Books and Music

Out the Great New Sounds on Cedar Place

– By Allen Clark –

Jerry Roche of Rye and I live two blocks apart, but we've never met in the 22-plus years I've lived here. (He's lived here 30 years.) And we might never have met had not a friend of mine in Florida sent me a clipping from a somewhat esoteric jazz magazine called The Mississippi Rag that reviewed a new CD my friend was sure I'd like. Titled “”Petite Fleur,” it's a reissue of a 1959 LP of New Orleans clarinetist Edmond Hall with a stand of excellent supporting musicians.

My friend said, why didn't I “drive there and save the postage.” Not sure what he meant, I read the review. At the end was: “Available from Mighty Quinn Productions, 56 Cedar Pl., Rye, NY 10580 (914-921-2675).” So, not only did I pick up a few terrific CDs (and avoid the postage), I got a story.

Roche has lived in Rye for all but 13 of his 43 years. A graduate of Rye High School Class of 1981, he married a local girl, Maggie Nye, RHS Class of 1985, whose father, Jack, founded Ridge Door Sales, also on Cedar and now run by her two brothers, Steve and John. After a stint with Citibank in the city, he got interested in social work and ended up working with Human Development Services in Port Chester.

Eight years ago, a friend and fellow jazz lover from Rye, Scott Wenzel, RHS '78, told him about an opening at Mosaic Records in Stamford. Mosiac is a highly regarded private producer of jazz recordings by individual musicians that are out of print or suffering from neglect, usually in boxed sets, first on LPs but now mostly on CDs.

One evening in 2002, Roche was “shooting the breeze” with one of Mosaic's two founders, Michael Cuscuna. “We were discussing singers with really bad voices who still were successful,” Roche said. “We mentioned Leo Kottke, one of the most important and influential acoustic fingerstyle guitarists of the 20th century, who described his own voice as being 'goose f...ts on a muggy day.' Michael told me that evening that I could reissue some of Kottke's songs from the '70s on the now defunct Capitol and Chrysalis labels.”

And that's what he did. He produced two CDs on the Blue Note label (one of the many other labels also owned by EMI), to critical acclaim. Later that year and into 2004, he followed with three more releases, all on the Okra-Tone label.

“Come On” was the first release, featuring a selection of New Orleans blues singer/guitarist/songwriter Earl King's 1960's hits, which Dr. John said were some of his favorite recordings.

Next, he reissued on one CD two, late 1950s albums by pianist Hank Jones, whom he describes as “one of the last bebop-era masters who [in his mid-80s] is still performing at a high level.” Then, he issued “Honeysuckle Dog,” which brought back 10 of folk-rock guitarist/singer/songwriter Chris Smither's best recordings from the '70s.

By this time, Roche was coming to the realization that, if he did all of the production himself, he could simplify the process, save time and assume more responsibility for the final product. In 2004, without having to give up his day job, he formed Mighty Quinn as an LLC. His wife does the books (she has an MBA in finance), and he assembled a team of people and studios to help produce and distribute. The marketing falls in his lap.

In his first year and a half on his own, Roche has issued 11 CDs, ranging from the idiosyncratic sounds of jazz trumpeter/drummer/composer and big band leader Don Ellis, who died at 43 in 1978, to the driving Chicago-Jazz sounds of the Eddie Condon All Stars to the gospel singing of Lou Rawls and The Pilgrim Travelers. And, then, the new release that got this story going: Edmond Hall's “Petite Fleur.”

Clarinetist Hall was perhaps best known as part of Louis Armstrong's small ensemble during the '50s (especially their role in the movie “High Society”). What Roche brings us was Hall's first LP under his own name (1959), with some classic supporting musicians, including Vic Dickensen (trombone) and Milt Hinton (bass).

The Mississippi Rag reviewer places the sounds “somewhere between strictly traditional jazz and the kind of greyhound-agile music of groups haunting 52nd Street in Manhattan in the late 1930s.” As my friend said, I had to get a copy. (I actually got two.)

“The sound is superb,” wrote the Mississippi Rag reviewer. That's a signature quality of Mighty Quinn releases, at least as far as Roche's CDs to date are concerned. Each one has a clarity of sound, with great presence that brings out the best of each reissue.

Roche works on the re-mastering with someone he's known for years. “Mantis Evar is amazing,” Roche says. “We make a great team.” Obviously, one of the first jobs is to get rid of the old LP surface noise. But there are risks. “Sometimes, re-mastering can fall into the trap of taking out the piano on the top end or rolling bass off at the low end. We want people to appreciate what was there but not in an intrusive way ... We try to be as true to the original as we can.”

Roche's most recent three releases include his first stab at producing totally new material - a new group and an original recording. The performers: Hello Dali, the rock group started by Rye's own Johnnie Winter, RHS '86. The title: “Bedtime For Bob-O.” Also in the group is former Rye resident bassist Bob Angilello, RHS '86, whose brother David, RHS '83, handles all of Mighty Quinn's art directing.

The other two releases are a collection of Don Ellis songs interpreted by the incredible Bulgarian-born pianist Milcho Leviev called “Multiple Personalities” (I recommend this highly) and a new recording by the rock/psychedelic/folk singer/composer/guitarist extraordinaire Gary Lucas, “Coming Clean.” Roche had double the normal quantity of CDs pressed for the Lucas release (2,000) because of Lucas' established fan base.

The name Mighty Quinn is in homage to the Roche's 3-year-old daughter, Quinn, who is one of the label's biggest fans. Roche says that he and his wife try to have a jazz brunch at home every Saturday or Sunday, and Quinn is a big supporter of what he's produced so far. Appropriately for this article, her favorite is the Edmond Hall disk. Whether Roche will have to start a second label named after their second daughter, Emerson, remains to be seen.

And whether Roche is poised to become Rye's version of Sam Phillips of Sun Records fame may be a little early to say. He certainly has made an impressive start.

Ed. Note: Mighty Quinn CDs are described on the website (www.mighty-quinn.net), where mail orders can be placed. CDs can also be bought on Amazon.com. And if you'd like to save the postage, call Jerry Roche at 921-2675 and drive on over to Cedar.