www.noelakchote.org
 
 
 

Johnny Guitar Watson
Jet Plane

« You probably saw me pulling this one out on every listing I get asked for since, but that’s a fact. This 7” really is the very first time music talked to me so intimately, so deeply, so guitaristically too. I still had a “Mange Disque” (Slot In Rec Players), I can still see this single going inside and playing with the same type of sound you had on AM Radios back then. It was full Disco years, “Saturday Night Fever” had hit all heads couple years before only, Michael’s ‘Don’t Stop ‘Til You Get Enough’ was a major break too, ‘Rapper’s Delight’ by Sugarhill Gang, Anita Award’s ‘Ring My Bell’, so much more that would more or less stop with Hancock’s ‘Rock It’ for me. Before that Johnny Guitar sound I use to play a lot of Swing or Cool jazz from my father which I loved them, but this was Jazz for me now too, though it was hard to understand why. »

Naná Vasconcelos
Dida

« As I said above, Vinyl often means to me music that I haven’t heard since, nor in many cases, that has been really reissued for long since. This is a typical LP effect that could strike me back then. I bought this one because i was so intrigued by its cover, the object looked very mysterious, almost Voodoo like. I Loved this music, it sounded very obscure to me and somewhere totally isolated, hardly related to any else I knew (and I knew a lot of Brazilian music by that time). Writing those notes now I also realize that I actually bought most of these albums just as they came out. »

Pat Martino ‎
Sunny

« This is a classic Modern Jazz Guitar Memorabilia, the type of solos all wishing to become jazz guitarist have played over a 1000 times, learned, transcribed and will always do. Yet another pretty obscure sound, location, situation and even cover. When I started to play the guitar and be interested by jazz music, the production situation was such that on one side you the famous well established labels such as Blue Note, Impulse, CBS etc with rather classic albums from the past, and next to was a constant flow of contemporary releases that felt less historical, more session-like, labels like Concord Jazz, Muse, Steeplechase etc. had a lot of those one off guitar albums. »

Chet Baker/Steve Houben
This Is Always

« I had no idea of Bill Frisell really by then (I must have got this LP in 1981 or so, very soon after it came out). I was soon to meet Philip Catherine who played with Chet Baker mostly at this time, and whom would become my forever hero, whom I would follow with Chet everywhere I could, listening to all their shows, traveling along with. But on this album Bill plays very straight still, and this only shows even more his so unique difference since. Its only 5,6 years after that I would see him play live for the first time, with Paul Motian’s Quintet and he was already far advanced in more distorded sounds, using echo pedals and other effects. »

The Monty Alexander 7
Week-end In L.A.

« Caribbean music as I first heard it, rather white and clean, pretty jazz still. It took me a long time to link it later with Reggae Dub and all the 1000 other sounds from the bay. I use to listen a lot to Monty Alexander back then, he would play live regularly in Paris too. I loved Ernest Ranglin guitars, but had no idea about his reggae contribution. I knew of Jackie Mittoo because he played Organ and I was really into Organ combos but it was still a bit too rough for me by those years. I still have a solo LP on Black & Blue signed by Monty. »

When did you start digging records?
I don’t really consider myself as a “digger” but I have been buying records ever since the mid 80’s.

Do you have a particular style or favourite period ? And why?
I don’t have a particular style. I listen to different types of music, mainly from the 1950’s to the 1970’s … My father used to listen to classical, pop or rock every sunday morning. So I grew up listening to The Rolling Stones, The Clash, Madness, Hendrix, Floyd, Bob Marley, Gainsbourg, Hubert-Felix Thiefaine, JS Bach, Mozart…I also listened to punk, new-wave, “industrial” music from Belgium, The Netherlands and Germany and later to funk and soul. I discovered jazz about twenty years ago and i liked it. Today, I listen to this particular genre the most.

After your first reissue, “Peace Treaty” by the saxophonist Nathan Davis in 2006, what prompted you to creating the label?
In 2006, after meeting with Nathan Davis, I decided to release one of his first recordings, from 1965. As I’m also very interested in photography, I decided to look for the original sleeve photographer, Jean-Pierre Leloir,  to try and obtain a photo print and agree on a deal with him. I also decided to search for the owner of the master tapes to find an agreement with him. Five years after the Nathan Davis reissue, I decide to create Sam Records to continue doing the same type if work with other titles. I’m not really familiar with the music industry but it was clear for me I had to try and make the best reissues possible: find the master tapes, the original photography, the original LP to have all the required information and of course a proper licence. I like vinyl, the cover, the artefact and of course the different approach to listening to music that it represents compared to CD or MP3.
 

Why Sam Records?
It is really simple: Sam is the name of my son and I also found it easy to remember and pronounce.

What is the editorial/esthetic line? How do you decide on the choice of reissues?
I choose titles according to two criteria: the love I have for those particular musicians and the level of rarity of the records. Today, I only reissue jazz records but there are other style that also interest me especially some pop or rock titles.

“Less Is More” could be your leitmotif. Why did you chose to restart from original tapes and original pictures?
Less Is More is of course my leitmotif. I chose to restart from originals tapes and pictures for a matter of quality. It’s not the easiest way, especially when the photographer has already passed away and photos are lost. It’s a detective job : to be as close as possible to the original records; from the sound to the artwork. I prefer quality over quantity.
 

Do you believe that the high difficulty of this search could be a strength for your label?
Yes, I guess quality is one of the strengths of my label. But with a little bit more contacts in the music business the world over, it could become less difficult to pursue the Sam Records story.

Have you receive many negative answers on some of the LPs you were trying to reissue?
Not yet. But I’m still waiting for some answers from music companies… Sometimes it takes a long time!

There is more and more reissues of old LPs. Do you think that the LP reissue market could ever reach saturation point?
If a record is good, it can be reissued. The problem is that too many poor reissues at the same time may kill the good ones. And I’m not sure about the quality I see in stores for most of them. It costs money to make really nice reissues. There is more and more reissues of old LPs, especially in jazz, because most jazz records from the 1950’s and 1960’s have fallen into public domain and some european companies don’t pay anything. They remove the original logo and use a CD for the music: it’s just a 150g or 180g CD !

What are your next releases?
Two Donald Byrd records recorded in Paris in 1958 for Brunswick label and a Chet Baker EP from 1956 from the  Barclay catalogue. They will be available in October.

What is the LP you dream of reissuing?
There are many, but Sam is a small company, so I prefer to remain silent on the subject.

MY 3 REISSUES EVER

Sahib Shihab “Sentiments” (1971, reissue in 2014 by seriE.WOC)

Curtis Amy “Katanga” (1963, reissue by Heavenly Sweetness in 2010)

Batsumi “Batsumi” (1974, reissue by Matsuli Music in 2011)