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Singular Wicker Park record shop Dusty Groove operated a reissue label from 2007 till 2009, releasing 22 titles of jazz, Brazilian music, and soul from the likes of Jorge Ben, Dorothy Ashby, and the Metros. Store owner Rick Wojcik says the label did well, "But at the end of the day, we're a retailer first, and wanted to keep all of our energies focused on that area." Running a reissue imprint involves more than distributing and selling the music—the paperwork surrounding licensing and production is especially time consuming.
Thankfully Dusty Groove's curatorial acumen isn't going to waste. Gordon Anderson, who co-owns reissue label Real Gone Music, recently agreed to partner with the store. He's long been a fan, and his previous reissue label, Collector's Choice, distributed Dusty Groove's original imprint. "Having had a lot of A&R ideas generated through customer feedback through the [Collector's Choice] catalog," he says, "I knew the power of market research derived from directly interacting with customers—seeing what they bought, what they requested. Dusty Groove has that kind of customer base, so their A&R suggestions come to us field tested." Real Gone and Dusty Groove launch a shared imprint December 4 with three reissues of early-70s Blue Note titles by Bobbi Humphrey, Gene Harris, and Jeremy Steig; coming next are reissues by Jorge Ben and Gal Costa.
"We've got a pretty darn big wish list," says Wojcik. "But it's ultimately up to what we secure the rights for, and how well the series does overall."
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