We can't speak to other music genres, but record labels are important to us jazz folk. We seek them out oftentimes drawn to their roster or their aesthetics (sound or album cover art). This week we focus on two labels that have produced consistently exceptional modern jazz while we take a moment to introduce Record Label of the Week which is intended to help jazz record labels raise the awareness of their music. With that, we kick it off with Sunnyside Records. All About Jazz profiled (owner) Fran?ois Zalacain's label nearly 20 years ago (read).

Sunnyside Records has been delivering the finest in jazz recordings for over forty years. Fran?ois Zalacain, owner and proprietor of Sunnyside, began the label in 1982 in order to release the music of Harold Danko, with whom he was friendly since they first met when Danko was the pianist of the Thad Jones-Mel Lewis Orchestra. One release led to another, and Sunnyside has now released hundreds of outstanding albums while always maintaining the same criterion: they release music they like. Sunnyside maintains a diverse roster and continues to expand beyond jazz into other genres including classical, Latin jazz and popular music, Brazilian bossa nova and samba, and even singer-songwriter pop. Look for new jazz releases by pianist