Tuesday, May 7, 2013

Words from a Major Jazz Record Producer

My current reading project is a book entitled Mingus Speaks, which is basically a document of some twenty hours of interviews with Charles Mingus conducted by John F. Goodman. To put those interviews in perspective, however, Goodman adds third-party commentary, often the result of follow-up interviews. Thus, we have the following from Teo Macero:
And little mistakes, little balance problems, they never bother me. It's the excitement that's created by the audience, the enthusiasm and the charisma of the whole thing that is actually taking place at the moment.
For those unfamiliar with the name, Macero is often still singled out as the leading producer of jazz recordings, primarily on the basis of his work at Columbia Records with such major artists as Miles Davis. So here we have a man whose most memorable professional achievements involved making recordings, and he is saying that the communion between performer and audience is all that really matters! At least one guy has his priorities straight!

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