Each month, we are focusing on a record label founded by an active digger. We are stopping with Franck Descollonges, the man behind Heavenly Sweetness.
When did you start digging records?
I started circa 1995, almost 20 years… Ever since I was a kid I have always bought 7inches, LPs or later CDs, but only new realeases. In the mid 90’s I really got into the “DJ” world with the acid jazz movement and I wanted to discover more black music. At that time, there was no internet and it wasn’t so easy to discover new artists. There were no proper record shops specialized in this type of music in my home town of Lyon, so we had to do trade with friends or DJs to make new discoveries. Also, as I didn’t have too much money back then (I was a student), the only way to buy records for cheap was at flea markets. We didn’t speak about digging at that time, it was just about being curious and buying unknown records for 1 or 2 french francs with a small financial risk, just because the cover looked good or the name sounded cool.
This early curiosity still motivates me for digging nowadays, to discover new records which I would never have listened to if I had not found them in a crate. When you wake up early on a sunday morning to go digging, you are always dreaming about finding some “holy grails” that you have been looking for for years and finally you come back at the end of the day with some totally different records you never thought you would buy. That’s the game.
What Lps did you buy at first ? Do you still listen to them ?
The first LP I bought as a kid was Imagination and I still have and love this album. I love the grooves and the keyboard bass. After that, it was probably some Depeche Mode or Wham records, music from this mid 80’s era. I still listen to it with pleasure… bot not so often. What I love with music and records is that each LP is linked to a period of my life and makes me remember about some moments, happy or sad. At the end of the day, my record collection is just the story of my life.
A funny story about digging : in the first flea market I went to, on a lazy sunday at around 2 PM, on top of the first crate I looked at there was a big afro cover LP; that was ‘Malik’ by the Lafayette Afro Rock Band. I listened to it back home and thought : “Great music, I think I will find plenty of albums like this every Sunday from now on !” Finally I never dug it again and that’s still one of my favorite albums ever.
Do you have a particular style or favorite period ?
Not really, it’s always changing. First, I was really into classic rock, after indie pop, then trip hop, soul, funk and jazz. With the creation and development of the label I got more into jazz, especially spiritual jazz and now I’m really into West Indian music. I think the end of the 60’s and early 70’s were really a golden age for many kinds of music, loads of experimentations, but each period has its classics and some ahead of their time albums. I’m always listening to some new music, I want to stay in the present, to avoid ending like some of, those old crazy collectors you can meet who are only living in the past. I’m happy to live in this time, especially exciting for music lovers thanks to the internet. It has never been so easy to discover some good music now, thanks to blogs, reissues, soundcloud, bandcamp…
What was your first issue ?
The first album we released was Doug Hammond. That was such a sign and honor to start with such an underground legend. The album was recorded by my business partner Antoine Rajon. That was the first album Doug recorded in 20 years, and it was done in Paris in just one day with Kirk Lightsey. Some really simple but emotional music. Just one man, with drums, words and a sanza. “We People” is still one of my favorite song of the labels. Timeless.
Why Heavenly Sweetness ?
The label was created by Antoine Rajon, who did the Philly Series just before initiating Heavenly Sweetness. The 4 albums of the Philly series (I strongly recommend) were recorded with and under the spirit of the great Byard Lancaster, ‘A Heavenly Sweetness’ was the title of his album and that’s a direct reference to theories like “Love Supreme” by Coltrane. Byard played with Coltrane and that was a kind of tribute to JC. Having Byard Lancaster as the godfather of the label was a good thing too, and we are missing some heavenly sweetness in this tough world that’s for sure.
What is the editorial/esthetic line?
First it was really jazz oriented, with spiritual jazz and some mixing with world music (like our don cherry reissue ‘Music/Sangam’) but later the exciting projects we got involved in were not jazz anymore, like the Blundetto albums). The question became : do we want to create a new chapter, among many others… ? Finally we decided : f..k musical boundaries, let’s release music we love. And that’s still the case now. The idea is to create a catalog, with diverse styles and artists but always with quality, so people who already bought some of the label’s albums can trust us and buy some new ones in different styles. Exactly like Soul Jazz or Numero Group are doing. You know you can trust these guys for good music, even if that’s not the music you are focusing on.
‘The Ruins Of Britain’, Webster Wraight Ensemble
How do you decide on the choice of reissues?
We have a list of albums we love and we’d like to make rediscovered by a larger audience than just the “happy few” record collectors. We’re trying to reissue some albums which are globally interesting, the whole album not just for one track. Otherwise it’s better to do compilations. Then usually that’s more a matter of opportunity, you meet the musicians, or the producer or somebody who can help you reach the original artists or rights owner.
What could be the leitmotif of your label ?
What a difficult question… Trying to release quality music, in different styles but with a common spirit.
Why did you choose to start a crowdfunding campaign ?
For two reasons! One is philosophical: I like the idea of a common project, people getting together to help a creative project to see the light. The other is financial: for one of the projects, it was the only way to achieve them as we are a small label and it can be expensive to make an artist’s dream come true, like the collaboration between Anthony Joseph with Meshell Ndegeocello and her band, or Guts’ record with many hip hop legends featured as guests.
‘Alice Of The River’, Anthony Joseph
Have you received many negative answers on some of the LPs you were trying to reissue?
Yes, especially with major labels. They don’t want you to use their catalogue but they don’t do anything with it. Masters are sleeping in a warehouse, stored and forgotten… Otherwise, the hardest thing is to find the rights owners of really tiny releases or private pressings.
There is more and more reissues of old LPs. Do you think that the LP reissue market could ever reach saturation point?
Yes I think so. For me there are two phenomena in parallel. The “back to vinyl” movement is just short-lived. With the development of digital musical, it’s cool & trendy to listen to vinyl. So majors and big labels are reissuing all the best sellers in all genres, just to make it available again on Amazon or retail chains. To my point of view, it will not last, a few years only. Regarding the other phenomena, rare or unknown albums reissued by quality labels, with quality products, it will stay strong and alive. It is a good opportunity to discover some new sounds, new artists. But all old records are not necessarily good, and there are so many reissues that’s it is hard to stay visible with such a big amount of records. I think this trend will go on but mathematically the number of old records is limited, so one day you will reach it. But there is so much music to discover and your musical taste is always changing, I’m listening now to some sounds I didn’t like before.
What are your next releases?
We just released a new Guts album called ‘Hip Hop After All’ and we went back to our jazz roots with the Florian Pellissier Quintet album ‘Biches Bleues’. For 2015, we will release a compilation of creole jazz (from Martinique and Guadeloupe) with our man Diggers Digest, a new album by The Rongetz Foundation and finally reissues of french spiritual jazz holy grail albums by Chene Noir !
‘La musique d’Orphée’, Chene Noir
What is the LP you dream of reissuing?
There are many. Jef Gilson on Palm with the original covers, even if Jazzman Records did a great boxset but without the artwork.
TOP REISSUES EVER
Terry Callier ‘The New Folk Song of Terry Callier’
Bobby Matos ‘My Latin Soul’
Billy Parker’s Fourth World ‘Freedom of Speech’
Henri Guedon “Cosmoszouk Percussion”
