A Classic Jazz Label Comes Back to Life
The Star Ledger 11.10.02
Tad Hendrickson

A cornerstone of the jazz world has been cleaned up and set back in place, with the reactivation of Newark's legendary Savoy label. The early home of such pioneers as Charlie "Bird" Parker, Miles Davis, Dizzy Gillespie, Fats Navarro, Stan Getz and Dexter Gordon, the label's place in jazz history is already assured. But Savoy also featured such local Newark talent as Miss Rhapsody (Viola Wells), the Picadilly Pipers, Savoy Dictators and others who likely wouldn't have been recorded otherwise.

Founded in 1942 by Herman Lubinsky, the label was located at 58 Market St. in Newark and stayed in the city until the owner's death in 1974, when it was sold to a long line of corporate owners and is now owned by the Japanese company Nippon Columbia.

After decades of simply keeping popular titles in print, Savoy has come back to life thanks to a small-but-knowledgeable staff, based in Santa Monica, Calif. This year, it has already released "Charlie Parker: Best of The Complete Live Performances," "The Modern Red Norvo" and "Dizzy Gillespie: Odyssey 1945-52." And there are plans for more catalog reissues and new collections before Christmas, as well as a variety of upcoming projects.

The history of Savoy is a colorful one, with Lubinsky at its center. He put out what were then called "race records" (jazz, R&B, gospel) and had a reputation for being tight with a buck -- and being quite willing do just about anything to make sure he came out ahead on a deal.

Often this meant taking advantage of the black musicians of the day: Reputed tactics included getting the musicians drunk and coaxing them into signing unfair contracts, releasing records without the musicians' consent or simply stepping in when they were in a desperate pinch.

Jazz promoter Ozzie Cadena, who was a producer and A&R man for Savoy in the 1950s (see accompanying story), says some of the stories about Lubinsky are just that.

Some musicians "were messed up, basically on (heroin)," Cadena says. "I don't think he got anybody drunk. But without Lubinsky, these guys might not have been recorded so early. And at least the music was available, whether you liked the cat or not."

"The stories I hear about Lubinsky are similar to today's hip-hop artists bringing stuff to meetings," says Steve Vining, Savoy's current president. "Lubinsky had a .38 in his desk. He would pull out the gun when negotiations with managers got heated and lay it on his desk so the message came across. From time to time, he would shoot the gun into the ceiling if he was really mad." (Cadena chalks the gun story up to legend. "I never saw it happen," he says.)

Unlike Blue Note jazz label founders Francis Wolff and Alfred Lions, who treated their artists like family, Lubinsky was a businessman first and foremost. He used a standard contract at the time, which was 5 percent royalties after the expenses of all companies involved had been recouped.

Sometimes the artist's cut was even less.

"When I recorded Cannonball (Adderley), the contract was for scale; no royalties, no advance," said Cadena. "(Lubinsky) may have done 5 percent sometimes, but contracts were mostly less, more like 2 percent."

Lubinsky was also shrewd enough to switch over to the LP format from 78s, thus reissuing music he had already paid for in a new format. Almost despite himself, he put out some of the most important music of the 20th century.

One reason for his success was the recording ban that took place in the early '40s, the result of a deadlock between the musicians' union and the labels. While major labels Columbia and Victor continued the recording ban, the other major of the time, Decca, settled, paving the way for smaller labels to start releasing music. Lubinsky saw the opportunity and took it. He recorded all manner of artists in the first few years, but according to Dan Morgenstern, director of the Rutgers Institute of Jazz Studies, it was with the arrival of producer Teddy Reig in 1945 that the label started its most significant two-year period.

"They recorded stuff the majors wouldn't touch at the time," Morgenstern says, "so it was very important to the development of bebop. Thank goodness these (smaller independent) labels existed, or God knows what would have been recorded." It was Reig who brought in Charlie Parker, Dexter Gordon, Fats Navarro and other 52nd Street regulars.

Thanks to Reig, Savoy has what many consider to be alto saxophonist Charlie Parker's greatest work, the music that changed the face of jazz, moving it from swing to bebop. Parker recorded such landmark songs as "KoKo," "Now's The Time" and "Billie's Bounce" for the label and appeared on more than 100 other songs as a leader or sideman. The label was also the first to record a young innovator named Miles Davis, tracks that featured Parker playing tenor saxophone under a pseudonym.

"Bird sold Lubinsky rights to his tunes because he needed the money," Cadena said. "That's why Miles hated Lubinsky. Bird sold rights to a Miles date he was on."

Lubinsky also had success with R&B and gospel. Hal Singer's "Cornbread" was a hit that went to the top of the race charts for 22 weeks in 1948. In 1949, Paul Williams' "The Hucklebuck" became the best selling R&B record of the year. West Coast bandleader Johnnie Otis had 10 Top 10 hits (three at No. 1, including "Double Crossing Blues'" in 1950), but jumped ship because of money issues.

The label continued to record gospel throughout its existence, even after it let jazz and R&B fall by the wayside in the '60s. When the label was deactivated, its gospel catalog was sold to a different party than the jazz and R&B material.

Now up and running again, Savoy will do more than reissue old collections in the years to come. A remix CD titled "Bird Up" will match up electronic artists of today with the Savoy Parker catalog. The label is also in the process of upgrading all its digital transfers from the original acetates (the special discs used as the masters for the recording sessions) to capture the sounds originally recorded as accurately as possible. Releases are also planned on HDCD (audiophile CDs), DVD-A (a new high-end DVD-derived audio format) and SACD (a competing format from Sony).

Savoy will also release new music by current jazz artists. While there is no word yet on whom the relaunched label plans to sign, it seems to be a strategy taken from Lubinsky himself, who stepped in to sign new musicians while major jazz labels were consolidating their roster of artists, often cutting loose those who hadn't yet caught on.

It's this promise of new signings that most impresses WBGO-FM's (88.3) morning DJ and Music Director Gary Walker.

"The catalog, which is so rich, will have to be relied upon to support the label," Walker says. "But in a year from now, they'll be signing people that they are going to commit to in the same way that the label was originally run in the 1940s. That to me is just as exciting."

Savoy, WBGO and the Institute of Jazz Studies also collaborated on a five-part radio documentary about the label, which can be accessed via the Web at www.wbgo.org. The station is also running a "Friday Nights with Savoy" on-air contest at 8:30 every Friday night through Nov. 22, culminating in a "Timeless Night with Savoy" special.

"People today need to know that Newark is a city with an artistic heritage," said WBGO General Manager Cephas Bowles. "It's something they shouldn't only know about, but be proud of."