Par Drops Out of the Rap Race

How’s this for a switch: Par Records, which started out as a rap label just three years ago, has had so much better luck with jazz releases by saxophonists Ronnie Laws and Wilton Felder that the Los Angeles-based firm is pretty much dropping rap.

“I enjoy working contemporary jazz a lot more than rap,” says Par co-owner Chuck Fassert, who in the early ‘60s wrote “Barbara-Ann,” the classic pop-rock novelty tune recorded by the Regents.

“With rap, a little guy like Par has trouble keeping up with the major labels,” Fassert says. “You have to shell out so much money for promotion, and there are only so many radio stations that play rap.”

Par still has a few rap releases in its catalogue, including albums by Fila Fresh Crew, Compton Cartel and a compilation that features tracks by Ice-T and 2 Live Crew. But the emphasis is clearly on jazz. The plan is to put out nine or 10 albums this year.

“Our rap albums only did so-so,” says Fassert. Conversely, the Laws and Felder albums--named “True Spirit” and “Nocturnal Moods” respectively--sold very well, according to Stuart Alan Love, Fassert’s partner.

New releases include “Wayne Henderson and The Next Crusade: Back to the Groove,” which is due out this week. The album finds trombonist Henderson, Par’s director of jazz, and Felder--two of the founding members of the Jazz Crusaders/Crusaders--returning to the studio together for first time in many years. “It’s the sound of the Crusaders at this point in time, had they stayed together,” says Love in describing the album.

Henderson, Felder, pianist Rob Mullins--who is also on the album--and others appear tonight and Saturday at Birdland West in Long Beach.

Also on the upcoming schedule is a new album by Laws, produced, as was “True Spirit,” by Henderson; and a vocal album by ex-Tower of Power singer Lenny Williams, though Love stressed that this collection will have a jazz feel.