Southport Records

Southport Records is a division of Sparrow Sound Design Recording Studio and it is owned and operated by pianist/composer Bradley Parker-Sparrow and his wife and business partner, vocalist/composer Joanie Pallatto. Southport Records and it's sister label, Northport, are releasing music by and from artists and musicians that live, work and create in one of the world's richest musical sectors - Chicago. It has over 125 records in the catalog, from the legendary tenor sax man Von Freeman and guitar master George Freeman to piano greats Willie Pickens and King Fleming. The Southport Composers Series, founded by George Flynn, features new music and classical recordings from Flynn, Ilhan Mimaroglu, Geoffrey Douglas Madge, etc. Southport Records started because I came up as a piano player. When I taped my first LP back in 1977, "Latin Black", I tried to "shop it around", with, at that time, some local labels like Delmark and Nessa. I also sent a production cassette to Blue Note. Nobody called me back and I got tired of waiting. For a minute I thought that Bob Koester of Delmark would pick it up but I didn't have much of a known name, just another angry Chicago piano player that never went to college. I was a pre-"young lion." I was not a Cuban exile. Jazz and free music were dying out after the passing of Coltrane and Albert Ayler. So rejection was the motivation for starting Southport. Howard Mandel composed the liner notes that were re-typed on my old IBM typewriter, he was paid $50 bucks. Mike Rasfeld did the re-mix of the 4 track to stereo, and the discs were stamped at QCA in Ohio. - Bradley Parker-Sparrow "Real Jazz Made In Chicago"