SLEEPY NIGHT RECORDS - And All That Jazz
After reviewing a number of new releases from Sleepy Night Records , Jim Burlong spoke to CEO Sean Gillies about the history of the label and their plans for the future.
Jazz Views: How did SNR come about, and were you and your family involved in the recording industry previously?
Sleepy Night Records: Sleepy Night was started 11 years ago by myself and my father. We are both musicians. My Dad is a trumpet player and I am a drummer. We have always been involved in some respect in the music world from song writing and session work etc. I had the idea to start a record label and just at that time my dad came across lost tapes from his friend, the legend Maynard Ferguson, who had sadly passed. It just seemed right to out these tapes for the fans. 11 years on it's a full time job!
Jazz Views: How do you generally market your products in Europe, the UK and America ?
Sleepy Night Records: Well, UK and Europe are very much the same. They love their physical!. They also love their album booklets. This is why we put so much love into our products. We still love doing great artwork with a great booklet inside, where you can sit and listen to the music and look through the booklet. America also like this, but they are also into their digital. We tend to perform better in digital in the US and do better with the physical in the UK and Europe.
Jazz Views: Do you have your own production facilities, or outsource from others?
Sleepy Night Records: No, we don't have our own production facilities. We use a great company in the UK that deal with all our physical CDs, and use a company in Europe for our vinyl. We really do have a great team of independent companies and freelancers that work closely with us.
Jazz Views: From a jazz point of view, will you continue with former "lost" and archive material or will you add new artists as well?
Sleepy Night Records: We have actually signed a new artist called Lasse Lindgren, an amazing trumpet player from Sweden. He brings such a modern fun feel to big band jazz. We have already released a compilation of his best tracks and also have a whole new album that we recorded at the beginning of the year with him and his big band. So hopefully we can get that out at the beginning of next year, at some point.
Jazz Views: We read that Country Blues and Classical are to be added to your catalogue. Can you outline the plans you have for those genres?
Sleepy Night Records: Yes! We are very excited to be expanding out our new genres. For classical we have teamed up with Stradivari Classics from the US and will be bringing out Beethoven's 9th. This was originally recorded with one of the first digital recorders, the Sony PCM-1630 which is still regarded, even by today's standards as one of the best ever. Then we got turned into 24 bit, so it was advanced even further using a new system we came up with. It sounds incredible as if you are sitting in front of the orchestra. Then we also launched Vacancy Records, that will be handling anything Country Blues and Folk.
Jazz Views: What was your thinking behind launching your new label "Vacancy Records" and how do you envisage the two working together?
Sleepy Night Records: We had been talking about launching a country label for some time. Then the opportunity came about when we started talking to Ashley Campbell about signing herself and also a country duo called Jubillee. It didn't seem right to put these acts out on a "Jazz" label and we didn't want to confuse people. So Vacancy Records was born and has been doing great !!. It has now opened up even more opportunities to sign some more great acts and even put out some legendary archive material like we have with Sleepy Night Records.
Jazz Views. How do you see the record business generally these days, with the onset of streaming and other digital platforms becoming more and more popular?
Sleepy Night Records: Yeah digital is definitely dominating the music market. The great thing with digital is that people can get your music instantly. It really does get your music out there but it isn't good for labels and musicians financially. We as a label have already sold pretty good for physical because of the genres we are in. People still like to buy something they can hold and put on and read the booklets etc. It's also great to see vinyl getting bigger and bigger.
Jazz Views: What are your onward hopes and plans within the industry going forward?
Sleepy Night Records: The industry has really taken a big hit with the current situation, so hopefully live music starts coming back soon. Also, that we can get Lasse Lindgren and his big band out playing live shows. We have many exciting releases coming up from both SNR and Vacancy Records. Chet Baker's "Salt Peanuts" drops in November! as well as our country duo act Jubillee who's album comes out on the 6th November. These guys are great and really doing well in the UK charts.
Jazz Views: How did SNR come about, and were you and your family involved in the recording industry previously?
Sleepy Night Records: Sleepy Night was started 11 years ago by myself and my father. We are both musicians. My Dad is a trumpet player and I am a drummer. We have always been involved in some respect in the music world from song writing and session work etc. I had the idea to start a record label and just at that time my dad came across lost tapes from his friend, the legend Maynard Ferguson, who had sadly passed. It just seemed right to out these tapes for the fans. 11 years on it's a full time job!
Jazz Views: How do you generally market your products in Europe, the UK and America ?
Sleepy Night Records: Well, UK and Europe are very much the same. They love their physical!. They also love their album booklets. This is why we put so much love into our products. We still love doing great artwork with a great booklet inside, where you can sit and listen to the music and look through the booklet. America also like this, but they are also into their digital. We tend to perform better in digital in the US and do better with the physical in the UK and Europe.
Jazz Views: Do you have your own production facilities, or outsource from others?
Sleepy Night Records: No, we don't have our own production facilities. We use a great company in the UK that deal with all our physical CDs, and use a company in Europe for our vinyl. We really do have a great team of independent companies and freelancers that work closely with us.
Jazz Views: From a jazz point of view, will you continue with former "lost" and archive material or will you add new artists as well?
Sleepy Night Records: We have actually signed a new artist called Lasse Lindgren, an amazing trumpet player from Sweden. He brings such a modern fun feel to big band jazz. We have already released a compilation of his best tracks and also have a whole new album that we recorded at the beginning of the year with him and his big band. So hopefully we can get that out at the beginning of next year, at some point.
Jazz Views: We read that Country Blues and Classical are to be added to your catalogue. Can you outline the plans you have for those genres?
Sleepy Night Records: Yes! We are very excited to be expanding out our new genres. For classical we have teamed up with Stradivari Classics from the US and will be bringing out Beethoven's 9th. This was originally recorded with one of the first digital recorders, the Sony PCM-1630 which is still regarded, even by today's standards as one of the best ever. Then we got turned into 24 bit, so it was advanced even further using a new system we came up with. It sounds incredible as if you are sitting in front of the orchestra. Then we also launched Vacancy Records, that will be handling anything Country Blues and Folk.
Jazz Views: What was your thinking behind launching your new label "Vacancy Records" and how do you envisage the two working together?
Sleepy Night Records: We had been talking about launching a country label for some time. Then the opportunity came about when we started talking to Ashley Campbell about signing herself and also a country duo called Jubillee. It didn't seem right to put these acts out on a "Jazz" label and we didn't want to confuse people. So Vacancy Records was born and has been doing great !!. It has now opened up even more opportunities to sign some more great acts and even put out some legendary archive material like we have with Sleepy Night Records.
Jazz Views. How do you see the record business generally these days, with the onset of streaming and other digital platforms becoming more and more popular?
Sleepy Night Records: Yeah digital is definitely dominating the music market. The great thing with digital is that people can get your music instantly. It really does get your music out there but it isn't good for labels and musicians financially. We as a label have already sold pretty good for physical because of the genres we are in. People still like to buy something they can hold and put on and read the booklets etc. It's also great to see vinyl getting bigger and bigger.
Jazz Views: What are your onward hopes and plans within the industry going forward?
Sleepy Night Records: The industry has really taken a big hit with the current situation, so hopefully live music starts coming back soon. Also, that we can get Lasse Lindgren and his big band out playing live shows. We have many exciting releases coming up from both SNR and Vacancy Records. Chet Baker's "Salt Peanuts" drops in November! as well as our country duo act Jubillee who's album comes out on the 6th November. These guys are great and really doing well in the UK charts.
The following Sleepy Night album reviews can be found on the Jazz Views New Releases and Re-Issues pages.
Click on the album covers to read reviews.
Click on the album covers to read reviews.
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