we have now. We do not want to over extend ourselves physically or financially. Right now we are doing fine at both ends,. We manage to pay our recording artists around 85% of the proceeds of record sales. Mark and I are interested in covering only our expenses. We are able to do this because each of us has another job.
AAJ: So the record company is not a full time commitment for either of you.
EA: Not yet. In fact we have scaled back some of the studio work so we can concentrate more on showcasing our albums. We will continue to master out albums, but the rest of it we will contract out.
AAJ: Back to the artist roster, while you are not actively recruiting new players, have you signed up anyone new?
EA: Well as you know Brad [clarinetist Brad Terry, Lenny Breau's former recording partner] spends quite a bit of time in Poland. He brought back with him three teenage Polish musicians and recording them with Brad is our next project. Moreover, as our name gets around, we are getting more and more inquiries and tapes from jazz musicians.
AAJ: Have you set yourself a production goal for each year?
EA: No, not really. Our comfort zone is 5 to 10 releases a year. Again, we don't take on more than we can handle
AAJ: After almost 6 years, how do you think you're doing?
EA: Overall, we are doing very nicely. As I mentioned earlier, we are keeping our heads above water on both finances and stamina. We started expanding beyond just recording. Each year we put on an Artist's Showcase here in Topsham where our players perform individually and then in a jam session which ends the festival. It gets more popular each year and gives everybody involved a great deal of satisfaction, professional and personal.
AAJ: Do you ever see yourself, or even want to be, a company like Blue Note or Verve.
EA: Oh my heavens, we haven't thought of that. The goals we set for ourselves are far less ambitious and are achievable. We want to move our product out of the region and we want to attract artists to our label from other areas. The first is beginning to happen and I am confident that there will be more progress in reaching these goals as each year passes. Neither Mark nor I are in a hurry.
AAJ: Thank you.
