Recording Artist / 1970+
Founder Of Halcyon Label

Halcyon Days

Marian McPartland had a saying, 'Some women buy fur coats; I have my own record company'.  During the sixties, there was a shift in attitude of the big record companies. Record company executives were no longer prepared to put their money behind jazz artists or publicize their recordings.  They ruthlessly dropped jazz albums from the catalogue if they did not sell quickly. This was an unnecessarily brutal response, because sales of jazz records had never been anywhere near the quantity of pop and rock records.  Marian McPartland thus became disenchanted with the way jazz musicians were being treated by the large record companies:

I was through with Capitol, or they were through with me, and I was trying to get a record date.  I did finally get one on the label called Dot.  Actually, a guy sponsored me to the date - named Sam Coslow. It's a shame that his name was never well known, because he wrote 'My Old Flame' and 'Cocktails For Two' which makes a beautiful ballad.  I wasn't thrilled at the way the record came out, and I resolved to start my own record company (Hansson, Interview of Marian McPartland, November 2, 1999).

Although sponsored for this Dot recording of Sam Coslow's excellent compositions, Marian McPartland was extremely disappointed with the packaging, presentation and marketing.  The amorphous liner notes did not refer to the musicianship and the token beautiful girl on the cover was obviously not Marian herself.  So she resolved to put out her own records.   

Marian McPartland seized the opportunity to establish her own recording company by initially obtaining sponsorship from wealthy industrialist Sherman Fairchild, who allowed her to use his studio containing two grand pianos.

That's where Sherman Fairchild came into the picture.  Anyway Sherman was interested in helping me start Halcyon as a mail order business which we did.  Hank O'Neal, who now has his own record company, Chiaroscuro, got involved, and that's how the whole thing started.  [After Sherman died] Hank and I divided up everything that we had recorded and agreed to go our separate ways.  He started his Chiaroscuro label, and I kept going with Halcyon (Enstice and Stockhouse, 2004: 247-8).

Marian McPartland was determined to record herself with artistic freedom, retain executive control over her recorded output, and to record other musicians who were major jazz talents yet being ignored by record companies.  So Halcyon Records was born, according to a letter written by Marian on November 10, 1969, during her season at The Downbeat club, explaining how the concept came about:

It is sort of a family thing.  I love the word Halcyon for a label and Jimmy's son-in-law Don Kassel designed it.  Two friends did the cover from an idea that I gave them.  Hope you like the music, too!  I financed the whole thing myself, and it really was fun putting the record together.  Some women buy new hats - I got a kick out of this much more.  George Simon has some ideas as to distribution of the record, but so far we are doing a brisk business through the mail and at the club (McPartland, Letter to John S. Wilson, November 10, 1969).

Marian was entranced by the legend in Greek mythology of the seabird said to lay her eggs in nests floating on the sea, which remained calm during the period of incubation.  She designed the logo herself, and Halcyon Records became a symbol for the calming of the troubled waters of the recording industry:

I just got mad that I didn't have a record contract.  Nobody seemed that interested in recording me after I had been with Capitol.  So I just, oh I did make a record for a label, Dot records, and I wasn't too thrilled with that, so I said, 'I'm going to start my own record company', and I did for awhile, and I don't think I could do it again.  It was quite a job.  We did manage to put out 18 records on the label, most of which are still around because Concord has leased some of them from me, so they're still out there.  It was a nice experience.  A lot of musicians were doing it in those days, it seemed, when Chubby Checker and all those people came on the scene, the jazz people were taking a back seat, so a lot of us had our own label.  Stan Kenton did.  I think Mingus was the first one to do that, but he really couldn't handle it; I don't think he had a good enough business sense, because you really had to take care of business and I remember I used to actually go to a record store like Sam Goody and tell them, 'I need that money you owe me.'  Stuff like that I would never think of doing nowadays.  But now it's become, I don't know, it's become so easy to make a CD; you can burn a CD in your basement.  Who knows, I may decide to do that again someday (Bowden, 2001).

In a 1973 interview, Marian McPartland spoke of how musicians liked the idea of recording for other musicians, as many of the big record companies showed little real interest in jazz:

I remember when Columbia put out a beautiful album by Red Allen a few years ago and it was really well done and well packaged.  However, they didn't get behind it with any publicity and they evidently didn't think it was selling well enough to warrant them keeping it in the catalogue, so they took it out.  Things like that really bother me.  The same way, years ago, also for Columbia, Dave Brubeck made a solo album.  I thought that it was one of the best things he'd ever done.  I loved that album and wouldn't you know that was the one they deleted from the catalogue!  Dave and I have talked about this and I think Dave might consent to do a solo album for my label (Gardner, 1973: 5).

Interviewed in 1978, Marian gave further insight into her reasons for founding the Halcyon label:

I think the thing that annoyed me most was seeing albums recorded for the big companies, which, if they didn't sell immediately, would be quickly taken out of the catalogue.  That's still happening to me - I recorded an album for RCA last year, with Roland Hanna, Hank Jones and Dick Hyman, and they didn't really give the thing a chance - they cut it out.

Marian McPartland then referred to her frustration at not being able to reclaim ownership of early Capitol recordings, and stressed the importance of keeping faith with the albums listed in the catalogue:

It makes it all the more important to have a catalogue and keep the catalogue up.  You know, I wouldn't take anything out.  I still get a number of orders on the first of them.  They all sell slow and steady all the time (Waz, 1978: 35).

Marian McPartland was one of several jazz artists who went independent, by manufacturing and marketing their own records.  She was quoted as saying, 'even if I lost lots of money out of my own pocket, always having a new record is a form of publicity.  And it's very satisfying' (Matlin, 1974: 41). 

Marian McPartland and Halcyon Records, along with Stan Kenton (Creative World Inc), George Shearing (Sheba Records), Mary Lou Williams (Mary Records), Blossom Dearie (Blossom Enterprises), Anita O'Day (Anita O'Day Records), Eubie Blake (Eubie Blake Music), The Four Freshmen (The Four Freshmen), and the World's Greatest Jazz Band (World Jazz Records), set up a private label. Marian developed a mail-order business to market her product.

At the heart of Marian McPartland's policy for Halcyon Records was the idea of solo piano and piano collaborations, particularly as Sherman Fairchild's studio contained two grand pianos.  Marian described the scene at the studio on 17 East 65^th Street:

Sherman's two handsome gold-painted Steinways were bolted together, so that the two people playing faced each other like friends (or adversaries, depending on who one's partner was!).  Sherman loved jazz and especially piano players.  He was a true piano buff, knew all the musicians, went often to see them in clubs, and played a little piano himself (McPartland, 1972). 

With Sherman Fairchild's financial backing, Halcyon's first offspring was Interplay: Marian McPartland, a session recorded in 1969 as a duo with bassist Linc Milliman (HAL 100).  Most of the selections were recorded at the Rochester club of jazz organist Doug Duke, who had played at the Hickory House before Marian in 1952.  Duke had created the perfect room for intimate jazz, for both musicians and audience. Marian's originals, 'Illusion' and 'Twilight World', were recorded at Fairchild's studio in New York City.  Marian liked the idea of recording with bass and piano alone, and the album was produced by Hank O'Neall:

I like to play in a spur-of-the-moment style, and when just two people are involved, the possibilities of the music being free and uninhibited are much greater, especially where unexpected changes of key and tempo are concerned. I become completely absorbed, forget myself altogether; it's as if the music plays me.  When this happens it's an exciting heady feeling.  Of course one has to have a very musical, very sensitive bassist for this, and Linc Milliman has these qualities, plus such a beautiful, strong, time feeling that he sounds like a whole rhythm section all by himself, and he propels the music (and me!) along, with a great deal of excitement and subtle humor (McPartland, Liner Notes to Interplay: Marian McPartland 1969).

Despite Marian's confidence in the bassist, Milliman wrote a letter to her afterwards stating that he hoped the venture would be a failure, and that she did not pay enough (Hansson, Interview of Marian McPartland, November 2, 1999). 

[Author's note: A conversation with Linc Milliman in 1999 at the New York club, Knickerbocker, revealed that his double bass had been crafted in 1860, and that he hadn't worked with Marian McPartland for the past fifteen years.  Milliman seemed to have the highest respect for Marian's ability as a pianist, and indicated that he had never heard her say a bad word about any other musician (Conversation with Linc Milliman, October, 1999)]. 

For the Halcyon release, Marian McPartland provided the liner notes.  Interplay was also released in Europe in 1976 on the German MPS label, with liner notes by prolific jazz writer Joachim-Ernst Berendt (Berendt, Liner Notes to Interplay: Marian McPartland, 1976).

As Halcyon Records was a piano player's label, Marian envisaged a series of well-recorded solo albums featuring piano greats such as Earl Hines, Teddy Wilson, Ellis Larkins, Willie 'The Lion' Smith, Joe Sullivan and Jess Stacy, who were being ignored by the big companies at that time.  She began the piano series with an Earl Hines set entitled Quintessential Record Session (HAL 101).  In an interview Marian spoke of the recording process with Hines:

We had him record all the things he did for the QRS label and it was fun because obviously it was a long time since he had played some of those tunes and he had almost forgotten them, so we brought the original record there for him to listen to.  He'd sit down, have a cup of coffee and listen to maybe 'Blues In Thirds' and then he'd say, 'Okay, I'm ready to record it now.'  And the whole date was practically made up of first takes because they were so good there was no point in re-recording them (Gardner, 1973: 5).

HAL 102 was Bobby Henderson's A Home In The Clouds, followed by a trio recording, Ambiance: The Marian McPartland Trio, with Michael Moore on bass and Jimmy Madison on drums, with drummer Billy Hart playing on the last two tunes.  Recorded in July 1970, HAL 103 featured five of Marian's original compositions including the title tune, and four originals by Michael Moore.  Sherman Fairchild personally supervised the session.  Marian McPartland's originals are published by another enterprise, Halcyon Music, her Halcyon Publishing Company which was already established before the record company.  Marian's liner notes convey her impressions the style of 'free' jazz, popular at the time:

To me, playing this freely means discipline, and empathy with the other players, so that no one person 'takes over'.  Sometimes I might be the one to draw the thread of an idea from Mike, and interweave it into a pattern of my own, relinquishing it to Jimmy when he starts a contrasting rhythmic figure, so that there is a constant shift of emphasis and a flowing through of ideas from one to another (McPartland, Liner Notes to Ambiance: The Marian McPartland Trio, 1970).

Bassist Michael Moore described the feeling as 'freer and looser than in a club, and this has never happened to me before on a record date' (McPartland, 1970).  Ambiance was subsequently reissued on The Jazz Alliance label.

For her next Halcyon, Marian recorded pianist Willie 'The Lion' Smith on an album entitled Live At Blues Alley (HAL 104), followed by a trio album named Marian McPartland: A Delicate Balance with bassist Jay Leonhart and drummer Jimmy Madison recorded ca 1971-1972.  HAL 105 was the first recording session for this combination of musicians, and Marian played a Wurlitzer electronic piano as well as the grand piano. The playlist includes two of Marian's compositions 'A Delicate Balance' and 'Melancholy Mood', and an Alec Wilder composition written especially for Marian, 'Jazz Waltz For A Friend'.  Wilder wrote portion of the liner notes for this album, and had this to say of the collaboration between the musicians:

Their spectrum is much broader and more subtle than that of most players of their particular instruments.  For although they are accompanying Marian, they play with the musical stature and responsibility of soloists.  I don't mean that they tend to 'take over', but that their unique musical viewpoint brings an element of strong intensity to the music (Wilder, Liner Notes to Marian McPartland: A Delicate Balance, 1971-1972).

In the spring of 1970, Marian set up a session with pianist Teddy Wilson for HAL 106, Teddy Wilson And Marian McPartland: Elegant Piano, engineered by Hank O'Neal.  Teddy Wilson was one of Marian's earliest influences when she was a teenager in England.  In terms of style, Wilson brought to the canon of jazz piano a flawless technique, a delicate touch, and perfect rhythmic sense.  His approach to harmony and chord voicings was different from Marian's, and a solo and twin-piano album together was sure to produce some interesting interplay:

Improvising on two pianos can be an exciting and satisfying experience: personality, original ideas and feelings come through in spur of the moment playing.  We both feel that they do here.  There was no rehearsal, we just picked the tunes, decided who would take certain choruses and introductions, and then we started to play (McPartland, Liner Notes to Teddy Wilson And Marian McPartland: Elegant Piano, 1972).

It is possible that Marian McPartland recorded her solo rendition of 'Slowly Into Evening' at a later date.  When asked would she like to do a completely solo album herself, Marian indicated that:

I'll get around to that one of these days but that's something you really have to practice a lot.Playing solo piano after Teddy Wilson was a challenge as he plays the fastest piano on earth!  Those really up-tempo things! (Gardner, 1973: 6). 

Nevill Sherburn of Swaggie Records, based in Melbourne, Australia, purchased the Australian rights to this recording.  This album was later released in Australia on the Swaggie Records label - S1330  with the title Elegant Piano: Solos And Duets by Teddy Wilson and Marian McPartland (January 1974).

At this point in the life of Halcyon Records, it is interesting to note how Hank O'Neal got involved with Halcyon Records and started his own record label Chiaroscuro.  O'Neal was the part-time recording engineer for Marian McPartland's recordings in the Fairchild studio, and he founded his (then) non-profit organization with this approach in mind:

My aim has been to record just what I like, to try and keep the artistic level as high as I possibly can, and to be totally unconcerned with the commercial value of what I'm doing.  I think that's the best way to get good music down on disk (Matlin, 1974: 41)

Marian McPartland told the story of Halcyon's beginnings and the Chiaroscuro connections in a 1980 interview:

[Hank O'Neal] did help me with the first Halcyon I put out (Interplay: HAL 100) and as far as I was concerned that was probably going to be the only one, I was just experimenting.  And then this friend of mine, Sherman Fairchild put up a little money and that's where Hank got involved.  He got a little too involved 'cause he started, I don't know it just got to be one of those things that wasn't too comfortable, and I guess he was better off having his own label.  Unfortunately Sherman had to go die, so I had the choice of continuing with Halcyon by myself, 'cause by this time Hank and I had decided to do things separately.  He formed Chiaroscuro, but he went around saying that Chiaroscuro was Halcyon or something ridiculous, but it never was.  The things we had done together, I feel regretful about it now, I let him have Earl Hines's thing and we sort of 'divvy-ed' up everything, and I took a tape of Teddy Wilson which I subsequently put out.  And that's how that worked (Rusch, 1980: 13).

Marian McPartland eventually sold HAL 102 and HAL 104 to Hank O'Neal.  O'Neal claimed that his enthusiasm for a worthwhile product for small monetary reward spread to artists, photographers and writers who have been featured on the record jackets (Matlin, 1974).   However, Marian McPartland displayed the same ability to record the best artists and be painstaking about the design and appeal of the finished product.  When asked about Halcyon's future after the split, Marian was quoted as saying:

Mary Osborne has an album she says she owns, with Tommy Flanagan and Jo Jones and some very illustrious persons.  I think she's going to let me put that out.  And I've got one with Teddi King which nobody knows I have, Teddi, myself and Alec Wilder at a concert (Rusch, 1980: 14).

Marian McPartland recalled how she and Hank O'Neal worked together in the early days of the label:

I remember working at The Riverboat and having to go and meet Hank O'Neal to discuss what was going to be on the back of an album.  Running over there in a cab between sets - I mean, crazy things.  But I guess I would still do it if I had to.  It's nice to still see these really good products, that they are not going to die (Enstice and Stockhouse, 2004: 248).

In terms of catalogue numbering, Live At The Monticello: Jimmy And Marian McPartland (HAL 107) was her next offering for the label.  This was a concert recorded live in 1973 in the Monticello Room of the Rountowner Motel in Rochester.  It featured Jimmy and Marian McPartland, Hank Berger on trombone and banjo, Jack Maheu on clarinet, Rusty Gilder on bass and Mike Bergeron on drums.  Larry Bell was then Marian's trio drummer, and her trio spot on the album with Gilder and Bell was the ballad 'Willow Weep For Me'.  Another tune, 'Things Ain't What They Used To Be', may have been recorded on the same occasion. 

A feature solo album for pianist Dave McKenna, Cookin’ At Michael’s Pub (HAL 108) came next in the series.  In the midst of a busy schedule in the early 1970s, Marian McPartland revealed that she was occupied with a sideline to the recording business, working on her own conservation project.  Small recording companies were being swallowed up by big conglomerates, and often precious tapes were discarded in the process.  Marian felt it was crucial for her company to record musicians who were under-recorded, or past their use-by date according to the big companies, as well as preserving the recordings in the catalogue.

Of the eighteen Halcyon Records releases, one in particular stands out for Marian - her recording of Alec Wilder's music, Marian McPartland: Plays The Music Of Alec Wilder (HAL 109).  Never was her attention to detail more evident than in the production of this album:

Jazz pianist Marian McPartland has rented a grand piano that Arthur Rubenstein played on, rented a well-known recording studio, ordered a four-color album cover and her newest, and most expensive to make, record album is nearly ready to come out (Campbell, 1973: D26).  

Marian chose several pieces written for her, including 'Jazz Waltz For A Friend' which Wilder presented to her in 1970, along with better known tunes like 'While We're Young' written in the late 1930s.  Her fellow musicians were Michael Moore on bass, with Rusty Gilder for three tunes, and Joe Corsello on drums.  Although a brilliant composer and respected among musicians, Wilder was not widely known to the general public.  After the release of the album, Marian recalled:

But all of a sudden all these things started happening with him; he got this 'Profile' in The New Yorker.  More of his music was performed and he was on TV, and all of a sudden the album sold like mad, and it still does.  I consider it one of my best put-together albums, with the cover and everything (Waz, 1978: 35).

The unique piano stylist Jimmy Rowles featured on HAL 110 under the title The Special Magic Of Jimmy Rowles.  Both of these albums were reviewed in 1975 in the Rochester Democrat And Chronicle.  With reference to the Wilder album, the reviewer makes reference to Marian McPartland's special fondness for Wilder songs 'teeming with intricacies and delicately moving inner voices' (Smith, 1975). 

When Marian McPartland performed a solo concert at Haverford College, Philadelphia, on April 12, 1974, she translated another pipe dream into reality by recording the concert live.  'She presented a wide-ranging variety of tunes and styles that moved easily from Bach-like tunes to advanced dissonant harmonies, which included plucking the strings inside the piano!' (Liner Notes to Marian McPartland: Solo Concert At Haverford, Schreiber and Sherman, 1974).  This session was released as HAL 111. 

Marian McPartland teamed up next with violinist Joe Venuti to record The Maestro And Friend: Marian McPartland And Joe Venuti for HAL 112.  During a tour to Argentina, where Marian was booked to play a live concert in Buenos Aires with three other piano jazz greats - Earl Hines, Teddy Wilson and Ellis Larkins - she came up with an idea.  Why not record a double album during the concert?  She made a spur-of-the-moment decision just before the concert:

[I] could see the possibilities.  The four of us were there, and I kind of like to live dangerously.  I hired an Argentine engineer, and I wasn't sure until I'd done it whether I had a good thing or not (Unknown author, Liner Notes to Concert In Argentina: Marian McPartland And Friends, 1974).

HAL 113, Concert In Argentina: Earl Hines, Teddy Wilson, Marian McPartland, Ellis Larkins featured each pianist on a solo side in the double album.  The Jazz Alliance label, under the umbrella of Concord Jazz, later reissued this collaboration of four piano legends with the title Concert In Argentina: Marian McPartland And Friends (TJA-10008).

An engagement at the Royal Box of New York's Americana Hotel in 1973 led to the release of HAL 114 Swingin'.  The musicians involved were Marian and Jimmy McPartland, Vic Dickenson on trombone, Buddy Tate on saxophones, Rusty Gilder on bass and Gus Johnson on drums. 

Marian McPartland's next project was also very dear to her heart, and came about on the spur of the moment in Rochester on June 30, 1977.  Five musicians sat down to play in the Monticello Room in Rochester, and they all happened to be women with a high standard of musicianship, brought together for a brief spot on the PBS show At The Top.  Marian recalled:

What happened was, I was trying to get a women's group together around the New York Festival time, and I thought it would be fun to have a women's group on TV.  I'm very friendly with Gene Shalit, and he was with The Today Show at that time   He thought it was a great idea to have us on the show, so then I had to get this band together.  I got Mary Osborne and Vi Redd from California; Linn Milano lives in the area; and Dottie Dodgion lived here at that time.  So we did The Today Show, and then it seemed like a good idea to try to do a recording date with this group, so I booked a club in Rochester called The Rountowner.  Actually, we did three things, all at the same time.  We did the club date, which was recorded, and we did a taping for PBS (Enstice and Stockhouse, 2004: 243).

Marian McPartland gave another version of this spontaneous decision to record this unique group:

I was doing a show for PBS in Rochester and again it was spur-of-the-moment, while they were all there.  I thought to myself, 'Well, if I don't record these women while they're here, everybody's warmed up, ready to go.'  So a friend of mine from Buffalo brought in all kinds of equipment.  I'm just in the process of editing it now.  It's got Vi Redd, sax; Mary Osborne, guitar; Dorothy Dodgion, drums; and Linn Milano, bass (Waz, 1978: 35).

The album HAL 115 was entitled Now's The Time, and Marian McPartland's pride in the recording reflects her attempt to overturn the perception of women as jazz's best-kept secret:

If I had to choose two words to describe this album, the first would be strength and the second, versatility.  The lovely jazz etiquette of alternating solo and ensemble takes on a special meaning when the musicians so skillfully stepping back to let each other shine are women, every one (Gottlieb, Lines Notes to Now's The Time, 1977).

HAL 116, Marian And Jimmy McPartland: Goin' Back A Ways involved sessions recorded in Chicago in 1948 and in Boston in 1949 with Jimmy McPartland as leader, and Marian on piano.  For the cover design, Marian assembled a collage of photographs and memorabilia from the Chicago days pinned to the door of the famous Blue Note jazz club, including one photo of Jimmy and Marian with singer Billie Holiday.  She composed a nostalgic essay 'Memories Of Chicago' for the Liner Notes, reliving the Chicago jazz scene of the 1940s (McPartland, Liner Notes to Marian And Jimmy McPartland: Goin’ Back A Ways, 1972).

During the 1970s, Marian McPartland enjoyed a long tenure at the Café Carlyle, and later in Bemelmans Bar in the Hotel Carlyle on the Upper East Side in New York.  Her album Marian McPartland: Live At The Carlyle (HAL 117) came from a performance which was recorded live for a select group of friends from the art, publishing and music worlds.  A few of the titles were programmed ahead of time, but additional titles were called spontaneously as the evening progressed.  Steve La Spina was on bass and Michael Di Pasqua on drums, and according to James T. Maher:

Like Marian McPartland, they prefer musical intensity to surface energy.  And in common with her they share an unusual taste for transparency in their collective textures, creating the sort of light-filled music that the French woodwind masters Debussy and Ravel made their special province (Maher, Liner Notes to Marian McPartland: Live At The Carlyle, 1979). A concert presented at the New York Public Library on November 17, 1973, was recorded as HAL 118, Marian Remembers Teddi.  Teddi King was a Boston singer who had sung with George Shearing, and had impressed listeners with her unusual voice, its wide range and rich sultry quality:

The purpose of the program was to create an aural supplement to Alec Wilder's landmark book American Popular Song, edited by James T. Maher and published by Oxford University Press in 1972.  A tape recording was created for use by scholars and members of the general public in the Rodgers & Hammerstein Archives of Recorded Sound, located within the Lincoln Center Library (Ramsey, Liner Notes to Marian McPartland Teddi King: Marian Remembers Teddi, 1973).

Members of the specially invited audience were renowned songwriters Harold Arlen, Howard Dietz, Louis Alter and Alec Wilder, who introduced each song with a quote from his book (Ramsey, 1973).  With Marian on piano, were Rusty Gilder on bass and Eric Nebbia on drums.  Marian McPartland has since released this Halcyon album Marian Remembers Teddi on CD.  

In a 1981 interview, Marian acknowledged that this Halcyon Records release was as meaningful as anything she has ever accomplished as a musician, as Teddi King had since died from the disease known as lupus:

'Several years ago, Teddi King and I recorded several sides for the Lincoln Center Library,' said McPartland.  'I managed to obtain permission to appropriate the performances for Halcyon by promising to turn over all the profits from a Boston premiere, which I plan to give in a couple of months, to the Lupus Foundation' (Santosuosso, 1981).

Under the umbrella of Concord Records, The Jazz Alliance label has since combined the two Halcyon issues featuring Jimmy McPartland - Live At The Monticello: Jimmy And Marian McPartland and Swingin': Marian And Jimmy McPartland And Guests, under the title Marian And Jimmy McPartland: A Sentimental Journey (with special guests Vic Dickenson, Gus Johnson and Buddy Tate), released in 1994.  Marian McPartland: Plays The Music Of Alec Wilder was re-released on The Jazz Alliance label in 1992, and Ambiance: The Marian McPartland Trio in 1996. 

In 2003, The Jazz Alliance released a 2-CD set of Marian McPartland: Plays The Music Of Alec Wilder and Marian And Jimmy McPartland: A Sentimental Journey under the album title Marian McPartland: Contrasts.  The original cover design for this retrospective set was uninspiring, and it has since been revamped with a striking image of black and white keys on the CD cover.

Marian McPartland still retains the Halcyon label, an important source of re-releases for earlier material, and has stamped her imprint on jazz of the best quality.

Original compositions recorded by Marian McPartland during the Halcyon Records years include 'Twilight World', 'Illusion', 'Aspen', Ambiance', 'Afterglow', 'Lost One', 'Glimpse', 'A Delicate Balance', 'Melancholy Mood', 'Silent Pool' and (possibly) 'Slowly Into Evening'. 

When interviewed in the UK in 1973, Marian McPartland was in the process of putting together an album in the UK with British musicians John Marshall and Jeff Clyne, who had appeared with her for the BBC's Late Night Line-Up, Jazz In Britain and Jazz Club:

The album is something I've never done before.  The idea is to record music, background music, to be used in some unspecified television situation. You know, they have a library of all kinds of music for different shows from African drums to Dixieland, rock, or whatever.  And they want me to do an album of soft, pretty piano music - ballad style things, like the ballads on the first album I did on Halcyon (Gardner, 1973: 5).

The album was supposed to be released commercially, but it is not known whether it was.  However, some of Marian McPartland's early releases - Moods, Moods Vol 2, In The Dark, and With You In Mind - were certainly 'mood' music.

Marian McPartland retained complete executive control over Halcyon Records.  After putting out four records, Marian spoke about the business details of her company.  A printing of five thousand LPs cost around fifteen hundred dollars, and a small packaging firm handled the distribution.  Musicians such as George Shearing, Clark Terry, Charlie Mingus, Bobby Hackett and Mary Lou Williams had their own labels.  Again Marian stressed the necessity for musicians to collaborate in conserving and perhaps reissuing their recorded output.  The thought of all that jazz being lost forever made Marian more determined to operate her company with this in mind.

After putting out nine Halcyon Records, Marian McPartland spoke of 'breaking even' and having a 'good arrangement' with record stores in the metropolitan area of New York.  In the hinterlands, her small enterprise needed to rely on mail order sales (Box 4255, Grand Central Station, New York, N.Y. 10017) (Finston, 1973: 27).

In 1974, Marian revealed that running her own record company was 'getting to be a way of life' with her Long Island home filled to the rafters with records, and neighborhood people helping out with the mailings when she's on the road (Matlin, 1974: 41).  By 1978, Marian's arrangement with major New York retail chain, Sam Goody, was ideal:

I have some friends there who are very decent.  Then I was approached by a group called Record People (66 Greene St., New York, N.Y. 10012). They don't distribute in Europe at this time, but I wouldn't be surprised if they do in the future, because they're very energetic.  They're about the only distributor who's organized - everybody else is having problems (Waz, 1978: 35).

When asked about foreign distribution, Marian spoke of the difficulties of a small company trying to market overseas.  However, 'she would sell records to people like Jack Dobell in London at 77 Charing Cross Road, and that worked out' (Waz, 1978: 35).  During a visit to the UK in 1970, Marian was promoting the Halcyon Records album Ambiance, and was quoted as saying:

We don't expect to sell millions of records, but if we can supply the demand for a certain kind of jazz - for people who want it but can't find it in their hometown store - we'll be content (Jones, 1970: 12).

However, she was dismayed to find that a British label named Halcyon existed, and it was even suggested that she release her products through this British company.  Having formed her publishing company of the same name years before, then designing the logo herself, Marian regarded herself as having a prior claim to the name.  She assured the interviewer in 1970 that 'one day or another, my Halcyons would be pressed or distributed here' in the country of her birth (Jones, 1970: 12). 

A bootleg version of one of her Halcyon albums turned up in Argentina.  Marian is quoted as saying:

I was really quite flattered.  They reproduced it all, cover and everything.  I'll really never find the guy, everybody knew about it, and then the guy just vanished.  It's really flattering to see my record down there in Rio and Brazil. Yes, I guess it was in Brazil, actually (Waz, 1978: 36).

During the 1970s, Marian McPartland also made albums for other companies.  In 1974, she recorded Let It Happen with a jazz piano quartet (Dick Hyman, Sir Roland Hanna and Hank Jones) on RCA, but this album was cut from the catalogue after a short time.  On January 27, 1976, Marian McPartland recorded Solo Duo With Hank Jones: Live In Tokyo for 'Piano Play House' at Yuhbin Chokin Hall, Tokyo, for TDK, and distributed by Trio Records. 

The Improv Records label proved to be a good connection for Marian McPartland and her trio in the 1970s.  Bill Hassett, owner of Buffalo's jazz room Downtown, was a college student when Marian McPartland and her 'keyboard wizardry' began in the 1950s.  When in New York, he spent long and happy hours at the City's legendary midtown jazz rooms - Birdland, Hickory House, The Embers, Jimmy Ryan's, and so on:

Like thousands of others, he was entranced by Marian's graceful combination of effortless power and musicianship, with beauty, charm and finesse.  Her ability to take a tune and 'McPartlandize' it, as her good friend and admirer, Alec Wilder, so describes, was, and is, unique among jazz pianists.

Some 20 years later, Hassett had finally finished college and become quite active in business. In addition to real estate, nightclub and hotel ownership, he and his friend, Tony Bennett, formed IMPROV, a label dedicated to the premise that 'quality never goes out of style.' Recording Marian on the label was a natural (Author's Initials only - W.A., Liner Notes, 1976).

In 1976, at Hassett's Downtown Club in Buffalo, NY, Marian McPartland recorded live for the Improv label.  With a trio consisting of Frank Tate on bass and Ted Moore on drums, she recorded Marian McPartland: A Fine Romance.  The liner notes read:

Her romance with perfect music that had started with jazz before and in the 50's, is, in this album, laced with a stunning versatility that blends those magic sounds with the great styles and composers of 1976.  Her ability to range from Ellington and Jerome Kern to Sondheim and Stevie Wonder displays a brilliant, fluid, dynamic style that reaches and probes into the depths of the listener's mind and heart; causes discoveries and a new appreciation of every tune.  Listening to Marian McPartland is A FINE ROMANCE (Liner Notes, 1976).

Another session for Improv Records occurred on May 13 and 14, 1977, when Marian McPartland, Brian Torff on bass and George Reed on drums recorded three tracks at the Downtown Club in Buffalo, NY, with the title Wanted.  This would seem to be the first part of a concert involving Jimmy McPartland, Vic Dickenson, Herb Hall, Buddy Tate, John 'Spider' Martin, Brian Torff and George Reed.  Apparently on the same billing were Tony Bennett with pianist Torrie Zito, guitarist Charlie Byrd, bassist John Giofredda and drummer Joe Cocuzzo.  The material was released on Improv Records as Marian & Jimmy McPartland/Tony Bennett & Friends: Make Magnificent Music. 

Marian McPartland certainly made and masterminded 'magnificent music' during this period.

References

Hansson, C. (1999) Interview of Marian McPartland, Port Washington, NY, November 2

Enstice, W. and Stockhouse, J. (2004) 'Interview With Marian McPartland', in Jazzwomen: Conversations With Twenty-One Musicians, Bloomington and Indianapolis: Indiana University Press, pp. 230-251

McPartland, M. (1969) Letter to John S. Wilson, November 10

Bowden, M. (2001) 'Marian McPartland Swings!', Available: http://www.jazzitude.com [November 13, 2003]

Gardner, M. (1973) 'The Jazz Journal Interview: Marian McPartland Talks To Mark Gardner', Jazz Journal, vol. 26, no. 4, pp. 4-7

Waz, J. (1978) 'Marian McPartland: A Fine Romance', Jazz Forum, Issue 52, pp. 34-36

Smith, C. (1975) 'McPartland Wilder Record A Real Treat', Rochester Democrat And Chronicle, April 21

Matlin, L. (1974) 'Jazz Goes Independent', SR World, May 18, pp. 40-41

McPartland, M. (ca 1969) Liner Notes to Interplay: Marian McPartland, Halcyon Records

Berendt, J-E. (1976) Liner Notes to Interplay: Marian McPartland, MPS Records (Re-released on Halcyon Records)

McPartland, M. (1970) Liner Notes to Ambiance: The Marian McPartland Trio, Halcyon Records

McPartland, M. (ca 1972) Liner Notes to Teddy Wilson And Marian McPartland, Halcyon Records

Rusch, B. (1980) 'The McPartlands: Interview', Cadence, March, pp. 11-14, 83

McLellan, D. (1973) 'America's Real Music', The Evening Star And Daily News, March 12, C3

McPartland, M. and Wilder, A. (1971-72) Liner Notes to Marian McPartland: A Delicate Balance, Halcyon Records

Campbell, M. (1973) 'Interpreting Wilder', Asbury Park Sunday Press, October 21

McPartland, M. and Maher, J. T. (1973) Liner Notes to Marian McPartland: Plays The Music Of Alec Wilder, Halcyon Records

Schreiber, J. D. and Sherman, R. F. (1974) Liner Notes to Marian McPartland: Solo Concert At Haverford, Halcyon Records

Unknown author (1974) Liner Notes to Concert In Argentina: Earl Hines, Teddy Wilson, Marian McPartland, Ellis Larkins, Halcyon Records

Gottlieb, A. (1977) Liner Notes to Now's The Time, Halcyon Records

McPartland, M. (1972) Liner Notes to Marian And Jimmy McPartland: Goin' Back A Ways, Halcyon Records

Maher, J. T. (1979) Liner Notes to Marian McPartland: Live At The Carlyle, Halcyon Records

Ramsey, D. (1973) Liner Notes to Marian McPartland Teddi King: Marian Remembers Teddi, Halcyon Records

Finston, M. (1973) 'Marian McPartland Leads A Jazzy Life', The Star-Ledger, January 26, pp. 27-28

Jones, M. (1970) 'Halcyon Days For Marian', Melody Maker, September 26, p. 12

Santosuosso, E. (1981) 'At Last, Fulfilling Pledge To Parents', The Boston Globe, February 4

Unknown author (Initials W.A.) (1976) Liner Notes to Marian McPartland: A Fine Romance, Improv Records

Recordings On The Halcyon Records Label

HAL 100 Interplay: Marian McPartland (also released on MPS in Germany)

HAL 101 Earl Hines: Quintessential Record Session

HAL 102 Bobby Henderson: A Home In The Clouds

HAL 103 Ambiance: The Marian McPartland Trio

HAL 104 Willie'The Lion' Smith: Live At Blues Alley

HAL 105 Marian McPartland: A Delicate Balance

HAL 106 Teddy Wilson And Marian McPartland: Elegant Piano

HAL 107 Live At The Monticello: Jimmy And Marian McPartland

HAL 108 Dave McKenna: Cookin' At Michael's Pub

HAL 109 Marian McPartland: Plays The Music Of Alec Wilder

HAL 110 The Special Magic Of Jimmy Rowles

HAL 111 Marian McPartland: Solo Concert At Haverford

HAL 112 The Maestro And Friend: Marian McPartland And Joe Venuti

HAL 113 Concert In Argentina: Earl Hines, Teddy Wilson, Marian McPartland, Ellis Larkins (double album)

HAL 114 Swingin': Marian And Jimmy McPartland And Guests

HAL 115 Now's The Time (An all-female group including Marian McPartland)

HAL 116 Marian And Jimmy McPartland: Goin' Back A Ways

HAL 117 Marian McPartland: Live At The Carlyle

HAL 118 Marian McPartland Teddi King: Marian Remembers Teddi (A double album tribute to singer Teddi King)

(The duo album with Teddy Wilson was later released on the Australian label, Swaggie  S 1330 - with the title Elegant Piano: Solos And Duets by Teddy Wilson and Marian McPartland)

Other labels

RCA Records - Let It Happen (deleted)

Trio Records/TDK - Solo Duo With Hank Jones: Live In Tokyo

Improv Records - Marian McPartland: A Fine Romance

Improv Records - Wanted

Improv Records - Marian & Jimmy McPartland/Tony Bennett & Friends: Make Magnificent Music

The Jazz Alliance

Four albums from the Halcyon Records catalogue were later released on CD on The Jazz Alliance label, a subsidiary of Concord Records.  In 2003, a double  album Marian McPartland: Contrasts was released.

TJA-10029 (1996) The Marian McPartland Trio: Ambiance

TJA-10025 (1994) Marian And Jimmy McPartland: A Sentimental Journey (Originally HAL 107 and 114)

TJA-10016 (1992) Marian McPartland: Plays The Music Of Alec Wilder

TJA-10008 (Unknown release date Concert In Argentina: Marian McPartland And Friends

TJA-12044-2 (2003) Marian McPartland; Contrasts (2-CD set of Marian McPartland: Plays The Music Of Alec Wilderand Marian And Jimmy McPartland: A Sentimental Journey)

Reviews 

Ambulance: The Marian McPartland Trio[sic]

So-called piano trios in jazz are so often simply piano soloists accompanied by a bassist and drummer each of whom is given his own chance to go off on his own solo ventures, that it is a particular joy to come across a group such as the Marian McPartland Trio which functions as a balanced whole. Basically, however, these are three musicians working so closely together that there is rarely what is customarily thought of as a solo in jazz.  They develop a series of challenging, probing encounters that have far more color and excitement than an equivalent amount of soloing might produce (Unknown author, February 21, 1971).

Marian McPartland: Plays The Music Of Alec Wilder

Marian McPartland has been around quite a while and till now has not made an album that distinguished her as anything but a very competent jazz pianist.  Her own label, Halcyon, has changed that all around. The format of these [delicate and different] tunes is deeply indebted to Bill Evans, down to the active bass playing and the introverted drumming.  But this does not, in any way, detract from the value of this disk.  Alec Wilder has been served magnificently again (Goldberg, April 3, 1975).

Marian McPartland: A Fine Romance

Ms. McPartland's style, classical in the broadest sense, is polished, urbane, economical and controlled, not without a touch of fire, but most of all balanced. This release, recorded live at The Downtown, a Buffalo jazz room, evinces Ms. McPartland's finely tuned sense of equilibrium.  She is a consummate interpreter, especially of wistful ballads like 'I'll Remember April'.  Her phrasing on this piece is stunning, with every note and voicing suspended motionless in that delicate balance (balleras, DownBeat, August 11, 1977).

Interplay: Marian McPartland

Marian McPartland's first recording on her own label, Halcyon, was unusual for two reasons.  She wanted to record with bass and piano alone, and she needed to find a room which was small, intimate, with a beautiful piano, a good sound system and subtle lighting.  Such a venue in Rochester, New York, was owned by organist, Doug Duke, known to Marian from the Hickory House days.  With the audience up close and really listening, Marian and her bass player Linc Milliman were able to become completely absorbed in their spontaneous creation.  Two of Marian's compositions complete the list of tracks, and were recorded at Sherman Fairchild's home in New York City, home to two grand pianos, and another wonderful place to play (Unknown source, 1969).

From Liner Notes Of Selected Recordings During This Period     

Marian McPartland: Solo Concert At Haverford

After hearing Marian McPartland at The Cookery in New York, the chairmen of Haverford College, a small Quaker college outside Philadelphia, offered her a concert date as part of the Arts Series.  It was an outstanding success in the Common Room of the College.  Later, when Marian was playing Michael's Pub, she floated the idea to the Haverford chairmen of recording her first solo piano album at the college, and proceeded to translate her pipe dreams into reality in April, 1974.  Marian McPartland was again in her element, playing her favorites in an intimate setting with a receptive audience.  The concert and the recording are Marian McPartland's gifts to Haverford and to the jazz world (Quoted from Liner Notes by John Schreiber and Robert Sherman, 1974).

Marian McPartland: Plays The Music Of Alec Wilder

[Alec Wilder and I] were sitting in The Cookery listening to Marian McPartland, each of us completely absorbed by her playing. As usual, Marian had gone far beyond the commonplace excellences of pianism; beyond her gifted flights of harmony, so full of singularity and bold astonishments; beyond the gifts a fine performance normally yields, to some farther reach of music.  She turned to a piece that Wilder had completed for her a week or so earlier. Wilder's instrumental music, like the music of his songs, is elusive.  Personal.  Idiomatic.  The quality he most admires in a musician is intensity, and he addresses his music to the burning-glass focus that marks the work of only the best players.  He loves musicians, but he doesn't make it easy for them, only rewarding.  As Marian played through the new piece, laying it out meticulously, one could sense her mind swiftly seizing on the network of harmonic node points upon which the music is rooted.  Then, she began to improvise...Marian searched the music measure by measure, opening out the thrust of its long phrases, trying out harmonic departures implicit in the original changes.  The secrets - warm, witty, time-haunted, lyrical, and wintry - slowly emerged. And once again he was smiling to himself - unguardedly and with delight and wonder (Quoted from Liner Notes by James T. Maher).