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MoonJune Records is celebrating its 18th birthday. Read the story. Special Discount. Dear Friends In Music MoonJune Records is celebrating its 18th birthday. Semi-officially, the first public appearance of a completely unknown record label from New York City, was at the progressive rock festival NEARfest in Bethlehem Pennsylvania, on June 23, 2001, when and where I rented a small merch table and presented label's first three album releases: ELTON DEAN & MARK HEWINS "Bar Torque" FINISTERRE "Storybook" D.F.A. "Work In Progress Live" You can read the whole story how MoonJune Records and MoonJune Music started in the interview with me in All About Jazz, the world's biggest jazz website: https://www.allaboutjazz.com/leonardo-pavkovic-nothing-is-ordinary-leonardo-pavkovic-by-chris-m-slawecki.php This article was the most viewed article on AAJ's website in 2018, in the first semester of this year is still one of the most viewed articles 2019. and it's the 5th most viewed article in the history of the website, since their inception in 1995, with over 250, 000 viewers. MoonJune Records is an unusual one-man and out-of-box operated label, pushing all sort of boundaries and facing major challenges in today's unfriendly independent music environment. I run and operate the label when I am not running around the globe and when not booking a few dozen of bookable artists (MoonJune Music Bookings' roster consists mostly on artists that are not on the label), and the brutally independent MoonJune Records was voted by DownBeat magazine's readers in 2016, 2017 and 2018 as one of the top label's of the year. 7th Placement Record Label Of The Year, DownBeat Readers Poll 2016 4th Placement Record Label Of The Year, DownBeat Readers Poll 2017 3rd Placement Record Label Of The Year, DownBeat Readers Poll 2018 None of this would have been possible without the extraordinary music of extraordinary musicians whose albums I promoted in the past 18 years with joy and passion. I was just their messenger, letting the world know of their existence and their creativity. To celebrate the MoonJune Records 'maturity' and label's first 18 years, I am offering a very special deal, valid only until July 1st. D.F.A. "Work In Progress Live" $1 - full album download $5 +shipping - CD Direct link (streaming, description, purchasing info): https://dutyfreearea.bandcamp.com/album/work-in-progress-live Digital Discography (4 albums, download only): $10.40 FINISTERRE "Storybook" $1 - full album download Direct link (streaming, description, purchasing info): https://finisterre-moonjune.bandcamp.com/album/storybook 10 SELECTED CDS on MOONJUNE RECORDS FOR $85 + shipping Direct link (streaming, description, purchasing info): https://moonjunerecords.bandcamp.com/merch/10-selected-cds-on-moonjune-records-for-85-shipping In the above link You will find the list of SELECTED ALBUMS in CD format that are on sale. Once You check-out and after You receive the receipt, please e-mail back Your selection to: noanoamusic @ moonjune.com All listed CD albums are $10 + shipping. 10 DOWNLOAD ALBUMS on MOONJUNE RECORDS FOR $65 (Contributing $90 a the checkout, You can get 15 downloads) Direct link (streaming, description, purchasing info): https://moonjunerecords.bandcamp.com/merch/moonjune-records-10-or-15-digital-downloads-for-65-or-90 This applies on all albums in digital format on the label, check here the vast selection: https://moonjunerecords.bandcamp.com/music Once You check-out and after You receive the receipt, please e-mail back Your selection to: noanoamusic @ moonjune.com Thank You for Your support. LEONARDO PAVKOVIC MOONJUNE RECORDS / MOONJUNE MUSIC NEW YORK Direct link to the interview (conducted by Chris Slawecki): https://www.allaboutjazz.com/leonardo-pavkovic-nothing-is-ordinary-leonardo-pavkovic-by-chris-m-slawecki.php All About Jazz: Where's the best place to begin the MoonJune story? Leonardo Pavkovic: When I first started the label, I had no background in the music business whatsoever. After I moved from Italy to New York City in August 1990, I met the renowned Brazilian graphic artist and photographer Fernando Natalici, who created the legendary "Studio T" graphic design studio in the mid '70s. Studio T was almost a cult phenomenon in downtown Manhattan. Fernando himself was a living encyclopedia of virtually everything that happened in the New York music scene during the 1970's and '80's, and soon we became inseparable friends. (Later, I became his business partner). Studio T was known for its large clientele in the city's music business community, so I was always in the company of great musicians, concert promoters, and record labels owners and executives, from majors and from independents. In the early 2000s, I was briefly involved with the NYC-based label Jazz Magnet Records through a jazz publicist and music industry veteran, the legendary Jim Eigo. This experience was both inspiring and beneficial. Motivated by that experience, I decided to start my own record label and released my first album, a live recording of the legendary saxophonist Elton Dean, who I'd known since the mid '80's, while I was living in Italy. Two other live albums of young Italian progressive rock bands quickly followed: Finisterre's Storybook and D.F.A.'s Work In Progress Live. AAJ: You had to know that yours wasn't the typical music industry startup story? LP: Normally, labels will start like this: They have some capital in the bank or some wealthy business partners, they have an entertainment lawyer, they have an accountant, they have a marketing plan, they have a distribution company. I didn't have any of this. I only had some basic disposable income, which allowed me to pay some advances and cover CD manufacturing, and a lot of contacts (also thanks to Jim Eigo). I "debuted" as a label at the progressive rock festival NEARFest in June 2001, where I had discovered D.F.A. the year before. I learned immediately that I was a "Mr. Nobody, " which motivated me to promote my label ferociously. In a matter of months, I developed an immense array of press contacts in both the jazz and progressive rock worlds. To capitalize on these new resources, I sent out hundreds upon hundreds of promos of my first three releases, to generate attention for both the albums and my newly budding company. All three albums received a great deal of critical acclaim and generated hundreds of reviews in more than thirty countries—especially D.F.A.'s brilliant live album, which received an extraordinary amount of accolades, and from critics beyond just the progressive rock world. AAJ: People almost always assume that musicians are expressing themselves through their recordings. But can record label owners and producers express themselves through their work, too? LP: I've always considered life as a sort of improvisation. Life is like that famous collaboration between John Coltrane and Rashied Ali—where Rashied Ali represents the beat of life in his drumming, and John Coltrane improvises on top of it (Ed. Note: "Interstellar Space, " 1974, on Impulse!). That's primarily how I operate in life: I started with that sort of "organic" mentality. I never thought, "I will start a record label." Or, "I will get involved in music management or become a booking agent." MoonJune came into being from me simply helping friends, and managing to find my way through this initial phase—with some surprisingly good luck, and a strong dose of magic. I am a person who has doggedly pursued my passions my entire life; perhaps this small-scale launch's success had as much to do with hard work and determination as anything else, really. AAJ: When did you begin to see the first returns on this hard work? LP: In 2000, I had this crazy idea to help my old friend Elton Dean, to sort of reform or resurrect the legendary Soft Machine based, in large part, on information I found on the internet about a "one-off" show of the Soft Ware project featuring Elton on sax, Keith Tippetton piano, Hugh Hopper on bass guitar and John Marshall on drums. So I reconnected with Elton on New Year's Day, 2000, and in June of that year he performed in New York City at a jazz festival with drummer Joe Gallivan, bassist Marcio Mattos and saxophonist Evan Parker. Elton stayed a few extra days at my place in the East Village, and he also met Jim Eigo. Perhaps acting on the good vibes of the situation, Elton asked Jim and me if we would be willing to help him with Soft Ware in the US. Elton asked me to talk to Keith Tippett, John Marshall, and Hugh Hopper, who I already knew from his visits to New York. They were all available and excited, except for Keith, who said he would consider it as a possible, occasional special project but not as a steady gig. Keith's failure to make a solid commitment got Elton and I fantasizing about the fourth member. Mike Ratledge, the legendary Soft Machine keyboardist and one of my all-time personal music heroes, had made it clear that he wasn't interested in being a part of any recording or live performance music since leaving Soft Machine in 1976. We continued our thinking, dominated by a keyboard player to fill the fourth member role. Later that same summer, I stumbled across three progressive rock festivals in the US. Around this same time, Andrea Soncini, an Italian journalist who handled the Italian progressive rock band Finisterre on his label and management and had been asking me to help get them bookings in the US, was supposed to meet me at one of these festivals. As it turned out, Andrea was unable to attend, due to personal reasons, and gave me his festival ticket. On that festival's opening day, the second band who hit the stage blew me away after only five minutes and in the break following their set, I met that band, D.F.A. from Italy, and congratulated them on their mind-blowing performance. Italian is my second native tongue, and we quickly fell into great conversation and friendship. We hung out together in New York City for several days thereafter. AAJ: So that's festival one. Festival two? LP: OK, so in September 2000 I attended ProgFest in Los Angeles, and got to catch up with several of my favorite 70s progressive rock bands: Italian legends Banco, French legends Mona Lisa, and Dutch legends Supersister, an old favorite of mine who I never thought in my whole life I would be able to see! Since we were in L.A., many progressive rock fans came to the festival from Mexico, and, out of curiosity, I began chatting with many of them. I met another person at this festival who wound up being one of the key people in starting MoonJune. A guy who happened to be passing by suddenly entered into a conversation I was having with a few early Soft Machine hardcore fans. I guess we were talking loudly and proudly about Mike Ratledge, and that's how I met Ken Kubernik, who jumped right into our conversation. Ken and I went for a coffee break during another intermission and began talking about several of our favorite music subjects, such as Soft Machine, the Canterbury scene, British jazz, and much more, and during our conversation, I told him about Elton Dean, Soft Ware and Keith Tippett situation. Little did I know the fruit that this conversation would later bear! AAJ: So where did this story move to next? LP: In October, I flew to North Carolina to attend the third prog festival of 2000, ProgDay, and had by this time also made plans to attend BajaProg festival in February 2001, in Mexicali. Through all this time, I continued to correspond with the aforementioned Andrea Soncini, and since I had made a number of contacts from Mexico at ProgFest, in LA, I decided to try to book Finisterre—and actually succeeded! I booked them at BajaProg 2001 in Mexicali, for another big gig opening for the British prog icon Peter Hammill in Mexico City, and for six more shows in Central and Northern Mexico. So: I had never been to Mexico before. I had never met Andrea Soncini nor had I met the band Finisterre in person before. But thanks to a few guys I met at ProgFest in L.A., I booked Finisterre in Mexico. Thereafter, I negotiated their gigs, arranged and purchased their flights, and the rest. That was the first tour I handled in my life, and that's how MoonJune Music, my booking business, started. AAJ: When and how did MoonJune Records follow? LP: In the meantime, Elton Dean was asking me to help him with a live recording, a duet with the English midi guitarist Mark Hewins who I also knew from his association with the reformed Daevid Allen's Gong. D.F.A. had just sent me the live recording of the fabulous performance I'd witnessed at NEARFest 2000. In April 2001, I made the decision to release those three live albums together, and that's how MoonJune Records started! So, in May of 2001, I had three releases on MoonJune: Dean/Hewins Bar Torque, Finsiterre Storybook and D.F.A. Work In Progress Live. That summer, I decided to go to NEARFest 2001. I rented a merchandise table on a whim and, accompanied by the curious 17-year-old nephew of a friend as my helper, MoonJune Records officially became a label! Full interview: https://www.allaboutjazz.com/leonardo-pavkovic-nothing-is-ordinary-leonardo-pavkovic-by-chris-m-slawecki.php |
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