Bob Koester in the stacks at the Jazz Record Mart in 2009 Michael Jackson
Bob Koester, who died May 12 at age 88, knew what he liked and what you should like too. For nearly 70 years, he owned Chicago s Jazz Record Mart (and the Delmark label), and it was completely in character for him to snatch an album from the hands of an earnest young shopper.
In 1968, that shopper was me I d picked up a copy of Muhal Richard Abrams s debut LP,
Levels and Degrees of Light, whose surreal cover painting and saturated colors promised something exotic and strange made right here. I was more than eager to hear it, but Koester still black-haired, wearing glasses, not graceful, not yet 40 had other ideas. You can t understand
An in-depth look at the powerhouse American label.
“A celebration of the humanity that is inherent in what you hear. A celebration of craft in musicianship. An emphasis on telling the real story of a person, and some things that happened, and how they sound. Focusing on context. How historical, communal, architectural and spatial context affects and informs musical composition and performance. The expanding and evolving nature of community and geography through sound. A celebration of community through collaboration.”
That’s how Scott McNiece defines the ethos behind
International Anthem, the Chicago based record label he founded with David Allen in 2012. The label has emerged to become a leading stable for vital, progressive, improvisational music. Despite the pandemic, 2020 was a grandstand year for the label, releasing albums by Makaya Macraven, Angel Bat Dawid, Carlos Nino, Alabaster DePlume and Tortoise guitarist Jeff Parker. Originally connecting
Tim Daisy; Matt Piet at the Hungry Brain pre-COVID Photos by Marek Lazarski and Morgan Ciesielski
The COVID-19 pandemic has put tens of millions of Americans out of work, but even considering that bleak landscape, musicians have been hit especially hard most of their jobs only barely exist now, and the infrastructure that might allow them to return someday is in danger of collapsing. Festivals have been canceled, larger concert halls closed, and smaller clubs either shuttered or restricted to fractions of their usual audiences. At least in the States, no one is touring. In Chicago, many of the venues that stage jazz and improvised music have either been streaming pay-what-you-will concerts or sitting dark since March. The disappearance of in-person performance opportunities hurts worse in this context, since the music thrives upon and in fact usual