By Luke Willson
March 13, 2008
Bob Koester is a walking encyclopedia of Jazz and Blues. Ask him who his favorite musicians are and a cascade of names comes tumbling from his mouth. Johnny Dodds, Billie Holiday, Lester Young, Duke Ellington, Art Pepper… he went on and on.
I visited Koester at Delmark Records, a recording label that he has owned since recording the Windy City Six 55 years ago in St. Louis. And, though many things have changed since then, talking with Koester is a little bit like going back in time.
“There are record companies that are pretty much in a holding pattern, hoping things will somehow improve,” said Koester at his studio in Ravenswood. “I don’t see how they can. But, I like the music too much to quit. I’m too stubborn to quit. When I’m gone, probably cooler heads will prevail, and I don’t know what that will mean.”
Delmark Records celebrated its 55th anniversary on March 7 at Buddy Guy’s Legends. In tribute to Koester and his label, a lineup of some of the best local blues musicians performed, including Jimmy Johnson, Zora Young, and Taildragger.
Koester has a reputation for taking young music enthusiasts under his wing. So I wasn’t that surprised when he agreed to give me, a lowly college journalism student, an opportunity to interview him, and even a ride back to the El when we were done.
The Delmark House is located on a quiet street in Ravenswood. Over the years, the label has had to change venues a number of times due to financial obligations. But it has been in its current location for about fifteen.
He started the tour off with the kitchen, and then showed me the recording studio. A seven foot long soundboard dominated the room, with computers and speakers surrounding it. Quarter-inch and half-inch recorders, even an eight-track, stood against the insulated walls like relics. A large window looked in on the studio.
He’s not known for crossing that window very often, preferring a more hands-off approach with the musicians he records. He related how he didn’t go to his first Avante Garde recording session in 1965, because he felt so out of the loop that he didn’t want his “square vibes” messing up the music.
“You sort of know jazz when you hear it, even Avante Garde jazz,” he said. “There are people who only like traditional jazz. They think anything after 1930 is deluded. And there are people who like Bebop, and they got mad at the ‘moldy figs,’ they called them, who didn’t like jazz after the thirties style or the swing style. But, I think we’ve learned over the years to be a little careful about criticizing a new type of music. Now I can’t say that I was enjoying Avante Garde jazz when I recorded Roscoe Mitchell in 1965. I was proud to do it, because the people who told me I ought to record Roscoe Mitchell, they all dug Jelly Roll Morton, King Oliver, Johnny Dodds, Fats Waller, Benny Goodman, Teddy Wilson, Basie, Ellington, so I trusted them. And I made a cold-blooded decision to do it.”
From the studio, Koester showed me the warehouse. It was dark; the lights were off in an attempt to save a little energy and money. Money is a tight thing at Delmark these days.
“Our business is half what it was before downloading, and will probably remain so,” he said. “And this gives us very little excuse to spend our money on record dates. I don’t know what they’re going to download when the record companies decide screw it, stop recording people… I recently saw sales figures from one of the major companies, and would you believe an Ella Fitzgerald record selling less than 110 copies in one year? That’s sad.”
He turned the lights on in the warehouse and illuminated a forest of shelves and boxes. The physical total of 55 years in the business: CDs, DVDs, LPs, boxes and boxes of music. Who knows what treasures he’s gotten hidden away in all the boxes he’s got back there.
March 13, 2008
Bob Koester is a walking encyclopedia of Jazz and Blues. Ask him who his favorite musicians are and a cascade of names comes tumbling from his mouth. Johnny Dodds, Billie Holiday, Lester Young, Duke Ellington, Art Pepper… he went on and on.
I visited Koester at Delmark Records, a recording label that he has owned since recording the Windy City Six 55 years ago in St. Louis. And, though many things have changed since then, talking with Koester is a little bit like going back in time.
“There are record companies that are pretty much in a holding pattern, hoping things will somehow improve,” said Koester at his studio in Ravenswood. “I don’t see how they can. But, I like the music too much to quit. I’m too stubborn to quit. When I’m gone, probably cooler heads will prevail, and I don’t know what that will mean.”
Delmark Records celebrated its 55th anniversary on March 7 at Buddy Guy’s Legends. In tribute to Koester and his label, a lineup of some of the best local blues musicians performed, including Jimmy Johnson, Zora Young, and Taildragger.
Koester has a reputation for taking young music enthusiasts under his wing. So I wasn’t that surprised when he agreed to give me, a lowly college journalism student, an opportunity to interview him, and even a ride back to the El when we were done.
The Delmark House is located on a quiet street in Ravenswood. Over the years, the label has had to change venues a number of times due to financial obligations. But it has been in its current location for about fifteen.He started the tour off with the kitchen, and then showed me the recording studio. A seven foot long soundboard dominated the room, with computers and speakers surrounding it. Quarter-inch and half-inch recorders, even an eight-track, stood against the insulated walls like relics. A large window looked in on the studio.
He’s not known for crossing that window very often, preferring a more hands-off approach with the musicians he records. He related how he didn’t go to his first Avante Garde recording session in 1965, because he felt so out of the loop that he didn’t want his “square vibes” messing up the music.
“You sort of know jazz when you hear it, even Avante Garde jazz,” he said. “There are people who only like traditional jazz. They think anything after 1930 is deluded. And there are people who like Bebop, and they got mad at the ‘moldy figs,’ they called them, who didn’t like jazz after the thirties style or the swing style. But, I think we’ve learned over the years to be a little careful about criticizing a new type of music. Now I can’t say that I was enjoying Avante Garde jazz when I recorded Roscoe Mitchell in 1965. I was proud to do it, because the people who told me I ought to record Roscoe Mitchell, they all dug Jelly Roll Morton, King Oliver, Johnny Dodds, Fats Waller, Benny Goodman, Teddy Wilson, Basie, Ellington, so I trusted them. And I made a cold-blooded decision to do it.”
From the studio, Koester showed me the warehouse. It was dark; the lights were off in an attempt to save a little energy and money. Money is a tight thing at Delmark these days.
“Our business is half what it was before downloading, and will probably remain so,” he said. “And this gives us very little excuse to spend our money on record dates. I don’t know what they’re going to download when the record companies decide screw it, stop recording people… I recently saw sales figures from one of the major companies, and would you believe an Ella Fitzgerald record selling less than 110 copies in one year? That’s sad.”
Much of the stock goes toward his retail outlet, the Jazz Record Mart.“I’ve always had a retail business, I wouldn’t have been able to have a label without it,” said Koester. “It’s got us through some hard times. On the other hand, Delmark has helped the store get through some hard times too… It’s all been fun most of the time, but you got to sit down and reconcile the check books. Figure out what kind of money you have, and what you’re going to do with it.”
A poster of Koester from a few years ago peeks from behind one shelf of records. He looks different, thinner. Chemotherapy has taken its toll.
In his office, we sat down to talk for a little while. Stacks seem to come out of the woodwork here, and Koester told me to move whichever pile of papers I wanted, to make room to sit.
After seeing the equipment in the studio, I felt a little out of my depth with a mini-cassette voice recorder. But, Koester launched right into it, giving me a crash course in Jazz and Blues history. Believe me when I say it would be too much to cover in one article.
“The future of jazz? That’s really hard to say. With the passing of the last of the original Bop guys, I’m afraid there could be a generation of critics who only believe in Avante Garde. There’s always been a tendency of Americans to worship the new… I was prevented from digging Art Pepper back in St. Louis, when a modern jazz fan, and I didn’t know very many, but a modern jazz fan said, ‘I don’t know why you listen to that old-fashioned stuff. You wouldn’t want a 1928 car if you could get a 1953 car would you?’ And he was equating jazz as if, like, the new model is going out of print. I wonder if he listens to Avante Garde today, I’m willing to bet he doesn’t. But I hope he still listens to Art Pepper.”
