Jazz Record Restorer John R.T. Davies Dies - Page 8

Do you have any proteges you're grooming for after you retire?

Although, a couple of years ago, my ears were routinely tested and found still to be able to hear to 14 Kc/s, I am acutely conscious of their deterioration and less-than-confident of my fitness to continue my engineering work. I console myself a little in that most of my listeners are in worse shape than am I--but I have always hoped that my transfers would be complete enough that they would serve as source material for future generations. "Shellac" (a bit of a misnomer actually) doesn't last forever and I have a selfish (?) interest in preserving for future generations the sounds which have brought me a lifetime of pleasure. Yes, I do have a "protegé" upon whom I lavished some two and a half years of attention and to whom I passed as much of my information and experience as I was able. His name is Ted Kendall. . . and, while I had hoped that he might work with me, he is doing excellent work on his own. . . dammit!, he's better at it than I am!. . . and I am much pleased.

You used to own the Ristic label. Can you tell me about that?

The first "Ristic" reissue appeared in 1949, the penultimate in 1972 in which year the onset of a particularly vicious variety of "migrainous neuralgia" caused me to abandon marketing in favour of engineering.

How does working with a major label differ from working with a small or independent label?

[I prefer to engineer] for small enthusiast-run labels/companies rather than for the larger companies who tend to alter my work to align it to their own style. Larger companies also seem desultory about paying their bills (I still await, despite reminders, payment from Sony in New York for a job delivered eight months ago). While I will happily work on compilations submitted by my various small-company clients, I do endeavour to persuade in the non-duplicative chronological or discographical approach and to encourage the inclusion of appropriate material which has hitherto not seen the light of day. Such companies enjoy, at no cost, the run of my not-inconsiderable collection; dissemination of the music I love being of paramount importance to me. My other label "Bateau Chinois" (double translation: "Junk") largely served as a small-run ancillary.

Currently, copyright laws in the UK and Europe permit reissue of material that can't legally be done in the US. What are your feelings on that? Some [copyright laws] are sensible. . . others manifestly NOT. How often has an important patent been suppressed? There may lurk in the recesses of memory a material (more, actually, an additive) which could endow a vinyl disc with enviable properties of near-indestructible surface allied to a very flexible, stress-free, pressing completely devoid of any retainable static charge. In manufacture the reject rate was lower than that of conventional pressings. As I understand, the patent was acquired jointly by RCA and CBS who suppressed it on the grounds that it would render every dealer's stock unsaleable over night! Among my collection of gramophone industry examples, I have a Polymax pressing onto which the content of an ash-tray may be emptied. . . and then blown off with a light exhalation to present a clean record on the turntable! The surface is miraculously quiet and suitable for reproduction of sounds which are thought to be possible in the digital domain alone. I've no axe to grind in the matter of reward to composers, lyricists, publishers and other instigators although I would question copyright or patent extending beyond a single lifetime. That Eubie Blake should live decently until the age of one hundred years on royalties from "I'm Just Wild About Harry" and "Memories Of You" is entirely just. However, I would challenge any right of suppression through legal control. I have never knowingly infringed a copyright but have on a few occasions informed owners of my wish to do so and, interestingly, have received blessing! I do contend, though, that the music which I have committed to reissue (78, microgroove, CD) belongs BY RIGHT to those who have the capacity to appreciate it. Whether or not such a viewpoint is actually LEGAL, it is certainly naturally LAWFUL.... We are never far away from copyright matters, are we?

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