Label Profile: Sons of Sound
 Meet
Jeff Penney, the Sons of Sound record label’s
founder and president. And producer. And artist-and-repertoire
rep. And, well, for that matter, sole employee.
Penney started Sons of Sound in 1997, and
though it may be a fledgling label compared
to some of the jazz heavyweights, in years
to come its stock may rise to rival other
better-known American examples.
When he’s not in the recording studio,
working with artists or dealing with distributors,
Penney works a dayjob in investment banking.
At 44, he’s tall and trim, with short-cropped
graying hair, sharp features and an equally
sharp mind. Penney conveys the impression
of someone who holds a business or law degree.
He doesn’t, though he graduated from
Princeton in 1983 with a major in Electrical
Engineering and Computer Science.
“One of the reasons I started the
label is that I wanted to run a business
and learn things,” he said. “So
in some ways, any money I lose running the
record label is less money than I would have
spent getting an M.B.A.”
The label has not been profitable so far,
but that hasn’t stopped Penney from
pursuing his labor of love. “I really
felt that some of these artists were important
enough that they should be documented,” he
said. Among those artists are the pianist,
composer and arranger Mike Holober; Trio
East, from the Eastman Conservatory’s
jazz faculty; bassist and vocalist Jay Leonhart;
drummer Akira Tana; and acoustic jazz guitarist
Gene Bertoncini, the bestseller to date on
the label’s roster.
The Sons of Sound catalog includes some
classical music, but for now Penney exclusively
produces jazz. Among his goals, he said,
is to “bring jazz forms and extremely
talented instrumental technique under the
nose of young people.”
To do so, he employs a three-pronged plan.
First, Penney makes sure the music is available
online for download. If he’s producing
a lower-profile artist’s original compositions,
he’ll also encourage arranging a standard
or two--both to give the listener a point
of reference and to have the artist turn
up among online search engine hits.
Because many jazz aficionados also appreciate
liner notes and creative packaging, though,
Penney also offers album artwork with pop-culture
appeal that harks back to the ‘50s
and ‘60s (credit here goes to the talented
graphic designer Francisco Lopez). “One
of the corners most people will cut is graphic
design,” said Penney, “but in
my mind it’s never a good idea.” The
final prong is producing artists with a commitment
to music education--players who work in college
jazz departments teaching a younger generation
of students.
The label’s name is a reflection of
Penney’s own eclectic taste in music.
It comes from what he calls an undocumented
David Bowie lyric, the background vocal on
the song “Sons of the Silent Age”.
But the gesture to Bowie is not just a coincidence.
Growing up in the ‘70s, Penney was
influenced by the decade’s progressive
rock, especially Bowie and fellow Brits Brian
Eno and Robert Fripp of King Crimson. “They’re
three very creative musicians who are very
smart businessmen - there’s room for
both,” he said.
“There are elements of creativity
that you can apply in the arts and in business
and entrepreneurial activities,” Penney
continued. He feels that running the label
while working an investment job keeps him
fresh. They’re a different way of looking
at things, he said, but “you can take
things you learn in one endeavor and bring
them to bear on another.”
Mike Holober has released two albums, leading
a big band and a quintet respectively, on
Sons of Sound. Another quintet recording,
featuring bassist John Patitucci, drummer
Brian Blade, saxophonist Tim Ries and guitarist
Wolfgang Muthspiel, is due out in October.
Holober said that he was looking for the
right situation to record as a leader and
found it in Sons of Sound. What attracted
him was both Penney’s accessibility
and the artistic freedom he supports. “Jeff
gets behind it with his energy and gives
it his time,” said Holober. “Once
I saw that’s how things were going
to be, I said, ‘let’s give it
a try.’”
Though Penney may wear a suit and tie to
his day job, it “doesn’t mean
I’m totally square,” he said.
Far from it--as a drummer in the jazz ensemble
at Princeton, he supported artist-in-residence
Benny Carter in both big band and small-combo
performances. It was a transforming experience
for Penney, though it didn’t propel
him to pursue a professional music career. “Being
an engineer, I can execute things,” he
said, “but I’m not as creative
as I’d like to be.” It may be
a blessing in disguise for the artists Penney
is producing on Sons of Sound.
~ Brian Lonergan
© 2005
All About Jazz
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