A FIRESIDE CHAT WITH LEO FEIGIN, FOUNDER OF LEO RECORDS


Recommending titles from Leo Records is a frustrating task. Where does one begin? I don't think I am going out on a limb here when I state that there are no bad releases on Leo. It is understandable when you meet the man behind the label that carries his name. Leo Feigin loves jazz. His absolute reverence for the art form is blatantly obvious with each and every Leo title. I spoke with Feigin from his home on the other side of the Atlantic and I bring it to you, a conversation with a true jazz fan, unedited and in his own words.


FRED JUNG: Let's start from the beginning.

LEO FEIGIN: I lived in the Soviet Union, which is a totalitarian state. And jazz music was identified with freedom because you can censor anything and everything apart from one thing. Only one thing in the whole of art cannot be censored and this is improvisation and that is why for us, it has a very special meaning. Basically, jazz was, the Soviets, they were right that it was Western propaganda. Jazz was bringing Western values. It was very important for us.


FJ: What was the first release on Leo Records?

LEO FEIGIN: In 1979, I had been in the West for five years already. I had been working with the Russian service of the BBC and I was broadcasting, producing programs, and I was doing a jazz program, a weekly jazz show. In 1979, a friend of mine sent me a tape with a western tourist. The tape was smuggled out of the Soviet Union. It was a tape of the Ganelin Trio concert in East Berlin. And when I listened to it, I couldn't believe my ears. I tried to get interest from several record companies including ECM, but nobody believed that this Soviet trio can play like this and play this kind of music. So ultimately, I was left with this tape and I realized that if I don't release it, nobody will. Basically, that was the start of the label. I released first, not the Ganelin Trio, but two other recordings. Since nobody believed, I thought that in order to give some probablity to the label, I recorded Amina Claudine Myers and I recorded Keshavan Maslak. That was the first release and the third one was the Ganelin Trio. When I released the Ganelin Trio, of course nobody believed, but at least the label had already been in existence.


FJ: Recording advanced improvised music doesn't help matters.

LEO FEIGIN: Well, of course. Everything was difficult. You see, Fred, you can't learn to be a producer. You can't go to a university and you can't enroll in a course, "How to be a Record Producer." It doesn't exist. So you have to start from scratch and it is basically a method of trial and error.


FJ: Initially, it must have been more errors.

LEO FEIGIN: Oh, yeah. I had a lot of errors. Yeah.


FJ: How extensive is the Leo catalog?

LEO FEIGIN: Probably over three hundred titles.


FJ: What is the difference between Leo Records and Leo Lab?

LEO FEIGIN: Leo Lab was created with the idea of giving exposure to young talent. That's it. Leo Lab is a very radical label. Leo Records is a label which has been established. And the musicians that have recorded for Leo Records have already been established. So from this point of view, it is nothing new. Although the music is very much advanced, it is still, it's Anthony Braxton, Marilyn Crispell, Sun Ra, Ganelin Trio, it is all big names, you see. Leo Lab was created especially with the idea of promoting young talent, whose approach to music is very, very radical. This is what it is.


FJ: How old is the label?

LEO FEIGIN: This year, we are celebrating our twentieth anniversary. In June, I am having a small three day festival marking the twentieth anniversary of Leo Records in London. Basically, it will be mostly young and talented musicians, not the kind of big shots. I think that it is really important to give some exposure to young musicians.


FJ: Do you plan on recording that concert and releasing that event on Leo?

LEO FEIGIN: Yes, that is a possibility. I did a festival in 1996, which was five years ago and a lot of stuff was recorded from that festival and some of the stuff was released already and some of the stuff will be released like Joe Maneri Quartet, so there is always a possibility.


FJ: The majority of Leo releases are live recordings.

LEO FEIGIN: You see, I am a strong believer in the live performance. This is the prominent feature of Leo Records. Most of the stuff is live recordings. Of course, I like to work in the studio and believe me, I can produce the sound of ECM, but this is not what music is for me. For me, aesthetically, music is something else. It is something different. It is not just beautiful sounds. Jazz has always had some dirty tones. Jazz as a reflection of life has never been beautiful sound. That is why I think what is happening now is a great betrayal of this music. This how do they call it, sleek or gentle jazz. How do they call it?


FJ: Smooth jazz.

LEO FEIGIN: Smooth. Smooth jazz. I think it is the greatest falsification of history. The so call jazz was hijacked.


FJ: Will jazz continue to stay a high art with the dawn of smooth jazz and so called jazz festivals having everything but jazz on their stages?

LEO FEIGIN: If you look at the history of jazz, you will see that every ten years used to bring a radical change. And that the radical change was a reflection of life. Beginning from spirituals and Dixieland and swing, big band, bebop, it was every ten years used to bring you this kind of change. I think that this is the essence of life. This is the essence of jazz, to reflect life. When this music stops reflecting life, than it is dead. That is what is happening when I listen to this smooth jazz. It is music that is totally dead to me. It doesn't say anything. It doesn't express anything.


FJ: And the state of jazz in the States versus Europe and Japan?

LEO FIEGIN: I think the jazziest country in the world is United States. It's been like this and I think it will always be like this. If you can make it in the States, that's it, you've made it.


FJ: Joe Maneri does not seem to agree with your sentiment. He's popularity in Europe is impressive and yet, in the States, he couldn't buy a gig. That seems tragically backwards to me.

LEO FEIGIN: That's true. That's true. It is very sad, but it is already a kind of a tradition that a lot of American musicians have been discovered in Europe. They ultimately got recognition at home because they were discovered in Europe and got recognition in Europe. They sort of came back home as heroes. Dexter Gordon, even people like Miles Davis and Charlie Parker, people from mainstream and people from avant-garde. Cecil Taylor has been much more popular for years in Europe than in America. Mind you, Fred, America is so big that with the time changes and people are catching up to the music and by now, Cecil Taylor is getting decent audiences in the United States. But he is over seventy.


FJ: Such tragedy.

LEO FEIGIN: That is a shame. Big shame.


FJ: You must sleep very well that you are making a difference to change that.

LEO FEIGIN: Of course, but it is also very rewarding to see that the artists that you discovered are doing well and getting recognition. If anything, I think Leo Records will be remembered for that. This is the label which gave lives to many, many very good musicians. I would say the first name that comes to mind is Marilyn Crispell. I released her LP in 1983 and at that time, she was desperate. She was absolutely desperate. She wanted to give up and I was pushing her and said, "Come on Marilyn, let's make another LP. Let's make another recording." But now, I am very happy to see her both as a person and as a musician because she is a big, big artist who can live off her music. That is very satisfying.


FJ: What is on tap for Leo?

LEO FEIGIN: There are thirty releases every year, so there are a hell of a lot scheduled. Now, I am releasing eight CDs and among them, Gebhard Ullman double CD, Joe Maneri double CD, Anthony Braxton double CD. It will be heavy artillery.


Recommended Leo Records Titles:

Anthony Braxton - Quartet, 1985
Anthony Braxton - Knitting Factory, Volume 1, 1994
Marilyn Crispell - Live in Zurich
Joe Maneri - Let the Horse Go
Evan Parker - Monkey Puzzle
Ivo Perelman - Siero
Ivo Perelman - Brazilian Watercolour
Sun Ra - Second Star to the Right
Sun Ra - Love in Outer Space
Cecil Taylor - Tzotzil-Mummers-Tzotzil


Fred Jung is Jazz Weekly's Editor-In-Chief and Fire Starter. Comments?  Email Fred.