Cellar Live jazz label founder Cory Weeds reflects on 100th recording
The Cellar Jazz Club in Vancouver may have closed over a year ago, but the record label is alive and celebrating its 100th recording. Label founder Cory Weed sat down with Hot Air's Margaret Gallagher to talk about that milestone.
How did the label start in the first place?
When I first bought the club, I didn't think we'd make it past the first year let alone 14 of them.
We started by taping some of the events and had all these recordings. I was approached by a label called Maximum Jazz and they agreed to release our compilation, Live at the Cellar.
The process of picking and mixing the tracks was so invigorating that I approached Maximum Jazz about starting an arm of their company called Cellar Live. They weren't in a position to do that so I just started it on my own.
The club closed in February of 2014, did you expect the label to live longer than the club?
No, definitely not. When I made the decision to close the club, it occurred to me that it didn't mean the label had to go.
The concern with the Cellar was that we had a built-in a retail outlet, so now that we don't have it, we're not moving CDs like we used to.
Besides running the label, you are playing a lot of music these days.
I feel pretty lucky that my life is still completely in jazz music but I don't have that nagging issue of operating The Cellar club. I'm probably equally stressed out as before, but it's a much different type of stress. I can handle this type of stress.
Do you think you'll ever own another club?
I'm having too much fun doing my own thing now. But it is missed in Vancouver and it's left a void. Looking on, there's been a lot of pop-up clubs and people doing their best to pick up some of the slack since the Cellar left.
Vancouver is really in need of a full-time music venue dedicated to jazz, but I'm afraid it's not going to be me at the helm, that's for sure.
To hear the full interview, click the audio labelled: Hot Air talks to Cory Weeds about the 100th release on his Cellar Live label.
