Watch WVIA's State of Pennsylvania episode about The Chiaroscuro Channel

Chiaroscuro Records featured in Times Leader article

Click here to read the article at TheTimesLeader.com

Chiaroscuro Records to be featured on a special WVIA State of Pennsylvania

GIVEN A RECORD COMPANY AND LAUNCHING A NEW RADIO STATION, WVIA PRESERVES JAZZ HISTORY

(2012-02-03)
PITTSTON, PA (wvia) – Through the past year WVIA has learned how to operate and manage a jazz record company. Chiaroscuro Records was donated to the station by long-time WVIA Trustee, regional businessman and philanthropist Andrew Sordoni for the purposes of preservation, education and entertainment. Some of the world’s most venerated mainstream jazz artists, including half of all those in the American Jazz Hall of Fame, have recorded for Chiaroscuro Records.

Sordoni explains how and why he became part of Chiaroscuro in a special WVIA State of Pennsylvania television interview. Joining him around WVIA’s Steinway are record company founder Hank O’Neal, chief engineer Jon Bates and internationally renowned pianist and composer Junior Mance. Mance captivates the theater audience with several spontaneous solos on original jazz classics.     

Once the station had set up its record company in the public media center near Pittston, staff began to imagine ways only WVIA could grow the business. Legal advisors cleared the way for creation of a new digital radio frequency devoted solely to the Chiaroscuro library, and all involved quickly realized the fan base for mainstream jazz, while modest in size, is international in scope. Research of other worldwide web music services led WVIA to realize how discriminating listeners around the world might be attracted to the format and purchase or download an album.

The TV show guests explain why this music, recorded by very remarkable artists over a half-century by Chiaroscuro, has been often underappreciated. Yet the founders labored on believing that someday future generations will appreciate the unique and imaginative interpretations unlikely to be captured again.   

The interview and performance air on State of Pennsylvania, Thursday, February 9 at 7 p.m., Friday, Feb. 10 at 7 p.m. and on Sunday, Feb. 12 at 1 p.m. on WVIA-TV.

To hear WVIA’s Chiaroscuro Channel anywhere in the world go to wvia.org and click on the banner.

This program will also be available on demand within 24 hours of its live broadcast at http://wviaondemand.org/contusmore/?playid=1.

The Chiaroscuro Channel

Chiaroscuro Records now has a live radio station that exclusively plays the greatest cuts from the Chiaroscuro Catalog. You can listen live by clicking on the "Radio" button on the top navigation bar, or just click here.

Chiaroscuro Records featured in Current Magazine

Chiaroscuro Records has been featured in the October 17th issue of Current magazine

WVIA leaders plot revival of donated jazz recording label

Published in Current, Oct. 17, 2011
By Dru Sefton

Pennsylvania’s WVIA is now in the record business with a catalog of albums 200 deep, thanks to a unique donation: the jazz label Chiaroscuro Records.

The pubcaster serving Scranton/Wilkes-Barre plans to bolster Chiaroscuro’s collection of some 200 master recordings dating back four decades with new sessions recorded in its 5.1-channel Dolby Surround Sound studio/theater. Possibilities include a jazz show for NPR and PBS stations, and an HD channel dedicated to the musical library.

Longtime station trustee and jazz aficionado Andrew J. Sordoni III — whose name also adorns the high-tech studio — announced his gift Oct. 5. Sordoni, who is chair of the contractor Sordoni Construction Services, purchased the label in 1987. It was founded in 1970 by pianist and NPR music host Marian McPartland, former CIA agent Hank O’Neal and entrepreneur Sherman Fairchild of Fairchild Aviation.

Chiaroscuro is a term for images characterized by strong contrasts between light and dark.

Musicians in the Chiaroscuro catalog include big-band drummer and composer Gene Krupa, pianist Teddy Wilson, Italian-American violinist Joe Venuti, pianist-composers Mary Lou Williams and Eubie Blake, saxophonist Zoot Sims, pianist-bandleader Claude Hopkins and Welsh pianist Dill Jones. “These artists are international in scope and fame,” said Bill Kelly, WVIA president.

“This is a very new part of our business,” he said. “We’re determined to do two things, which are compatible in our minds: Make it a profitable business, and also be the mission-driven repository of some of America’s most historical jazz recordings.”
Chiaroscuro’s catalog covers both studio performances and concerts. Many of the live shows were recorded between 1983 and 2002 on the ocean liners Norway and Queen Elizabeth 2 during annual Floating Jazz Festivals. Many recordings end with short commentaries by the artists on their music or creative processes.

Patrick Jarenwattananon of NPR Music, who writes for and runs its “A Blog Supreme” jazz page, calls the label’s catalog “an impressive cache.”

“Chiaroscuro recorded a lot of all-time greats, especially later in their careers,” Jarenwattananon said. “And it was, and is, a small, independent label. Today, with so little major label investment in jazz, a good majority of good jazz records — most jazz records, period — are put out by independent companies, and often fairly small ones at that. But when [Chiaroscuro] started up, that wasn’t as much the case, which heightens the sense of achievement here.”

Tom Curra, WVIA executive v.p., is overseeing the label. He said the station, located just over two hours from both Manhattan and Philadelphia, is a natural steward. The Poconos region has a large contingent of jazz musicians familiar with the station and its monthly Homegrown Music concert-broadcasts by regional contemporary artists in various genres.

For two decades WVIA produced a syndicated series of popular NPR holiday shows, The Jazz Feeling, which Sordoni initiated by bringing in artists from New York City to record at the station. Now, Curra envisions inviting up-and-coming jazz artists to capture the sessions in audio and video. The station would also shoot the musicians in concert there. Fans could then go online to purchase recordings and DVDs. By adding interviews segments and B-roll, the sessions could become a national series.

“And we’re considering, as we speak, the possibility of creating a third HD radio station based entirely on the Chiaroscuro Records library,” Kelly said. “It seems at first blush an obvious idea.” That might also be used to promote sales of not only the old catalog but also the new recordings and videos.

“I look forward,” said Jarenwattananon, “to seeing what being owned by a public media organization will do for making this music, and the history in it, accessible to many.”

Comments, questions, tips? mto("mto://current.org/sefton");[ mailto:sefton@current.org ]sefton@current.org
Copyright 2011 American University

Chiaroscuro Records of New York now Owned and Operated by WVIA Public Media

(2011-10-05)
Pittston, PA – What can happen when an established record label is donated to a PBS and NPR station? What if those stations have a high definition television and 5.1 Dolby Surround Sound Theater under their roof? What if America’s finest jazz artists were given special access to such a facility?

Would the resulting audio and video recordings, performed before a live audience of passionate fans and later offered on the internet, CD’s and DVD’s inspire renewed interest in America’s classic music?

Answers are about to be learned as Chiaroscuro Records of New York passes from the loving hands of its long-time owners to WVIA TV and FM in Northeastern Pennsylvania. The company that eventually became Chiaroscuro was founded by Hank O’Neal, a former CIA agent, distinguished author, photographer, jazz authority and educator in 1970, in association with the legendary musician, Marian McPartland, and the noted industrialist and philanthropist Sherman M. Fairchild. After a period when the catalog was owned by AudioFidelity Enterprises, Chiaroscuro was acquired by SOS Productions, Inc., a company formed by O’Neal and Pennsylvania businessman Andrew Sordoni. These two, operating in the spirit of a partnership, reinvigorated the company, established a business headquarters in Wilkes Barre, Pa. while maintaining the creative office and studio in New York City.

Chiaroscuro Records is a collection of some 200 masters, equally divided between studio recordings and live concerts, many of which were presented on the legendary ocean liners S/S Norway and Queen Elizabeth 2, during the Floating Jazz Festival.

“I had been a fan of the company before I met Hank O’Neal, had personally purchased most of the vinyl recordings and was impressed with the Chiaroscuro format and intent to present and preserve the work of great but neglected musicians”, said Sordoni. “It is a happy coincidence that Hank and I became acquainted as the result of collaboration with Northeast Pennsylvania’s public television and radio stations in the annual production of the holiday public radio program, Christmas Music; The Jazz Feeling.”

Andrew Sordoni has been an active advocate, supporter and mentor to management, as well as a governing trustee of WVIA TV and FM for decades. Artists who now travel from New York and elsewhere to be part of the new Chiaroscuro label will perform in the Sordoni Theater, a gift of the family to the station’s ambitious “transformational change” conversion to digital high-definition. The donor spoke often of the need for WVIA to become a convener and common denominator. Now station officials look ahead to artistic impact far beyond the broadcast market it has long served.

The emerging vision for Chiaroscuro’s future is one that embraces and shares a breathtaking repository of historical recordings and expands on that tradition for lovers of this music throughout the world. While capturing new, digital, high-definition audio and video performances by internationally recognized artists in its state of the art theater studio, WVIA will also seek new jazz fans for priceless historical Chiaroscuro recordings of artists like the late Milt Hinton, Earl Fatha Hines, Joe Venuti, Teddy Wilson, Jonah Jones, Mary Lou Williams as well as vital younger artists such as Bill Charlap, Antonio Hart and Roy Hargrove, along with veterans like Lee Konitz, Randy Brecker and Abdullah Ibrahim.

WVIA also expects to build on a tradition begun decades ago by founders Sordoni and O’Neal by producing “Octogenarians in Jazz” a radio interview series once carried on many NPR stations. Now made for television, future conversations and live performances with still-performing, acclaimed senior jazz citizens will be offered to PBS and NPR stations across America.

“Andy Sordoni and Hank O’Neal put their hearts, a lot of time and much treasure into preserving the music of Chiaroscuro, and they wanted a home where it would be respected and kept alive. WVIA is expanding into non-traditional areas and this seems a perfect fit for our future,” said Bill Kelly, President of WVIA.

For more information on Chiaroscuro Records, please visit [ http://www.chiaroscurojazz.com/ ]http://www.chiaroscurojazz.com/

Welcome to the new chiaroscurojazz.com!

Chiaroscuro records is now owned and operated by WVIA Public Media of Northeast Pennsylvania. This new website is just a part of all the exciting changes that are happening at Chiaroscuro. What won't change is Chiaroscuro's dedication to bringing you the absolute best in Jazz recordings. So take a look around, browse our catalog, and let us know what you'd like to hear or see!

Chiaroscuro at COTA

Chiaroscuro records was at the 34th annual COTA Jazz festival Sept. 9-11th to record all the great Jazz that took place over the weekend. These recordings will be broadcast on George Graham's All that Jazz program on WVIA-FM 89.9 in the coming months. In the meantime, here are some photographs from the festival.