Found this LP at local garage sale few years back.
It was very early on a cold February morning when Dick Button and a crew of six arrived at Wollman Rink to record this album. Within sight and sound of New York’s famed Fifth Avenue, Dick, wearing a microphone around his neck and carrying a wireless transmitter in his hip pocket, skated to the tempo of the big city awakening to another busy day.
You may hear in the background the call of the ducks and birds greeting the frosty dawn, the honking of the cabs, the street sweepers helping to make a cleaner New York and the blades of Dick’s skates as they cut perfect figures on the smooth clear ice. These sounds plus Dick Button’s voice were transmitted to receiving equipment one hundred feet away, at the edge of the rink.
Here amidst the hustle of a teaming metropolis, Dick Button and hundreds of New Yorkers gather to participate in one of the greatest of all sports – both for personal enjoyment and the challenge of competition. Learn to skate correctly and you’ll have more fun than you’ve ever had before – and remember- there are rinks just like Wollman’s in most of the major cities, ponds are a short distance of all villages and towns and indoor rinks can be found in all parts of the country, north and south.
As this recording was nearing it’s completion a group of 40 youngsters took over the ice with their instructor, all hoping to emulate the great Dick Button, whom they had just been watching, spellbound, as he skated while recording this album.
Jazz Promo Services President and Founder Jim Eigo’s passion for music has been his lifelong driving force for as far back as he can remember. At an age when some kids had paper routes or mowed lawns to earn a few bucks, Jim worked for a jukebox distributor in his native Brooklyn. His salary? Used records. “I thought I’d stumbled into a pot of gold,” he recalls with a laugh. Since then, Jim has held jobs in retail, record production, marketing, distribution, and publicity, as well as event production.
He’s been a rock record buyer, a jazz department manager, and general manager of record stores great and small. Jim has served as the house publicist for venues including the renowned Iridium jazz club. He also founded an all-jazz mail order record business, served as a sales rep for several labels and distributors, as well as handled sales and marketing for international labels. Plus, he’s an experienced record producer, awards show producer, and concert and events producer.
With his “right place at the right time” knack, Jim worked at the Strand bookstore the same time as Patti Smith and Tommy Verlaine, and held the jazz manager job at the well-known Happy Tunes record store — right across the street from Electric Ladyland Studios — which was frequented by musicians of all genres.
From the get-go, Jim was plugged into what was happening in clubs and concerts, and was on hand for the birth of the loft jazz scene of the 1970s, which fueled his zest for all things jazz-related. His eyes light up as he describes in detail concerts he attended over the years, from band configurations to repertoire to the order of solos. Jazz Promo Services offers that same level of attention to clients, making sure that your information is directed to the right people in the right way.
In an ever-changing music business, Jim is too smart and realistic to waste time trying to reinvent the wheel, but creative and resourceful enough to constantly look for new ways to roll. As such he was among the first jazz entrepreneurs to develop an email data base and mailing list, which led to Jim being crowned “The King of Jazz Email.”
As president of Jazz Promo Services, Jim Eigo puts his data base to good use in promoting new releases, live gigs, special events and more, for a clientele that includes artists, promoters, venues, producers, festivals, labels, educators and others.
Jazz Promo Services is not just a business for Jim Eigo, it’s also a calling. With patience, dedication, sense of humor and a good ear for music and stories, he spreads the word on jazz, one email blast at a time.!!