Reality Bites: Fantasy Studios R.I.P.

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One of San Francisco’s premier recording facilities, Fantasy Studios, will cease operation, reportedly this month. The spacious multi-room operation in Berkeley, Calif., opened as a private facility in 1971, then went public in 1980. It’s been home to a wealth of fabulous jazz recordings, as well as albums from Santana, Chris Isaak, Creedence Clearwater Revival, En Vogue, Journey, and many, many more. Engineers such as George Horn and Bill Belmont have worked at Fantasy for nearly 30 years, and others have remained loyal to the company for more than a decade or two. Their shuttering is an unfortunate effect of our ever-changing music industry, and the increasingly isolated means of recording, whether by choice or because of tighter budgets. In their honor, here’s an excerpt on Fantasy Studio’s early days, beginning with their 1971 opening. (The year I was born, how ’bout that!) Enjoy, Hj

A Private Fantasy

Fueled and funded primarily by Creedence Clearwater Revival’s multi-Platinum record sales (total sales of over 100 million up to this point), the group’s label at the time, Fantasy Records, expanded its catalog as well as its two-story building at 10th and Parker in Berkeley. They built an impressive in-house studio, nicknamed “The House That Creedence Built,” and equipped it with DeMedio consoles for Studios A and B and an API in Studio C. They built the studio to accommodate their growing roster, which remained primarily and most successfully jazz, with adventures in rock, soul, and disco. Label president Ralph Kaffel negotiated the purchase of several jazz labels during the early ’70s, including Prestige and its many subsidiaries, as well as Riverside and Milestone. The latter two were founded by producer Orrin Keepnews. (He launched Riverside with partner Bill Grauer.) Interestingly, Fantasy Records, one of the most prominent jazz labels in the U.S., would join forces much, much later with previously mentioned Concord Records. Details to come in Chapter 25.

The boost to the Fantasy catalog in the 1970s led to an extensive reissue program for the work of Miles Davis, Thelonious Monk, Bill Evans, John Coltrane, and the Modern Jazz Quartet, among others. At the same time, the label brought in Keepnews to oversee its expanded jazz roster. Anticipating an influx of musicians who often record live-to-tape, they built large recording spaces for each room, with Studio A offering the most square footage. (See Chapter 19 for specifics.)

By 1973, Cannonball Adderley had joined the Fantasy roster by way of Keepnews’ Riverside label. Although Keepnews had produced dozens of albums for the legendary sax player, he gave the reigns for Inside Straight to Dave Axelrod. Keepnews then went about the business of organizing a special live-in-the-studio recording, giving the artist the benefit of Fantasy’s exquisite acoustics, as well as the energy of an audience. “The particular bright spark of an Adderley performance always seemed to glow at its best when an actual audience is breathing (and hollering) around it,” writes Keepnews in the album’s liner notes. “So, why not bring the club to the studio?”

He goes on to describe the scene:

“An overflow crowd of friends, well-wishers, Fantasy staff, a sprinkling of press and DJ representatives…and the expected quota of folks who just heard about the session. Fantasy’s very large Studio A converted (by the addition of a band-stand, a public address system, tables and chairs, and a stocked bar with bartender) into one of the cleanest nightclubs you ever saw. I’ve previously noted that I had nothing to do with the record, but that isn’t entirely accurate. Somebody had to supervise such vital creative functions as removing the dangerously fancy candles from the tables, substituting some standing room for some of the furniture, and keeping some of the too many people waiting patiently outside for a while.”

Considering Fantasy’s longstanding reputation as a premier jazz label, their success with Creedence seemed like a fluke. In a way, it was. Fantasy dabbled in media outside of the jazz genre, with mostly moderate success. Local stalwart Country Joe McDonald joined the roster in the mid-’70s and had a hit with an album called Paradise with an Ocean View. He also led a Country Joe & the Fish reunion album on Fantasy, which was a commercial disappointment. Other Bay Area acts to come on board at Fantasy included Terry Garthwaite, Toni Brown, and the Hoodoo Rhythm Devils. All of these acts achieved only moderate success. Fantasy worked with Stanley Turrentine, Patrice Rushen, and Bill Summers until other labels stole them away, and it assembled a quality group of soul acts, including The Blackbyrds, Pleasure, and Fever.

In this midst of these acts, disco pioneer Sylvester, who signed with Fantasy in 1976, shone like the big, bright glittery star he was. One of the most individualistic, talented, and successful artists to emerge from the dance/disco movement, Sylvester became a mega-star in his hometown first, adored not only in San Francisco’s heavily gay Castro District, but by the city at large. He was so special that then-mayor Dianne Feinstein declared March 11, 1979 (the date he recorded the Living Proof album, recorded live at a sold-out War Memorial Opera House), “Sylvester Day” in San Francisco.

He arrived in San Francisco from Los Angeles in 1967 admittedly to do nothing: take drugs, have fun, enjoy the lifestyle. Th en he joined a transvestite cabaret act called The Cockettes and later signed with Blue Thumb as a solo artist and released three rock-leaning records. It wasn’t until he teamed with producer Harvey Fuqua and joined the Fantasy roster in 1976 that he became king of the dance floor. His first album for the label, Step II, contained the A and B sides to his hit single, “Dance (Dance Heat)”/”You Make Me Feel (Mighty Real),” which certified Sylvester as one of the first disco stars. Playing synthesizers behind Sylvester’s powerful falsetto was Patrick Cowley. Within five years, Cowley would team with Marty Blecman, an employee of Fantasy Records, to form Megatone Records, a small independent label taken under the wing of a well-known San Francisco producer who owned a very well-known San Francisco studio. We’ll visit them in Chapter 15.

Through the 1970s, Fantasy Records held onto its reputation as one of the top U.S. jazz labels, and its studio evolved into one of the finest in the Bay Area. Keepnews continued to produce volumes of work during his tenure at the label, working on albums for Sonny Rollins and McCoy Tyner, among others, plus dozens of reissues. By 1977, he had become a VP and partner, but in 1980, Keepnews left the label to continue work as an independent producer. “By that time, I had discovered there was a limit on how long I could make myself work for someone else, even in the best of circumstances,” he says. He would go on to found another label, Landmark, in 1984.

Meanwhile, Fantasy engineer Bruce Walford, who had worked with The Sons (and would again) before joining Fantasy, worked on reissue projects for Kenny Burrell, Cal Tjader and Bill Evans, among others. A young Phil Kaffel, son of label president Ralph Kaffel, had worked his way up from the warehouse to the control room and was mixing a Bill Evans album by 1977.

As the decade closed, Fantasy began construction on its building yet again; this time building up five more floors to accommodate its growing catalog and expanding its studios in preparation for a new phase in its business.

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