Numero Group

There is no question that Chicago label Numero Group, which specializes in re-issues, feels strongly about defending the catalog it has come to possess.

Then, it is no surprise that the label took to its blog and twitter on Tuesday afternoon to accuse hip hop giants Kanye West and Jay-Z, as well as West’s sampling house, of illegally using a sample from Chicago soul singer Syl Johnson’s “Different Strokes” on West’s track “The Joy,” which appears on the deluxe edition of his Watch the Throne collaboration with Jay-Z.

Numero Group tweeted: “Hey @kanyewest & @JayZ, thanks for illegally sampling Syl Johnson on “The Joy” and then crediting us(?). Have your lawyers call our lawyer.”

Numero Group explained the issue more in-depth on its blog and provided readers with an opportunity to listen to both songs. The label wrote that it first contacted West’s sampling house when “The Joy” appeared on West’s “G.O.O.D. Fridays” web series. According to the blog post, Numero Group said that they were told that the track would appear on a deluxe edition of West’s My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy and soon began negotiations for clearing the Johnson sample.

About three weeks before MBDTF was to be released, we got a frantic email requesting the immediate clearance of the track. After a little negotiating, we came to a price and a verbal agreement (one that is completely standard.)  Paperwork to confirm all of this was to arrive for counter signature. Weeks passed. Then months. No deluxe version appeared in the market place, and our emails and phone calls to Def Jam’s business affairs department went unanswered. We spent the better part of five months trying to get paid, and finally handed it to our lawyer who recommended not pursuing legal action as the song wasn’t actually being sold. Syl could have filed a more complex suit involving the use of his voice to promote the #1 album, but decided against it. Eventually Kanye was going to want to clear some other part of our catalog, and we’d get Syl his money with leverage. With only a non-binding email to solidify the terms, we began the arduous process of having the song removed from money making channels like You Tube, for which Syl was seeing nothing. We thought the song was dead and moved on. It happens all the time.

While “The Joy” did not end up on My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy, it did find its way on Watch the Throne. The album also incorrectly identifies Numero Group as the publisher of “Different Strokes,” which is another issue, beside lack of payment, that both Johnson and Numero find problematic.

Late last night, we received a phone call from Syl—who was nearly in tears—asking if we knew why The Numero Group appeared in the credits to a new Kanye West/Jay Z album called Watch The Throne. We had no idea. The credits mis-identify Numero as the publisher of the sampled song (“Different Strokes”), which of course we are not, and any routine search of the BMI database would show otherwise. Wondering why we weren’t consulted on this new use, and baffled why we appear in the credits, for which we never asked, we contacted the sample clearance house. Even they cannot get a response from their own clients. Island Def Jam seems to think that Syl doesn’t have any fight left in him. We’re betting otherwise.

It should be interesting to see how this whole legal fight plays out for both sides. MTV reports that Watch the Throne has already sold more than 600,000 copies since its release earlier this month.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=UYYXdSQ9Pyo

• • Peter Margasak has a great feature story on Syl Johnson in the latest edition of the Chicago Reader.
• • WindyCityRock.net reviews (with photos!) this past Saturday’s Gold Motel & Moneypenny show at Subterranean.
• • Speaking of photos, Lost In Concert has some great shots and a review of the Dresden Dolls’ performance at the Vic a couple weeks back.
• • Submit your band to Deli Chicago’s “Best Of Your Scene” polls right now!
• • Our editor, Richard Giraldi, reviewed last week’s Grinderman show at the Riviera for the Sun-Times.

That catalog is getting the Numero Group treatment in the form of the box set, Syl Johnson: Complete Mythology, a four CD, six LP collection that spans the entirety of Johnson’s storied career.

To celebrate this release Johnson will take the stage at the Old Town School of Folk Music on November 27 and for the first time ever he’ll be performing songs from throughout his 50 year career, many of which have never been played outside the walls of the studio.

To describe Syl’s somewhat overlooked place in the music history it’s best to let him state it in his own words.

“I made my opportunities, but I never got the breaks I should have gotten,” he said. “I was a jack-of-all-trades. More soul than Marvin, more funk than James. If I’d gone pop, you’d be talkin’ about me, not them. I rate right at the top, though I’ve been underrated all my life.”

Think you’ve never heard a Syl Johnson original number? Well you’ve probably heard a tune featuring a Johnson sample. His “Different Strokes” is one of the most sampled songs on record used by the likes of Kid Rock, Michael Jackson, N.W.A. and Public Enemy among countless others.

Tickets for the show in which Johnson will be backed by a 14-piece band go on-sale today at 11:00 a.m. ($28 General Public, $26 Old Town School Members, $24 Seniors & Children).

Here’s what the team at Numero Group has compiled for the box set, slated to hit the street on November 7:

Re-mastered versions of no less than twenty eight singles from the Twinight, Federal, Cha-Cha, Tmp-Ting, Special Agent, and Zachron labels, facsimiles of the Dresses Too Short and Is It Because I’m Black albums, ten previously unreleased tracks and detailed track by track notes from acclaimed music historian Bill Dahl. The fifty-two page booklet contains a thirty-five thousand word essay, scores of previously unpublished photos, a sampling index, and complete discography--all presented in a lavish hardbound box.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=8rPg7TVTOfY

“Celestial Navigations: The Short Films of Al Jarnow,” the first film compilation by Numero Group, will make its Chicago debut this Friday and Saturday night at the Gene Siskel Film Center.

For producer Michael Slaboch, seeing this labor of love come to fruition has been a long time coming and so far has garnered two sold out screenings at the 92Y Tribeca in Manhattan.

“The project took four years from first thought to the screening in New York City last weekend,” said Slaboch.  “The first two and a half years it sat on the dry erase board.”

Al Jarnow made short animated, time-lapse and stop motion films from 1969 through the mid 1990’s for “Sesame Street” and “3-2-1 Contact” but also created a substantial body of avant-garde experimental films that are also included on the DVD.

Slaboch reviewing one of Jarnows film strip at the Numero Group office.

“About a year and a half ago we met with Al for the first time and once he was on board, then we started to aggressively contact Sesame Workshop to get someone in their legal department to let us license the twenty-plus films from them.”

After finally getting someone there to get on board with their concept for the DVD compilation the rights were secured and production began.

“We headed out to Al’s house where we watched around a hundred 16mm reels to find the best prints of his independent work and some Sesame Street material, and we ended up putting 45 films on the DVD.”

In the spring of 2009, Slaboch and a four person film production crew spent three days in Northport, Long Island interviewing Jarnow the for a documentary that is included on the DVD and will be shown along with 15 of Jarnow’s films at the Gene Siskel Film Center this weekend.

Transcribing interview with Jarnow for documentary.

“We made a 30-minute documentary that deconstructs his creative process and also gleaned loads of ephemera for the 60 page book included with the DVD that has essays on Al and the 1970s New York City avant-garde film scene.”

Since 2003, the independent record label Numero Group has been turning out albums full of rare and forgotten music compiled from sources from across the world.

With offices located in the lower level of a house in the Little Village neighborhood, the four person operation comprised of founders Ken Shipley, Tom Lunt, along with Rob Sevier and Slaboch epitomizes a do-it-yourself model.
The space is cramped, doubling as a stockroom with the walls lined with shelves stacked with albums that will be handled by the guys to fill orders around the globe.

“UPS knows this address very well,” Slaboch said while preparing a package for delivery to one of several Chicago record stores that carry the label’s releases.

Numero Group painstakingly researches, re-masters and repackages music that has been lost, forgotten or never heard.  They go to great lengths to do more than a simple reissue by including background essays, detailed liner notes, scores of images and any other relics available to create a complete story.

“The process of putting this DVD together has been very similar to making one of our records, in the sense that the memorable films speak for themselves but that’s not enough to warrant reissuing them for us,” said Slaboch. “There always has to be a story with one of our mainline releases, and luckily Al has a tremendous tale with great cultural importance.”

Examining Jarnow animation cels

In five years they have produced 34 CD’s, 21 vinyl LPs, 16 45s, eight 12 inches, and two sets of baseball-style trading cards of Numero Group artists, and promoted sold-out concerts featuring Numero Group performers and house band JC Brooks & the Uptown Sound at the Park West and Lincoln Hall.

“We’re thinking about creative ways to share music, films, photographs, and stories with people through a physical form that they want to own and hold and experience and not just have it be a bunch of zeros and ones that they download.”

But the group’s ideas and aspirations are still expanding.

Numero Group branched out by creating the label’s first full size book of photography by Michael L. Abramson titled, “Light: On The Southside” that depicts nightlife on the South Side of Chicago from 1975 to 1977.

Looking at a test page for "Light: On the Southside"

Released last fall, the 132 page hard back book showcasing more than 100 photos from the city’s nightclubs also included a two LP set of 17 songs by Chicago blues and soul legends making it one of the most expansive releases for the label to date.

So does producing a DVD and a 132 page photography book signal a shift toward visual media for the label?

“Not necessarily.”  Slaboch said. “We just want to share and preserve things that we think are historically important and inspiring. Whether that’s photographs of South Side blues clubs, short films that tens of millions of people have seen but have no idea who made them, or compiling the entire output of Syl Johnson’s career up to 1972, it’s all the same to us.”

While their releases may not be soaring to the top of Billboard charts, the label is thriving and a variety of releases are planned for the coming year including the complete recordings of Syl Johnson from 1959-1972, a three CD set from the Boddie Recording Company out of Cleveland, and another installment in their Local Customs series this time focusing on the Beaumont, Texas Lowlands Studio.

But for Slaboch it’s about more than simply digging up old relics, for him the drive comes from, “Meeting the artists and learning more about their lives and what drove and inspired them to make their music and films or run regional record labels. Many of the people we deal with are significantly older than us, by 30 or 40 years and there’s a lot to learn from their lives and experiences.”

“Celestial Navigations: The Short Films of Al Jarnow” trailer:

www.youtube.com/watch?v=3UdZSrEos-k

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“Celestial Navigations: The Short Films of Al Jarnow” screens at 8 p.m. Friday Feb. 19 and Saturday Feb. 20 at the Gene Siskel Film Center, $10 tickets can be purchased via TicketMaster or at the theater box office (no service fees).

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Coming off the heels of their successful and sold-out performance at the Park West last April, the local independent label Numero Group will be taking it’s Eccentric Soul Revue on the road, starting with a show at Lincoln Hall this Saturday.  

The tour is being co-sponsored by Shlitz and will include many special guests at stops along the way.

Added to the roster from the Spring concert is local singer Linda Balintine, whose ultra-rare 45″ appeared on, Eccentric Soul: The Bandit Label and Sharon Clark who was featured on the compilation, Eccentric Soul: The Yodi Label.  Another addition, Pastor TL Barrett and his choir  who are featured on the upcoming release, Good God! Born Again Funk, is slated to kick the show off with a song from the album.  

Returning to the stage are local soul legends Syl Johnson, Renaldo Domino and The Notations.  Once again Chicago’s own JC Brooks & the Uptown Sound will serve as house band delivering soul and funk grooves all night long.  Tickets are selling out fast, so tell your friends on the East Coast to get on the ball and check out some Windy City legends.

The Numero Group Eccentric Soul Revue Tour:

Saturday Nov 7th
Lincoln Hall
Chicago, IL
Special Guests:
Linda Balintine, Sharon Clark, & Pastor TL Barrett
18+/Doors 8pm
Tickets: Lincoln Hall
–
Sunday Nov 8th
Crofoot Ballroom
Pontiac, MI
Special Guests:
Bobby Cook & Velma Perkins
All Ages/Doors at 7pm
Tickets: Ticketweb

–
Monday Nov 9th
Lincoln Theater
Columbus, OH
Special Guests:
Marion Black & The Four Mints
All Ages/Doors at 7pm
Tickets: Lincoln Theater and Ticketmaster
* No service fees with cash at box office*

–
Tuesday Nov 10th
9:30 Club
Washington D.C.
All Ages/Doors at 6pm
Tickets: 9:30 Club and Brown Paper Tickets

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Friday Nov 13th
Music Hall of Williamsburg
Brooklyn, NY
Special Guest:
Missy Missy Dee
18+/Doors 8pm
Tickets: Music Hall of Williamsburg and Ticketmaster
* No service fees with cash at Music Hall or Mercury Lounge*

–
Thursday Nov 12th
Grand Ballroom, Manhattan Center
New York, NY
Special Guest:
Missy Missy Dee
All Ages/Doors at 7pm
Tickets: Grand Ballroom and Ticketmaster
* No service fees with cash at Mercury Lounge*