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RE: You're not seeing the big picture. Jazz record labels became unprofitable/unsustainable in the '60s

So why start with the '60's if you choose to ignore jazz recordings that were popular (even amongst the "masses") in the 60's - or discredit them as jazz pap dumbed down in hopes of mass appeal?

Jazz was at its zenith of popularity in the swing era when it was THE popular *dance* music. In terms of popularity it was downhill from '50's bebop on, when the music ceased to be dance music.

Whether you consider recordings like those I mentioned to be unrepresentative of "cutting edge" or "hardcore" jazz or not, the recording and radio industry certainly called it jazz, as did the public. For that matter, so did jazz musicians. Contrary to what you seem to think, those recordings sold a helluva lotta records and were even played on MOTR radio stations. You'd hear Jimmy Smith recordings like Hobo Flats (Oliver Nelson charts) all over the radio. How do you think Getz became loaded with money if his bossa nova records weren't popular with the normally non-jazz fan public? Brubeck of course was beyond popular. Eddie Harris's Exodus ('61) set his career off. Listen Here was pretty damn popular in '67, and like Exodus was heard all over the radio dial, not just on jazz stations.

Dizzy's band played on the Ed Sullivan Show in '61 - one of the most popular tv shows of the era. Duke & Ella appeared on that show in the '60's, they weren't the only jazzers to do so. Steve Allen had a super popular tv show in the '60's, and aside from his house band full of jazzers like Herb Ellis, Condoli bros., Frank Rosolino etc. he regularly had jazz groups featured. I saw/heard guys like Les McCann (just as an example) for the first time on his show, and Les wasn't playing pap.

Needless to say, compared to f'ing Patti Page - let alone r&r like Elvis, the Beach Boys, Beatles etc. - jazz was a minor sideshow in the '60's. But its relative, and I think the really drastic drop into the abyss was yet to come. You site Bluenote being sold, but jazz in the '60's hardly died when Lion exited the biz. The only big selling and popular jazz recording I mentioned that was on Bluenote was Sidewinder.

Dunno if its really true, but I've heard/read 'Trane was making hundreds of thousands per year in the '60's. Festivals and clubs I went to in the Wash., D.C. area in the '60's were consistently packed. Monk was on the cover of Time magazine in '64. CTI didn't even start releasing until '70 IIRC, and initially did well with Hubbard, Turrentine etc. The Red Clay and Sugar LP's sold pretty damn well for jazz, and was a huge boost for their careers. Remember, Bird wasn't exactly getting awards from the industry for platinum records in the '50's.

I tried thru Googling, but was unable to come up with sales figures for jazz recordings vs. classical recordings in the '60's. I'd be surprised if classical outsold jazz, but I can't say for sure.

BTW -- if ya haven't read 'em already, a coupla books I thought were pretty interesting:

The House That 'Trane Built (about Impulse)
Last Sultan (about Ertegun and Atlantic)




Edits: 05/04/15
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