Original cutting edge music for large ensembles in a jazz context has been in short supply lately. Of course you have Maria Schneider’s music, but as great as it is Maria’s music lacks that inner fire for me.
Darcy is a very well respected composer who comes from the Brookmeyer School (He studied with Brookmeyer while at NEC). He is the leader of Darcy James Argue’s Secret Society, one of the most original large jazz ensembles to come around in recent memory.
Recently, Darcy released “Infernal Machines”, the debut studio recording from the Secret Society (purchase it here).
Not only did this interest me because of my interest in his music, but Darcy was very open about the deal with New Amsterdam Records. The terms of the contract are very artist friendly:
- The artist retains full copyright of the recording
- Proceeds from the album are split 80% Artist and 20% Label until the recording cost are recouped. After that it becomes a 50/50 split.
You can read the whole agreement here.
However there are some downsides, such as no advance. All costs related to the recording of the album are 100% on the artist. To me, this could be a glimpse into the future of the recording industry. As most of you know by now, the traditional artist/label relationship doesn’t exist as we know it. In order to make the music industry more viable, there needs to be a paradigm shift in the business of making music, and I think NA Records and Darcy are going in the right direction.
Please check out/buy a copy of Darcy’s new album. For those of you who feel big band jazz is all about Glen Miller and Count Basie, then you NEED to buy it.
