In Memoriam: Michael Cuscuna (1948-2024)
Farewell to Michael Cuscuna (September 20, 1948 - April 20, 2024).
Michael Cuscuna shaped the direction of jazz discography through his tireless devotion to immaculately procuring and producing recordings, in particular bringing new light to reissued and unissued material at Blue Note Records as well as his own label, Mosaic Records, which he co-founded in 1983. Some highlights from Cuscuna’s career of particular note to Mingus fans:
At Mosaic, Cuscuna produced three boxed set collections of Mingus beginning in 1985: The Complete Candid Recordings, The Complete 1959 CBS Sessions in 1993, and The Jazz Workshop Concerts 1964-1965 in 2012. Along the way, Cuscuna produced numerous other reissues for the top labels in jazz, including Mingus’ landmark albums for Impulse! Records. In 1998 came an album for Columbia (Sony), titled Mingus - Alternate Takes, with tracks culled from the legendary 1959 sessions that had resulted in Mingus Ah Um and Mingus Dynasty. At the Blue Note label, a 2007 co-production with Sue Mingus titled Cornell 1964 brought to the world a never-before-released concert recording from one of Mingus’ most storied bands. And finally, a tale come full-circle at Atlantic (WMG): Cuscuna was involved in securing the 1974 all-star concert and initial release of Mingus at Carnegie Hall, and almost 50 years later wrote new liner notes in for the 2021 expanded re-release that finally brought the full performance to listeners as a 2-CD / 3-LP set.
“By that time, I was a staff producer at Atlantic and got a call from New Audiences detailing plans of a January 19, 1974, Mingus concert at Carnegie Hall and asking why Mingus was taking a low-budget recording deal for it from Mercury Records. I immediately went to Nesuhi Ertegun about the situation. He pounded his desk and said, “Mingus has a lifetime deal here. Doesn't he know that?" The second half of the concert with added all-stars was released later that year on the Atlantic label where it belonged.”
