Matt Eve, First and Longest Employee
Matt Eve has been working with Jamey Aebersold and his Play-A-Longs business for over 40 years, starting when he was still in high school. He has watched the business grow and has helped shape every aspect—orders, printing, distribution, and international sales. No one, aside from Aebersold himself, has a better perspective on the history of this remarkable business.
You have been working with Jamey over 40 years. Did you ever envision working in one job with one employer that long?
I took the job in January 1977 when I was 17, working Saturdays and after school, but by 1979, it was clear to me that it had serious growth potential and could potentially be “that job” for life if I took it seriously.
When I started with the company, there were eight or nine Play-A-Long volumes, and 20 or 30 titles from other publishers. So, the business was already moving in the right direction when I started working there as his first employee
Did the business grow organically, or did you and Jamey have some business plans, goals?
There are actually multiple businesses within “Jamey Aebersold Jazz” and each contributed to the growth and planning of the other in a very symbiotic way. There is the publishing company, the wholesale company, the retail company, and the workshops and all of it is international.
The bedrock is, of course, the Play-A-Long series. The series did catch fire around the world, but there was a lot of kindling to be laid down.
Over the years, thousands of free samples were sent to top players and educators. This garnered endorsements from the most famous players of the time.
Samples were sent to music stores, along with a letter and, usually, a follow-up phone call. It was actually not that difficult to get stores to agree to “give it a try.” When stores started calling us because of customer inquiries, I knew we had something.
Well over 100,000 catalogs mailed to various lists at least twice a year.
Ever-growing advertising presence that culminated in monthly 2-page spreads in DownBeat and Jazz Times for over a decade.
Numerous newspaper, magazine, and television stories about Jamey, the Play-A-Longs and the Workshops, including a 1989 piece on “CBS Sunday Morning.”
Opening an e-commerce store (mid-1990’s) that allowed us expand our offerings exponentially. At the peak, we had well over 10,000 jazz improvisation books on our website.
The world-famous Jazz Workshops and Jamey’s many one-day workshops all over the country where he was “spreading the word.”
By the way, Jamey never had to borrow money for the business. Reasonable, steady growth paid all the bills.
When did you realize this business would endure and reach around the world?
I began playing with a band that played a lot of regional festivals; they were not jazz festivals. Many of these festivals would have multiple bands from all over the country and I met many non-jazz musicians this way. Inevitably, I would ask them “Ever heard of Jamey Aebersold?”
The answers ranged from “I have some of his Play-A-Longs!” to “A jazz guy, right?” Almost everyone I asked had heard of Jamey. These were accordion players, classical musicians, rock musicians, polka players, klezmer players, and they all knew of Jamey. It always tickled me. Now, that’s what I call successful market penetration!
What were the most difficult parts of your work?
Most people in the music publishing business will understand when I say this: While I technically was working “in the music business,” there was nothing particularly musical about the work itself.
My desk was in the middle of an incredibly busy basement, with multiple phone lines ringing, customers on hold, inventory coming in, orders going out, and lots of daily fires to put out. There was never an opportunity to listen to music or think of it in any way other than what was critical to the operation of the business.
As long as orders were coming in and going out, bills were being paid and sales were going up, Jamey let us figure it all out.
His best place in the company was being out front, spreading the word, playing, teaching, and organizing the workshops. He didn’t want much to do with the actual daily grind and I could fully understand why.
Can you recall your largest order, or largest shipment, to one buyer?
That would be when we made a distribution deal with one of Europe’s oldest and largest publishers/distributors, around 1995. The initial order was triple the largest order we had ever had and remains, to this day, the largest single order.
What should Jamey’s legacy be?
In the 1960s, music education had become very institutionalized and group oriented and not much was available for self-learning.
Most musicians, particularly horn players and drummers, graduated high school or college and put their instruments away in a closet, never to be seen or heard again because there was no one to play with.
Then, Jamey came along and said “How would you like to play with Ron Carter and Kenny Barron, anytime you want?” Almost overnight, musicians had more closet space.
So, that would be Jamey’s legacy. More closet space!