JAZZ
Company President David Peck said that his ability to obtain and release this footage stems from a simple decision he made more than a decade ago.
"I got the idea of representing the music footage of a Belgian television station, because nobody was really representing the European stations here," Peck said. "I knew that's where all the gold was. I signed my first deal in the late 1990s and it blossomed from there."
Peck often scours web sites looking for footage, and this led to his new release of a Duke Ellington performance in Holland, Live In '58. After discovering videotapes that had been thought lost, Reelin' In The Years was able to seamlessly piece together an almost entire Ellington concert. Some segments have not been viewed for almost 50 years.
"When we start a project like this, and I want to find out information, I can type in 'Duke Ellington bootlegs' or 'Duke Ellington video,'" Peck said. "I'll find 25 fan sites saying what's floating around. That's how we found out about the show existing. Ironically enough, one of our European clients owned it, but didn't tell us about it."
Peck and Reelin' In The Years Vice President Phil Galloway add that the new releases should also enhance historical perceptions of that Ellington tour, along with their recently released Dexter Gordon Live In '63 & '64 and Charles Mingus Live In '64 DVDs. Now there's no dispute about set lists and hand lineups.
"You can't trump looking at the footage," Galloway said.
The company uses the DVDs as jazz history tools through a partnership with the International Association for Jazz Education. The IAJE receives a percentage from DVD sales in exchange for helping make schools aware of the series.
Musicians on the series, or their estates, also benefit, according to Peek and Galloway. They cite their new Wes Montgomery live In '65 DVD as an example.
"If you see a Montgomery clip on YouTube, it may be great, but the Montgomery estate doesn't get anything from it," Galloway said. "When we put the stuff out there, everyone gets paid."
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