Scott Asen’s Turtle Bay: A ‘Youthquake’ of Classic Jazz

Turtle Bay Records (TBR), established in 2020, features primarily but not exclusively New York-area musicians who play and/or sing music from the 1920s-’40s. Founded and owned by Scott Asen, it takes its name from the neighborhood where Scott lives and works. An explanation for those of you who’ve never heard of this little corner of Manhattan: it is the area in midtown bounded approximately by Lexington Avenue and the East River between 43rd and 53rd Streets, putting it just northeast of Grand Central Station and encompassing the United Nations.

TBR differs from its apparent competitor Rivermont Records in that it has not, so far, released remastered original recordings by bands from the 1910s and ’20s as Rivermont has. I have acquired most of TBR’s output and know personally many of its artists. One recent addition to its stable is Colin Hancock.

While this piece is about Scott and TBR, it would be incomplete without some mention of multi-instrumentalist, bandleader, historian, and producer of cylinder records Colin Hancock. His name often appears in these pages, and for good reason. He has just come on board as TBR’s Director of Artists and Repertoire, a position he is ideally suited for. I first met him on February 26, 2017, when I made a trip to Ithaca where, as a junior at Cornell, he organized and led a quintet of his classmates in a concert commemorating the 100th anniversary of the Original Dixieland Jazz Band’s first recording session. They played the ODJB’s charts verbatim. Then, while still at Cornell, he expanded this band to become the Original Cornell Syncopators and perform the books of groups like the Wolverines and little-known territory bands in his native Texas and other hot ’20s dance bands. This band made a CD, appeared twice at the San Diego Jazz Festival, and I booked them at Tri-State.

TBR has recently released the second recording of Colin’s latest band, the Joymakers: “A Texas-Sized Band” (ten pieces). Colin invited me to the band’s pre-release party in April at Scott’s home, where I met Scott and the idea for this article was hatched.

BH: How and when did you become interested in the music that you feature on TBR?

SA: My interest in the music we’re producing at Turtle Bay has been lifelong. My dad, Bob Asen, was a reed player, working in bands from the mid-nineteen-twenties up to the early forties. My mom, Charlotte Bemis, was a dancer in vaudeville, appearing mostly as half of the comedy team of Bemis and Brown. They met when he was in the pit band of one of her shows.

A bit of a sidebar: I had always known that my dad started playing professionally in Birmingham, Alabama, in his teens but it was only in the last couple of years that two dear friends, Terry Waldo and Colin Hancock, independently came up with physical copies of a Gennett recording listing my father as a sideman. The band was Dunk Rendleman and the Alabamians, the year was 1927, and my dad would have been 17.

My parents were out of the business by the time I came along but the music I grew up with was the music they’d loved during their years on the road. Benny Goodman was a god, as, of course, was Armstrong. And the list goes on from there: Eddie Condon, Fats, Maxine Sullivan, two Crosbys—Bing and Bob, Willard Robison, Ralph Sutton, Red Nichols, Ella and on and on. Certain of the players were friends. I think Big Sid Catlett had a crush on my mother and my dad frequently talked about meeting Willard Robison.

Their interest stayed alive and, as a kid, I remember the joy on their faces when we’d sit down and listen to a new discovery. My father traveled to the San Francisco area in the mid-fifties and brought back Bob Scobey and Turk Murphy albums. Clancy Hayes knocked him out.

In the late fifties, my dad briefly owned and published Metronome Magazine—a good-hearted but ultimately unsuccessful attempt to rescue what had, along with Downbeat, been one of his bibles when he was starting out. I worked there for a couple of summers, getting exposed to more modern jazz—which ultimately didn’t really take. (I did, though, get to see Thelonious Monk play ping pong—and Mingus just play.)

BH: As a follow-up to that, what made you decide to form TBR?

SA: In the last decade, as I made more musician friends and listened more to the music in clubs, I realized that there was an amazing generation of young players coming up who only cared about the music from a hundred years prior. And the level of talent blew me away. Furthermore, I could see that not much of this great work was being recorded and what WAS recorded rarely got the promotion it deserved. So there was an opportunity and Turtle Bay Records was started to seize that opportunity—and have fun doing it. With twenty-six albums released to date, a constant flow of great reviews and a distribution deal with the Orchard division of Sony under our belts, we’re very proud of how far we’ve come.

BH: How do you select the musicians you feature?

SA: As the founder and owner of Turtle Bay, the selection of artists to date has been a reflection of my own idiosyncratic tastes. But, from now on, with the addition of Colin Hancock as head of A & R, you’ll see a mixture. Our tastes overlap, for sure, but Colin brings a depth of knowledge and exposure—bigger and deeper than mine by far—so expect to see the stew get richer and hotter all the time.

[I’ll interject here that I have been in awe of Colin’s talents and accomplishments since I met him almost ten years ago. His knowledge and scholarship are extraordinary. He has probably forgotten more about this music in his 30 years than I’ve learned in my 79. – B.H.]

BH: You have recorded at least one band during live performances. Do you prefer that setting or a conventional studio? Or do you follow the band’s choice as to location?

SA: We mostly leave the choice of recording location up to the artist—but certainly have ideas and suggestions if asked. The spontaneity of a live recording can be wonderful—even with the obvious technical compromises involved—but the flexibility available in a good studio is hard to match. And, finally, ambiance always matters. The best studio will always have an element of formality about it—the clock ticking away and so forth. In response to that, we’ve now made several small group recordings in my living room and are very happy with the result. Informality reigns, there’s zero time pressure, even a bar at hand—and all that and a great engineer can really do wonders.

BH: How, and for what reasons, do you view the future of the music TBR produces?

SA: I could not be more excited and positive about the future of the music we record. The “youthquake” of great classic jazz artists I describe above is being met by a tangibly growing audience. A few years back I could walk into any club presenting our kind of artist and get a seat on any night. There are evenings now when I have to try to talk my way in—and don’t always succeed.

One thing I would add, not referenced in your questions, is that video has become a very important part of what we do. Many of our albums are accompanied by one or more music videos and we have created a series called “On The Back Porch,” now in its fourth season on our YouTube channel. In each segment two hosts interview an artist about his or her life and career, and then they move into the living room and play a couple of numbers. Some but not all of the guests are Turtle Bay artists. The series has attracted a large following and we believe is both helping to build the Turtle Bay brand as well as drawing new folks to the music.

BH: Yes, I have become a regular viewer of these YouTubes. Is there anything else you’d like to add?

SA: I want to close by talking about our team. I was joined three years ago by Elvira Broman as head of design. Graphics and design are very important to us and Elvira has consistently turned out packages which draw attention and praise. She now has taken on additional responsibility as head of operations. There is a myriad of detail involved in getting an album from the studio to the market and she handles much or all of that. And now, with the addition of Colin as the third leg of our stool, we are a full-fledged label with lots of room to run. Our talent roster is growing by the day and reissues will be a big part of our future. We want to be a leader in the world of classic jazz—presenting the best and growing the audience, all the while building a viable and lasting business enterprise—and keep having fun doing it!

BH: This has been a far wider-ranging conversation than I was expecting. Thanks very much.

Explore the Turtle Bay releases at www.turtlebayrecords.com

Bill Hoffman is a retired management consultant and is the Artistic Director for the Tri-State Jazz Society in greater Philadelphia. Bill lives in Lancaster, PA.