|
Donald's Encyclopedia of Popular MusicA B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y ZCUSCUNA, Michael(b 20 September 1948, Stamford CT; d 20 April 2024) Producer; also critic, broadcaster, writer. He wrote countless sleeve notes and articles in periodicals; he did radio in Philadelphia, NYC; produced the Jazz Alive series and other syndicated programmes. He began producing blues and pop records while in college '66-70, including Bonnie Raitt's second album Give It Up '72; he was on staff at Atlantic '72-3: prod. Garland Jeffreys, Oscar Brown, Ted Curson, much else. He recorded the Ann Arbor Blues and Jazz Festival '72, including the Art Ensemble live set issued on Atlantic, then Fanfare For The Warriors recorded with them in Chicago. He went freelance from '73, prod. Larry Coryell, Andrew Hill, Oliver Lake, Lester Bowie, Ran Blake, Cecil Taylor, many others. He coaxed Dexter Gordon and Anthony Braxton back from Europe, prod. Braxton on Arista '75-7, Gordon on CBS (releases '77-9). He prod. the Wildflowers festival in May '76, mixed and edited the series of five LPs released '76 on Douglas, as well as Charles Tyler's Saga Of The Outlaws, eventually released on Nessa with his sleeve note. He put Braxton, Lee Konitz, Dave Brubeck, Roy Haynes and Jack Six together for the unusual All The Things We Are '76 on Atlantic. He became best known for producing reissues and issues of unreleased material beginning with Inner Space '73, a two-disc set with Chick Corea and Hubert Laws titles from the '60s. He did a series of unissued John Coltrane material on Impulse. In cahoots with Charlie Lourie he got into Blue Note's vault '75, discovering 130 LPs' worth of unissued material as well as reissues, and prod. Blue Note two-disc compilations, but reissue programmes always had a stop-and-start nature. After years of research he and Lourie formed Mosaic '82 for limited edition reissues; their first release was the Complete Blue Note Recordings Of Thelonious Monk, with unissued and alternate takes, discography and biographical booklet by Cuscuna. He was on the A&R staff of the revived Blue Note label at EMI NYC in the mid-'80s in charge of reissues and release of unissued material; he prod. the Mt Fuji Jazz Festival in Japan '86-95; co-authored The Blue Note Label -- A Discography for Greenwood Press and The Blue Note Years: The Jazz Photography Of Francis Wolff for Rizzoli; he was still with Blue Note '97, also producing Impulse reissues freelance; prod. of new recordings included McCoy Tyner, Lou Rawls (with Billy Vera), Don Pullen, Joe Lovano etc. He told me that he was as pleased with the Bonnie Raitt album as anything he ever did. He was also a great guy, friendly and helpful to everyone. Every jazz fan, indeed every fan of American music, owed Cucscuna a lot, and his sudden death was a shock to the music commentariat, filling the Internet with tributes. |