When the pianist Bradley Parker released his first LP in 1979, he went to the Chicago Tattooing and Piercing Company parlor on Belmont Avenue and had the album title, “Latin Black," inked across his left forearm. This was novel among artists in the '80s, when tattoos belonged primarily to sailors and biker gangs.
Mr. Parker—also known as Bradley Parker-Sparrow, or just Sparrow to friends, associates and detractors —did the same for his next three albums, all recorded for Southport Records, the Chicago label he owns and operates with his wife, the vocalist Joanie Pallatto. By the time he recorded “The Desert Rat Suite" in 1991, tattoos were no longer novel; also, he was running out of body parts to inscribe. So the tattoos stopped.
But the albums continued. Mr. Parker has now recorded 10 albums under his own name, and Ms. Pallatto will release her eighth this spring. Like her husband, she has also appeared on many other recordings in their catalog. At a time when the record industry's collapse has forced those labels still in business to take fewer risks, this small North Side label perseveres in issuing albums that might otherwise never be heard.
This might be the stuff of your basic vanity label—a homegrown operation created to issue the owners' music—except that Mr. Parker and Ms. Pallatto, both 56, have such a peculiar take on vanity. It extends beyond their own household, as suggested by the label's slogan: “Real Jazz Made in Chicago." (A disclosure: This reporter has occasionally supplied liner notes for Southport recordings.)
Mr. Parker—also known as Bradley Parker-Sparrow, or just Sparrow to friends, associates and detractors —did the same for his next three albums, all recorded for Southport Records, the Chicago label he owns and operates with his wife, the vocalist Joanie Pallatto. By the time he recorded “The Desert Rat Suite" in 1991, tattoos were no longer novel; also, he was running out of body parts to inscribe. So the tattoos stopped.
But the albums continued. Mr. Parker has now recorded 10 albums under his own name, and Ms. Pallatto will release her eighth this spring. Like her husband, she has also appeared on many other recordings in their catalog. At a time when the record industry's collapse has forced those labels still in business to take fewer risks, this small North Side label perseveres in issuing albums that might otherwise never be heard.
This might be the stuff of your basic vanity label—a homegrown operation created to issue the owners' music—except that Mr. Parker and Ms. Pallatto, both 56, have such a peculiar take on vanity. It extends beyond their own household, as suggested by the label's slogan: “Real Jazz Made in Chicago." (A disclosure: This reporter has occasionally supplied liner notes for Southport recordings.)
