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Greenleaf Music is the indie label run by trumpeter (and now cornetist) Dave Douglas, one of the most important jazz improvisers, composers, and bandleaders of the last decade. Since the 90s he’s released dozens of recordings with a slew of original projects and as a member of John Zorn’s Masada. But the guy doing much of the work behind Greenleaf is a Chicagoan named Michael Friedman, who also runs his own label, Premonition. Friedman has demonstrated an ability and willingness to adapt to an uncertain marketplace, and the Greenleaf Web site has increasingly provided digital downloads of Greenleaf and Premonition recordings; it also allows fans to subscribe at various levels to receive packages of download-only exclusive material, live CDs not available in stores, and mail-order discounts. (The site also sells physical CDs for a variety of jazz labels.) The live CDs belong the “Paperback Series,” which are packaged in rustic cardboard sleeves. Until recently all of the releases have featured Douglas’s projects, but in January the label will issue a CD by Chicago’s Indigo Trio, which includes Nicole Mitchell, Harrison Bankhead, and Hamid Drake.
