MERRY CHRISTMAS AND HAPPY HOLIDAYS

Mark Samuels: In His Own Words

Mark Samuels is making more than music

If all that you had worked for was swept away would you stay? What if your livelihood was gone in the blink of an eye? What if all of your clients were scattered to the four winds and your business was in shambles? Would you have the courage to stay through a rebuilding process that truly never ended for a city time forgot? Would you have the strength, the tenacity, and the determination to drive on? Mark Samuels, the CEO of Basin Street Records, has it all. Whether it’s a hurricane and poorly built levees that destroyed New Orleans or a personal storm that would render most of us useless Mark stands like a stone pillar. Basin Street Records is standing firm on solid ground with the help of Mark and those who have always been there from the beginning of New Orleans, the musicians. Mark Samuels has taken his love for music and turned it into a small empire. Basin Street Records stands as a beacon of light and hope for New Orleans. I could tell you all the things Mark Samuels is but, it would be easier for me to tell you what he’s not. He won’t betray his friends. He won’t run when things get tough. Oh yeah, one more thing he won’t back down. In a city that needs heroes more than a comic book series Mark Samuels fits the bill. He may not wear a cape but, he doesn’t have to. Arming himself with some of New Orleans richest and most talented musicians he has taken New Orleans to new heights He has taken his passion for music from the back of a coffee shop to the forefront of the Billboard Jazz charts and beyond. In 13 short years Mark Samuels has taken his passion, and turned it into a growing force in the music industry. I had the unique opportunity recently to sit down with Mark Samuels and speak with one of the driving forces bringing New Orleans music to the rest of the world.

How have things been going for you at Basin Street Records?

Things have been busy. We have had a lot of great things happen this year. Starting with the end of last year’s release of Kermit’s “Happy Talk” CD. It got as high #5 on the Billboard Jazz charts. It spent about 12 weeks in the Top 20 of Jazz as well. Also the release of Rebirth’s “Rebirth of New Orleans” and Dr. Michael White’s “ Adventures in New Orleans Jazz” was exciting. Then there is the release of our first book/CD “A Love Letter To New Orleans” by Irvin Mayfield. All of them have spent time on the Billboard charts and the National radio charts. We also were on DownBeat magazine’s critics poll listed for the first time as one of the best record labels. Things have been exciting and productive for us. This past six months may be the best we have had here.

What are some things you look for in an artist(s) before you sign them?

I like to know that the band has some following. That we aren’t just starting from scratch with them. Also, that the musicianship is at the highest level. That they aren’t just about making money but, they love what they do and they are nice to work with. There is no reason with the amount of bands and artists out there for us to work with anyone who is anything other than pleasant. For me to sign a band or artist one thing I have to know is that night after night, no matter what, I will never get tired of hearing them.

Who are some artists that we don’t know about yet but, you do?

Plenty of people actually know about these bands, but like the artists on our label, here are just a few who should be known by many more people: Bonerama, Papa Grows Funk, Davell Crawford, My Name is John Michael, the Revivalists, John Boutte, Paul Sanchez, and Walter “Wolfman” Washington.

You once said you want Basin Street records to be to New Orleans as to what Motown was to Detroit. Do you feel like you have reached that goal yet?

No, I haven’t accomplished that yet. I think the comparison of Motown to Detroit is as close as what Basin Street Records is to New Orleans. As far as records sales go we are nowhere close. I think personally, and professionally our artists are deserving of larger audiences than they get now.

In your first couple years at Basin Street Records did you make any mistakes you wish you could take back?

I made every mistake. One of the biggest mistakes I made was that I never picked up a book about the music industry. I didn’t learn from other people’s mistakes. My background in school was working as a business consultant to improve other people’s businesses. It’s harder to do that when you look at your own company.

What is one experience that you will always remember that many people may not know about?

In the beginning I use to travel a lot with the musicians. I traveled to Playacar de Carmen, Mexico with Los Hombres Calientes where they were playing at the grand opening of a brand new club. The owner was from New Orleans and he owned properties on Bourbon Street. We arrived the afternoon the club was opening. Around 8 o’ clock that night they were pulling out the new sound system out of the boxes. The band was expected to stay upstairs in some unfinished rooms and share a bathroom down the hall (they elected to find accommodations elsewhere but the band’s roadie and I stayed in the unfinished rooms above the club to stay close to the band’s equipment). I was responsible for booking and setting up this trip. That first night after getting the sound right the band finally took the stage at about 1am. All week we were supposed to get paid, but we kept getting put off. I was riding around town in a cab with the owner an hour before the plane took off looking for a bank. I was not going to leave town without cashing that check. It was then at that moment that I knew I would never want to be a manager or a booking agent. It was an experience I will never forget because even with the hurdles, nights 2 thru 6 were a blast. It was one of the best weeks out on the road I’d ever experienced.

How important is it to you that you not only represent that Jazz and Blues but, also the other parts of New Orleans heritage?

We not only cover Jazz and Blues but, Soul, R&B, Funk and Rock. We feel that covers all the roots areas of American and New Orleans heritage. We don’t represent all of Louisiana. We touch lightly on zydeco and gospel. All the bands we cover reflect my music taste. I was a fan of all of the artists on the label today before I started a record label. I use to see all of them on a regular basis. The artists we have on the label right now are the end result of them and myself being in the right place at the right time.

Your position as a CEO of a record label that has been made enigmatic by Katrina and the BP oil spill. Why did you stay when many left New Orleans?

There was some temptation to leave. I did initially. I took off and went to Austin. I enrolled my kids in school there. My parents, who also lost their home, went with us and they helped watch my kids for that school year. My girlfriend who I started dating at the beginning of 2005 and who is now my wife, Kara, was in New Orleans, and she needed to be in New Orleans as that’s where she was licensed to practice law. Fortunately, her apartment wasn’t damaged and I had a place to stay on my 24 trips back and forth from Austin to New Orleans that year. There was a week of really thinking of not coming back right before and after Nagin got re-elected, but I realized after he got re-elected that I had to come back. I needed to be part of the solution. I also realized that if a record label didn’t come back then why would anyone else? Most of that year, beginning with a Kermit Ruffins gig at Fat Harry’s in October 2005 I knew I was coming back and would bring my kids back after their year in school.

If you weren’t heading Basin Street Records what would you be doing?

That’s funny because I was about to Tweet today that I’m unemployable. I have worked for myself longer here at Basin Street Records than anywhere else I have been. I do have other passions and interests though. I serve of the board of the Louis Armstrong Summer Jazz Camp. I put a lot of hours into that. I would probably be doing more volunteer work. I am on the board of Louisiana Appleseed. They do Pro Bono work for large amount of people at once. I would enjoy being a consultant for musicians. A lot of musicians need help in learning how to optimize their craft, talents and finances.

How much did Katrina change you personally and professionally?

I had been through a tragedy five years earlier when my wife died in a car accident. I had to deal with 17 surgeries for my 3 children. I had already dealt with extreme tragedy. Katrina wasn’t the end of the world for me. I know of people who lost loved ones (Irvin Mayfield’s father drowned and I grieved for him) but, what I lost was stuff. Certainly I thought I had lost my home not just my house. What it did make me realize was that the stuff I was accumulating was just that, stuff. The people who I had around me were the treasure I had. It did things for the business in terms of how we do things and optimizing time and money. I learned that I could run the business out of my car and a coffee shop, which I did for 9 months. I might have been borrowing WI-FI from my girlfriend’s (now wife) neighbor. It made me realize that I didn’t need a 3,500 square foot office space on Canal Street with 5 full time employees. It also made me realize that I shouldn’t expect anything less than the best from people who come and work with me.

Dr. Michael White won the Louisiana Endowment for the Humanities’ Humanist of the Year award in 2010. Jason Marsalis was one of the members of the Marsalis family to receive a NEA Jazz Masters Fellowship Award. What does that mean to you?

I think that comes with the seriousness of being a musician. These guys have respected the past, built on it themselves and added to that musical spectrum. When you have guys like this they are always more interested in doing something bigger than themselves. Jason is teaching in some places, Irvin is on the National Council For The Arts (the board that oversees the NEA). Dr. White is a professor and mentors younger musicians. You also have Bill Summers teaching young musicians Afro-Cuban, African drumming from a social and spiritual aspect. Most of our artists are a lot more than just musicians. They are concerned in making more than just music.

If you could sit down with any three people at a table who would you pick?

Well, that’s a good question. I often think of who’s left whom I would like to meet. I’m not a star struck person anymore. Stars put their pants on both legs at a time just like you and me. I still haven’t met Sting and love his music so he would be at the table. I have spent a lot of time with and much of what I’ve done musically can be somewhat attributed to my friendship with Wynton Marsalis, so he would be there. I had the fortune of meeting Bill Cosby at the Playboy Jazz Festival. Bill Cosby was one of those guys who I was thrilled to meet. He’d be there.

Thank you very much for you time Mark and I look forward to hearing good things from Basin Street Records.

Thank you Jason. You will definitely hear good things from us in the future.

An Interview With Queen G: Gaynielle Neville

There are people who you meet in your life and you’ll remember not knowing why. Gaynielle Neville is not one of those people. She is the exact opposite. Her confidence, intelligence and beauty are so strong they would imprint themselves on granite if rocks could talk to her. Gaynielle has been in the music industry since the 1970′s. In that time she has been transformed from a timid and nervous wreck before hundreds performing the first time with Aaron Neville to one of the more prominent female musicians to come out of New Orleans in a long time. Don’t let it fool you though. She has had to work for everything she has gotten as a musician tooth and nail. Just because she knew the Nevilles since she was teenager doesn’t mean she hasn’t worked hard. I was lucky enough to be able to sit down with Gaynielle before her show at the Howling Wolf on the 12^th of August for New Orleans Musicians Clinic

How did you decide to pick New Orleans Musicians Clinic as opposed to other charities and nonprofits out there?

I have noticed a lot of musicians have died and never gotten the proper health care. Being that I am an artist that is really important to me that musicians get the medical treatment they need. It will help them stay  healthy and keep them doing their craft. Last year I had a big birthday party and didn’t do anything like I’m doing this year. This year I decided it was important to give something back. I had known of the New Orleans Musicians Clinic. I knew they were doing good things for musicians, so when I heard they were drawing close to running out of funds it was a natural choice. That’s why I am doing LeoPalooza 2011 at the Howling Wolf on Friday

Your what a lot of people consider a royal family of New Orleans. Is there an added pressure and expectation that comes with your last name?

Yes, there is. There are people who have the last name Neville. They might be distant cousins but, they are using that name to expose their talents. People might say well, they aren’t  very good but, that is a reflection on the Neville name. Whether or not they are immediate family it still reflects on us. There is all those who are good like Dumpstaphunk who is bringing it. So, you take the bad with the good. I tell my kids you have to be the best person  you can be. It doesn’t matter what they say about Neville. It’s what you do to give back somehow that makes your name be carried on the best way.

When you write or perform do you have a certain set of images in your mind to help you reach certain notes and pitches? What gets your creative juices going?

It has to be a situation I am going through. If I see how a situation is with human beings like how hate has taken over love. That gives me an incentive to write. The biggest incentive for me is spirituality. Love is spirituality. Like to see the love between a husband and a wife. Or a father and a child. Family gives me the incentive to write.

When you started going on the road was it what you expected?

It was kind of hard because I had seen the Neville brothers being treated like royalty. When I went out it was like “you have to earn your dues”. That is what I tell all Nevilles.  Nothing will be given to you. So it was hard. The work was hard, we had to work two weeks in a row for an off day. The money definitely is not as much they would pay Aaron or The Meters. That’s fine because you have to work your way into that niche called music. That’s fine, because I wanted to work my way through it. That’s why I try to tell all musicians getting into the business that they have to get into the business side of it as well. It’s not all gonna be like we gonna go on the road and party all the time. It’s not about that you have to be very responsible. You have to make sure your hotel is right, your deposit is there, make sure you get paid right after the gig. Don’t talk about it when you have to get a van or something to go on the road and it breaks down on you. That’s hard stuff man. It’s not like riding on two buses with the Neville’s. Which is grand but, all that is downgraded when we were doing on that our own.

In New Orleans there was always music playing around you growing up. Who was one person who introduced you too music more so than anyone else?

My dad, he got me too listen to Robert Johnson and Muddy Waters. Basically we were always a family who listened to the radio. At dinner we always watched TV. I had never seen any beautiful black women before until then on TV. I was introduced to Lena Horne and Diahann Carroll. I was the type of person who would always look up the things I saw. So I would see these people or hear them and go look them up to see what they contributed.

When you were starting out was there a moment that you can point to that grew you as a person and as a musician?

Yes, I did. There was a moment where I thought I would never sing again. I was like 18 and Aaron Neville was giving a gospel concert. I grew up in gospel. My mother grew me up in gospel. So, I knew gospel. He got a choir together and I was chosen to go solo. I shook like a leaf and my voice came out trembling. I thought I would never sing again. But you know what? It made me stronger because people thought I was either nervous or I couldn’t sing. It was my first time in front of huge crowd. I was so nervous at the time I couldn’t sing. I was like I’m never singing again. A friend told me “You know what I notice? Is confidence. If you get have confidence no one can touch you. That’s what I learned through this business. Get some confidence and ability to know your talent. Know what you can and can’t do. Also what I learned from Aaron Neville is don’t over do.

Click here  —> “Interview with Gaynielle Neville“   to listen to the whole interview. Hear what Queen G has to say about the aftermath of Katrina, Herman Ernest, soulful music versus rap and much more!!!