various artists - Spiritual Jazz Vol.14: Private

“Private Press: A custom-made record that is produced and released by the artists themselves, or their close associates. Not to be confused with indie labels who are in the business of releasing other people's music.”

While the string of legendary independent labels, from Blue Note and Prestige to Steeplechase and Impulse! loom large in our ¬Spiritual Jazz catalogue, our latest instalment concerns the brave and innovative souls who acted ‘privately’, recording and releasing their music without the aid or involvement of a bona fide record company. Making a custom, private press record on your own, without the backing, status and business acumen of an established record company to help out is no mean feat, but it never really was difficult - it’s just a matter of spending money. And there has never been a shortage of studios & pressing plants willing to take your money! Easy done if you have funding in place of course, but the tricky bit, which remains to this day, is what to do exactly with a pallet load of vinyl that’s just been delivered to your door?

Herein you will find a variety of tracks from a selection of privately pressed jazz records released in the US between 1964 and 1987. One of the most interesting things I’ve found while researching this album is the variety of reasons behind coming up with a self-released record. No two stories are the same; some were done purely out of altruism to further the musical direction of students, others were trying to make it big. But one solid truth remains that binds together each and every selection here – the artists didn’t just make their music for the fun of it, they believed in their art so much that they took whatever steps they had available to them at the time to get their music heard.