Small Jazz Labels are Thriving – Sort of

Taking a break from its new orientation towards discovering the most fashionable eating spots, bars or boutiques, the Village Voice allowed Michael J. Agovino to report on the health of New York City’s small Jazz imprints. Less upbeat than the premise would indicate, Agovino’s report confirms that most profitable small labels are ones which also have a foot in Latin, Indie-Rock or so-called World Music as well as Jazz. Still he does point out that saxophonist Henry Threadgill‘s In for a Penny, In for a Pound, released on the smaller Pi label, which was unhyphenated Jazz, did win the 2016 Pulitzer Prize for music. Ironically the fact unexpectedly revealed as well is that almost all the label owners would rather produce CDs than currently fashionable vinyl. LPs are costly to produce and bad for the environment they say.