Perhaps, the single hardest thing for an artist to do is to promote one’s music. The music world is full of critics and record executives who are out only to make money.
With less than three percent of all albums sold falling under the genre of jazz music, many artists find it hard to “make it big” in the music world.
However, one music label is working to help local artists promote their music to a larger audience without the hassles of bureaucracy.
“The idea of Cojazz itself is an alternative to big labels,” said Instructor of Music and co-founder of Cojazz Tom Carroll. Cojazz came about because large labels are “getting more and more narrow in terms of the music they are promoting.”
Cojazz was founded on the principle that all artists should have the opportunity to release their music to a wider audience than normally possible. This belief has helped many local artists reach new audiences.
Closer to home, three faculty members here in Denison’s music department have released albums associated with the Cojazz label.
Carroll released his first CD, “City Lights,” earlier this year. The album is a collection of material previously recorded that has only recently found its way onto CD format.
The initial idea of Cojazz began in 1985 when Carroll approached local bassist and audio-video specialist Terry Douds about the possibility of releasing an album of live material.
Douds, who has been helping local artists for many years, first created Blimp Recording Co. The label, like several others, has been incorporated into the greater Cojazz umbrella.
Affiliated Instructor of Music Richard Lopez released “Too Far North” in 1998 on his own label Gomez The Cat’s Jazz. With the help of Cojazz, Lopez has re-released it under the umbrella of the greater label.
“It’s a good way for me to get the product to people’s attention,” said Lopez. “Right now I have to run around and hound people for a check.”
One of Denison’s newest faculty members, Affiliated Instructor of Music Pete Mills, has found working with Cojazz beneficial to him as an artist. Like Lopez, Mills initially released his debut album “Momentum” on his own label, Mighty Ernie Music, but has since joined the Cojazz family.
“Right now, I have distribution in selected stores locally,” said Mills. “But, [through Cojazz], I have world-wide distribution.
“Anybody can make a record because the technology is there,” he continued. “The distribution is the hardest thing.”
In addition to helping new jazz artists find a place in the ever-growing music world, Cojazz is helping to archive famous jazz artists in central Ohio. There are many influential artists who have never had the opportunity to record their own material.
“There are major, historical jazz figures who don’t have contracts now who are still producing music,” said Carroll.
However, the idea of exposing local artists to a worldwide audience is no easy task. Through the use of innovative web technology, Cojazz is hoping to provide artists, who would be otherwise unable to do so, with the opportunity to record and release their own music.
“It could be a step into the big fishpond,” said Carroll. “Or, it could be building our own little niche.”
For more information on Cojazz, or for ordering information, connect via the internet at www.cojazz.com.
Originally published in The Denisonian, November 8, 1999, page 12
