Mack Avenue Records is an
independent record label
An independent record label (or indie label) is a record label that operates without the funding or distribution of major record labels; they are a type of small- to medium-sized enterprise, or SME. The labels and artists are often represented ...
in
Grosse Pointe Farms, Michigan
Grosse Pointe Farms is a city in Wayne County in the U.S. state of Michigan. The population was 9,479 at the 2010 census.
As part of the Grosse Pointe collection of cities, it is a northeastern city of Metro Detroit and shares a small wester ...
.
Background
Mack Avenue was founded in 1999 by Gretchen Carhartt Valade, a jazz fan and
chair
A chair is a type of seat, typically designed for one person and consisting of one or more legs, a flat or slightly angled seat and a back-rest. They may be made of wood, metal, or synthetic materials, and may be padded or upholstered in vario ...
of the American apparel company
Carhartt
Carhartt, Inc. is an American apparel company founded in 1889, known for heavy-duty working clothes such as jackets, coats, overalls, coveralls, vests, shirts, jeans, dungarees, fire-resistant clothing and hunting apparel. Carhartt remains a fam ...
. The company is a sponsor of the
Detroit Jazz Festival
The Detroit Jazz Festival is a free jazz festival held every year during Labor Day Weekend at Hart Plaza and Campus Martius Park in Detroit, Michigan.
History
The festival began in 1980. Until 2000, it was known as the Montreux-Detroit Jazz Fe ...
, to which Gretchen Valade donated $15 million in 2006.
Early Mack recording artists included
Terry Gibbs
Terry Gibbs (born Julius Gubenko; October 13, 1924) is an American jazz vibraphonist and band leader.
He has performed or recorded with Tommy Dorsey, Chubby Jackson,Theroux, Gary"Gibbs, Terry".''Grove Music Online''. Oxford University Press. Re ...
,
Oscar Castro-Neves
Oscar Castro-Neves (May 15, 1940 - September 27, 2013), was a Brazilian guitarist, arranger, and composer who is considered a founding figure in bossa nova.
Biography
He was born in Rio de Janeiro as one of triplets and formed a band with his br ...
, and
George Shearing
Sir George Albert Shearing, (13 August 1919 14 February 2011) was a British jazz pianist who for many years led a popular jazz group that recorded for Discovery Records, MGM Records and Capitol Records. Shearing was the composer of over 300 t ...
. Over time Mack Avenue signed veteran jazz musicians such as
Gary Burton
Gary Burton (born January 23, 1943) is an American jazz vibraphonist, composer, and educator. Burton developed a pianistic style of four-mallet technique as an alternative to the prevailing two-mallet technique. This approach caused him to be he ...
,
Kevin Eubanks
Kevin Tyrone Eubanks (born November 15, 1957) is an American jazz and fusion guitarist and composer. He was the leader of The Tonight Show Band with host Jay Leno from 1995 to 2010. He also led the Primetime Band on the short lived ''The Jay Le ...
,
Stanley Jordan
Stanley Jordan (born July 31, 1959) is an American jazz guitarist noted for his playing technique, which involves tapping his fingers on the fretboard of the guitar with both hands.
Music career
Jordan was born in Chicago, Illinois, United St ...
,
Christian McBride
Christian McBride (born May 31, 1972) is an American jazz bassist, composer and arranger. He has appeared on more than 300 recordings as a sideman, and is an eight-time Grammy Award winner.
McBride has performed and recorded with a number of j ...
,
Gerald Wilson
Gerald Stanley Wilson (September 4, 1918 – September 8, 2014) was an American jazz trumpeter, big band bandleader, composer, arranger, and educator. Born in Mississippi, he was based in Los Angeles from the early 1940s. In addition to being a ...
, and the
Yellowjackets
A yellowjacket is a black-and-yellow vespid wasp.
Yellowjacket(s) or Yellow Jacket(s) may also refer to:
Places
* Yellow Jacket, Colorado, an unincorporated town
* Yellow Jacket, Florida, an unincorporated area in Dixie County, Florida
Arts, e ...
. Acquisitions made in 2008 expanded the label's catalogue into additional genres, such as the
blues
Blues is a music genre and musical form which originated in the Deep South of the United States around the 1860s. Blues incorporated spirituals, work songs, field hollers, shouts, chants, and rhymed simple narrative ballads from the Afr ...
,
gospel
Gospel originally meant the Christian message ("the gospel"), but in the 2nd century it came to be used also for the books in which the message was set out. In this sense a gospel can be defined as a loose-knit, episodic narrative of the words an ...
, and rhythm and blues (
R&B), with
Jonathan Butler
Jonathan Kenneth Butler (born 10 October 1961) is a South African singer-songwriter and guitarist. His music is often classified as R&B, jazz fusion or worship music.
Biography
Born and raised in Athlone, Cape Town, South Africa, during Ap ...
,
Brian Bromberg
Brian Bromberg (born December 5, 1960) is an American jazz bassist and record producer who performs on both electric and acoustic instruments.
Biography
Bromberg was born on December 5, 1960, in Tucson, Arizona. His father and brother, David, ...
,
Rick Braun
Rick Braun (born July 6, 1955) is a smooth jazz trumpet, flugelhorn, trombone and keyboards player, vocalist, composer, and record producer.
Career
Braun was born in Allentown, Pennsylvania and attended Dieruff High School. His mother was a se ...
,
Richard Elliot
Richard Elliot (born January 16, 1960) is a Scottish-born American saxophonist. He was nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Pop Instrumental Album at the 56th Annual Grammy Awards for ''Summer Horns''.
Career
Elliot started out as a member ...
, and
Kenny Rankin
Kenneth Joseph Rankin (February 10, 1940 – June 7, 2009) was an American singer and songwriter in the folk rock and singer-songwriter genres; he was influenced by jazz. Rankin would often sing notes in a high range to express emotion.
Biogr ...
. Mack Avenue's recording artists have earned multiple
Grammy
The Grammy Awards (stylized as GRAMMY), or simply known as the Grammys, are awards presented by the Recording Academy of the United States to recognize "outstanding" achievements in the music industry. They are regarded by many as the most pre ...
awards and nominations.
In 2016, Mack Avenue expanded its catalog when it acquired
MAXJAZZ
Maxjazz (corporately styled MAXJAZZ) was an American jazz record label founded in 1998 by investment banker Richard McDonnell. Maxjazz recordings are generally regarded as a "straight-ahead" acoustic style of jazz. It was based in St. Louis, Miss ...
.
External links
*
Discogs label entry
References
{{Authority control
Jazz record labels
American independent record labels
Record labels based in Michigan
Companies based in Wayne County, Michigan
1999 establishments in Michigan
Smooth jazz record labels