Producer Launches a Jazz Record Label

Costa Mesa resident Fred Norsworthy, a longtime jazz producer and promoter, is launching a new jazz record label with partner Otto Gust.

Time Is Records, to be distributed by Santa Ana-based jazz label Cexton Records, will release its first album in July, a compact disc reissue of a 1952 Jazz Chronicles record, “Inglewood Jam,” featuring Charlie Parker and Chet Baker.

The new label, headquartered in San Diego, will also issue albums by contemporary jazz musicians, beginning with a summer release by fusion guitarist Don DePaola. Other artists scheduled for albums include Harold Land, 17-year-old bassist Nathan Berg, and Indian violinist El Subramiaman.

Planned reissues include recordings by the Sam Jones Big Band, the Claude Williamson Trio and the Walter Bishop Trio. “We have a lot on tap,” said Gust, a San Diego jazz producer and enthusiast.

Reissues are one way to get a fledgling label off the ground. “To get the label established, we need some big names,” said Norsworthy, who started producing jazz recordings in New York in 1959. He also has been involved with promoting various jazz festivals in Orange County for several years.

He tried--unsuccessfully--to launch his own label “many years ago,” Norsworthy said, but believes that he has learned much more about the business since then: “Now I’ve got 30 years’ (experience). I’ve learned all the pitfalls and problems.”

The “Inglewood Jam” date was recorded by Bob Andrews, now a Mission Viejo resident. He had heard that Parker would make an unannounced appearance at the now-defunct Tradewinds Inn and brought his recording equipment to the club.

“Bird showed up and did play, I’ll say that,” Andrews said. The “Inglewood Jam” recording, though available on CD in Japan, has not been in print in the United States for about 10 years.