Q&A: Blue Note’s Don Was On Why The Jazz Community Banded Together For The ‘Relief’ Album

The unprecedented COVID pandemic created all sorts of unique problems and opportunities, including many in the music realm. For bigger artists in the rock, pop, country and hip hop genres, they had either savings or other income sources to rely on while not being able to tour for a year.

However, in a genre like jazz, where live gigs are an essential part of the life blood for musicians, not being able to tour for a year can be financially devastating. Recognizing that, several major labels in the jazz world have united for Relief, an all-star collection of artists sharing their unreleased material to benefit the Jazz Foundation of America in their quest to help musicians affected by the pandemic.

The record — put together by Concord Music Group, Mack Avenue Music Group, Nonesuch Records, Universal Music Group’s Verve Label Group and Blue Note, and Warner Music Group — features a wide array of artists, from Herbie Hancock and Charles Lloyd to Christian McBride and Joshua Redman.

For all involved, from the label heads to the artists who donated their tracks, it was an easy decision to be part of Relief.

“The reason why it was important for me to contribute to this project is that I come from the same musical community. As a soldier of the fields, I’m very aware that my brothers and sisters in the community need help, especially during the pandemic when there wasn’t any work,” Kenny Garrett says. “Jazz Foundation of America has been working for many years to assist jazz musicians. This is why I wanted to contribute one of my songs.”

That sentiment is echoed by McBride. “The Jazz Foundation of America has been doing such outstanding work for several years now,” he says. “Every musician understands that disasters and tragedies can strike, and if there hadn’t been an organization like Jazz Foundation of America, many of those tragedies may now have been turned around and made unmanageable for musicians. So, all of us in the jazz community consider it our duty to lend a hand in anything the Jazz Foundation of America does.” 

Though it is not unusual for artists to band together for benefit albums, it is definitely much rarer for “rival ” labels to come together. But given the circumstances the unique move was the right one.

“This is a project that came together for all the right reasons and with intent to do good for others in their time of need,” Denny Stilwell, president of Mack Avenue Music Group, says. “Everyone involved contributed royalties, profits, time, talent, creative – it feels good to collaborate with this kind of focus. The music is fantastic, and it’s possible that most of these tracks might never have been heard if it weren’t for this album coming together. That’s a gift and benefit to all of us.” 

I spoke at length with Blue Note president Don Was about why they got involved, the importance of helping the jazz community and why this is not just an album for a good cause, but a snapshot of the vibrant jazz scene in 2021.

Steve Baltin: What have you been really excited about of late?

Don Was: We got a Jonathan Blake record, his first from Blue Note track that just came out. It’s a really great record, and it kind of took me by surprise with it, and I like that a lot. There’s a new Bill Charlap, he’s back on Blue Note, that is a beautiful, beautiful album. New one’s coming from Immanuel Wilkins and Joel Ross, kick things up a whole lot of it notch for the two of them. Of course, we got Norah Jones Christmas record out. So it’s a busy fall for us.

Baltin: For everybody, it’s actually been a creative time in the midst of a very hectic sort of turmoil. Having talked to so many artists and I’m sure that you found this as well, what’s been nice is it’s allowed artists to really expand their boundaries.

Was: Well, yeah. It stopped the treadmill [laughter]. And it gave everyone a chance to really evaluate the course they were on. And so that of course, is a good part of it. The bad part of it is that it put a lot of economic hardship on people who are living off a planned life. It’s definitely been an eye-opener. I think that’s actually the whole world and I think that’s why no one wants to go back to work at their s**t job [laughter].  It’s tough out there, people are really evaluating their lives and seeing that they don’t have to live a cookie-cutter routine.

Baltin: So how have you reevaluated things?

Was: It’s been a combination of things. We’ve been able to run the record company without missing a beat, which is nice. I think it’s pretty clear that we can do the job from anywhere. So in that sense, we kept on but we weren’t bound to the office, which opens up a lot of possibilities for how you distribute your time. And also, I was very fortunate. Personally, I spent seven months in the studio with John Mayer, previously in his latest record and we did that. I’d work on the record company for six to eight hours in the morning, and then we’d go into the studio after that and it was just nice to be among people, among musicians, and to be creative and not to have a deadline. We took our time, and thankfully, John could afford to take his time and I think we made a better record as a result. He’s always been very nice and very generous and respectful. And also, he’s a marvel in the studio. He’s one of the most creative people I ever met.

Baltin: All of this does tie in a sense though because all of these labels are working together. And you see in this period where there was so much crisis and so much turmoil, the importance of people sticking together and supporting each other. And obviously, for the jazz community in particular, where people are, like you say, living planned lives, that support is essential.

Was: Well, look, man. I was on the phone with Denny Stilwell from Mack Avenue. It was probably March of 2020, just shortly after everything shut down, and we were less concerned about being able to make records and just about our artists staying afloat, man, just basic survival things,. And we knew we had to do something to help out. So we convened the fraternity of jazz record labels, which is really a pretty friendly group. I think we all operate from a standpoint that anything that any one of us does that is successful helps everybody else. It keeps the music going, and it all has positive ramifications, so not only are we not at each other’s throats, but we’re actually really good friends. So the first thought was just to get the fund going and do things just to help people with very basic things like rent and medical expenses, and groceries and utilities and even in some cases, funeral expenses, just to provide some subsistence to people who live day-to-day by playing gigs. And even then, we had no idea how long this thing was gonna drag out. But we all got together and we put up the seed money for a fund, which we then brought over to Jazz Foundation of America, and it became the COVID-19 musicians emergency fund. They were set up to really administer grants and it’s actually been incredibly helpful. We’ve raised about $2 million, and it’s helped out more than 2000 musicians and not just in New York, but I think it’s like 41 states or something like that, is what I was told, so it’s got a good reach. And then we thought about making an album too, like just do something that would raise money. So we all went to our artists and we all got masters that had never been released, new masters in some cases and everyone agreed, the artists, the songwriters and the labels to kick in their share. No one’s making any money off of it, and it’s all going into the fund, which I think is also fairly unprecedented.

Baltin: Do you have more flexibility in jazz than in other genres?

Was: Yeah, I won’t say the stakes are lower, but I think we’re aware that we’re dealing in niche music and that it’s important to keep the music alive. And anything that any of the other groups do that makes that happen, that trickles down to everybody. We’re just trying to help people out. But now that this album’s coming out, I think it’s necessary to talk about it.

Baltin: Are there moments on there that just as a fan you were really surprised by?

Was: Yeah, I think the thing as a whole. I love that it covers a really broad spectrum of music, it’s a pretty good glimpse into what’s going on in the world today. It’s a wide range of music and I loved the fact that no one was turning in their dregs and their B-sides [chuckle]. It’s a really great album and it’s a real good snapshot of what’s going on in the world of music today too.

Baltin: When you put together Herbie and Joshua Redman and Heromie and all these different people, everybody comes from a different place. So were there things that you noticed in terms of a common bread that kind of surprised you?

Was: That’s a very good question. To me, it’s kind of a little microcosm. We have it just within our own label. It’s very funny. I was in New York last Wednesday, and we did Dolby Atmos mixes of a lot of our records, so we were playing them for the artist to get their approval. And they scheduled them an hour apart at a little studio to come in and listen, but they all ended up hanging it out. So you had such a wide range of musicians from Immanuel Wilkins, Bill Charlap was right after him and Julian Lage, then Arturo O’Farrill and some of them had never met each other, each record that we played was incredibly different, but it all springs from the same well. Everybody came to Louis Armstrong, Duke Ellington and Thelonious Monk and Art Blakey and Miles Davis to get to that point. And it’s interesting how the seeds have turned into flowers that look really different, but they’re all coming from the same source. I think, if anything, it’s a strong testimony to how alive and vibrant the music of today is and how it successfully always turn a new corner. So I think that’s the big thing. Why is this music still around? We don’t want it to be a museum. It’s gotta stay relevant to the times, and you can really hear that. This record’s a really good microcosm of it, not just from even from one label standpoint, but you got it from all these different companies. It’s a very healthy time in music.

Baltin: What are the things that you hope people take away from this project in terms of realizing how vibrant the music is, and in fact that jazz is still very much a living, breathing, evolving form?

Was: Yeah, ultimately, that’s the goal. Obviously, we wanna help musicians in need. But I think the album really stands on its own, and hopefully, draws more people into the music. Best way you can help the musicians isn’t just by buying their album, it’s like to get turned onto to this music, and love it and come to shows and buy and stream the music. Ultimately, that’s the best thing you can do for the musicians to support them.

Baltin: Talk about your relationship with Jazz Foundation. What have been some of your most memorable moments with Jazz Foundation?

Was: When I first started, they had a big tribute to Bruce Lundvall, who was not well, and who, of course, is one of the great men of, not just of the music business but of music in general. He’s a great supporter of music, beloved. Rare to find someone who’s been an executive for 40, 50 years who’s beloved by artists, but Bruce certainly fit that. He was a great supporter of music as well as a great record executive, and to the artist. And that was a very touching event.