McPherson CD Puts Strain on Relationship to Elario’s

A dispute over a live recording has left San Diego’s top jazz club and one of the town’s finest musicians in a stalemate.

The disagreement between Elario’s and saxophonist Charles McPherson centers on McPherson’s new CD, “Illusions in Blue,” released in March, his first new recording in five years.

Part of the CD was recorded at Elario’s last summer, when McPherson appeared with bassist Jeffrey Littleton, pianist Randy Porter and drummer Chuck McPherson, the saxophonist’s son. Porter taped the music on a small digital recorder. McPherson wouldn’t say what portion of the music on the CD was taped at Elario’s.

According to Rob Hagey, Elario’s talent coordinator, McPherson had no written permission to record for commercial purposes, although he said he thinks Porter got a verbal OK to tape for the band’s own use. McPherson said he didn’t plan to release the recording commercially until he heard how good the music sounded.

Hagey was angry that he didn’t hear about plans for the CD until last December, when McPherson, almost ready to release the recording, called to ask how the club should be credited.

“That’s when I was caught completely off guard,” Hagey said. Hagey suggested that McPherson should pay the club a “house venue fee” for the recording--perhaps $500. The money would have gone to improving the club’s notoriously troublesome sound system.

This idea apparently didn’t sit well with McPherson. Subsequent phone discussions in January took an angrier turn, both men agree, and they haven’t spoken to each other since.

“I wanted to work with him, but I felt like there was no respect for the club or what the club has done in the market,” Hagey said. “As I remember, he couldn’t believe that someone would tell him what to do. When you start getting into discussions like this, there is a very clear perspective that someone believes his art is foremost and does not have much respect for others who play a part on the business end.”

Said McPherson: “We made this recording in different venues in California in 1990,” although neither McPherson nor anyone else involved would say where or how many venues were used. “We listened to the tapes and chose certain cuts based on the sound,” McPherson said. “Some of these clubs wish to remain anonymous, even after being given the chance not to be. Therefore, I’m not going to reveal any of them.

“To me, since the music is the most important thing--not to say that the venue doesn’t have importance, but the music has more--I think the attention should be focused on the music and not the physical structure in which the music was played. If Van Gogh paints a picture of Joe’s house as opposed to Frank’s, the main thing is the quality of the painting, not the four square walls where it happened.

“Their decision not to be named (on the CD cover), or to think that there should be more in it for them than a mention, is silly to me.”

A source at the Village Vanguard in New York said record labels pay the club a fee when their artists make live recordings at the club. Two other industry sources said smaller clubs, such as Elario’s, usually don’t receive fees for live recordings. One reason may be because they consider the publicity engendered by the credit to be adequate compensation. All sources agreed that live recording agreements with clubs--whether written or verbal--should always be worked out in advance.

“I think Charles is a great musician who needs to be heard,” Hagey said. “but at the same time, Charles needs to work with the business end and respect it, so that a club that pays Charles for a date where he records, advertises the date, brings him to an audience and sets up a quality production--he needs to respect the people behind the venue and work out a business relationship, not something that is completely in the artist’s control.

“Consequently, I’m booking the club not thinking of Charles, and he’s playing San Diego not thinking of Elario’s.”

McPherson, who traditionally plays the club once or twice a year, his only local engagements, will not appear there in the near future. For the moment, McPherson has found another San Diego outlet in the U.S. Grant Hotel downtown, where he plays a tribute to the late clarinetist Jimmy Noone on Sunday night and returns for a solo date May 25.

None of the California clubs where “Illusions in Blue” was recorded receive credit on its cover. Though many live jazz albums do credit venues, such as the many sessions recorded at the Village Vanguard over the years, McPherson said it is not unusual for the location of a live recording not to be specified.

“I’ve got an Art Blakey tape, in fact several tapes, where you know it’s live, you hear room noise, but the place is not credited. The point is, the reason you will find recordings where the club is not mentioned is, that’s not the main event anyway.”

Hagey said he looked into taking legal action against McPherson for releasing the recording without permission from Elario’s, but has decided not to.

McPherson left the door open for reconciliation.

“Would I play there now? Why not?” he said. “All they have to do is ask me.”

FOOTNOTE: The Footnote, the used bookstore at 1627 University Ave., just west of Park Boulevard, carries hundreds of used, sometimes rare jazz LPs.

Jerry Mansager, owner of the 2-year-old bookstore, played French horn in Tahoe show bands for several years and is a dedicated jazz lover. At any given time, the store stocks 600 to 700 used jazz albums (vinyl only, no CDs or cassettes).

In recent weeks, the finds have included a 1950s red vinyl album with Charlie Parker billed as Charlie Chan, to get around contract obligations to another label, which sold for $25; several Riverside sessions featuring Bill Evans, Thelonious Monk and others; and a number of original Blue Note albums.

In May, Mansager is moving to Fay Avenue and Kline Street in La Jolla, where he will open a coffee house/bookstore called Espresso Literati. He’ll bring his jazz records.

RIFFS: KPBS-TV’s “Club Date” features Jeannie and Jimmy Cheatham and their Sweet Baby Blues Band on Saturday night at 8, repeating Monday at 1 p.m., dedicated to band member Jimmy Noone, who died March 29. . . .

Drummer Brian Melvin appears at Elario’s on Wednesday night, beginning at 8:30. Melvin’s oddball resume includes collaborations with both Grateful Dead bassist Bob Weir and jazz saxman Archie Shepp, plus a new trio CD with the late bassist Jaco Pastorius and pianist Jon Davis titled “Standards Zone.” . . .

Jimmy Smith, who helped take the Hammond B-3 organ from churches into jazz clubs, plays four nights at Elario’s, beginning Thursday.

CRITIC’S CHOICE

FITTING TRIBUTE FOR JIMMY NOONE

Dozens of top local musicians will pay tribute to the late jazzman Jimmy Noone during a memorial benefit concert from 4 p.m. to midnight Sunday at the U.S Grant Hotel. The eight-hour orgy of continuous music in the Pavilion Room and Grand Ballroom will include performances by Noone’s own Marching and Good Times Society Band, Chubby Jackson, the Benny Hollman Orchestra, Cath Eckert, Dinky Morris, Jaime Valle, Fro Brigham, Daniel Jackson, Sol E Mar, Tobacco Road and others. A minimum $10 donation is requested, with proceeds doing to the KSDS San Diego City College Fund, which is dedicated to furthering the traditional jazz Noone loved and played. The donation also covers helpings of gumbo and other Cajun delicacies.