You’ve heard of the Rock Bottom Remainders, now meet the Editörial Standards, a jazz combo comprised of a half-dozen publishing pros.
“At the Frankfurt Book Fair, 30% of the fair is meetings, but 70% is parties,” said Sam Edenborough, who plays tenor sax and is the rights manager for Greyhound Agents U.K. “We’re kind of part of that fabric.”
For the partygoers lucky enough to catch them, you might hear an understated standard interjected by the capering keyboard solos of Jonathan Burnham, president of the Harper Group at HarperCollins; or the timeless crooning of Blair Partnership rights director Liane-Louise Smith; a warm flugelhorn line—blown by Markus Hoffmann, agent and partner at Regal Hoffmann & Associates—floating atop Edenborough’s gritty sax; and Hayo Deinum, bassist and senior rights manager at Shared Stories Rights Agency, and Victor Schiferli, guitarist and fiction specialist at the Dutch Foundation for Literature, chugging along, stalwart, underneath.
The group formed in 2003 in Amsterdam and played book events in the Netherlands and Germany for several years, before going on hiatus due to “creative differences,” before reforming five years ago.
Today, there are challenges, including a lack of rehearsal time: they get together for just one hour before their once-a-year gig, for a set list that includes 22 songs. “The standard is ludicrously high,” Edenborough said plainly.
The selection is eclectic: a typical setlist is sure to include a selection or two from Roy Hargrove’s Earfood and The Jody Grind by Horace Silver—a group favorite. Janis Siegel’s Small Day Tomorrow and Julie London’s Cry Me a River have also become staples.
Liane-Louise Smith’s background is in Broadway, and, when she enters, a slight hush falls over the crowd. “Liane-Louise is a gifted front woman. She’s very good at… getting people’s attention and giving a sense of theatricality to what we’re doing,” Edenborough said. He added that the sets tend to “start off sort of cautiously” to give themselves time to “get into the groove” before they tackle more technical numbers.
There’s another critical member of the group, though you’d never hear her play: Daniela Schlingmann—better known as the director of her eponymous, London-based literary scouting agency—serves as the group’s de facto manager. “All of them are big deals in publishing, and all are really good musicians in their own right. That’s the most amazing thing,” Schlingmann said of the group.
As a Frankfurt native, Schlingmann has used her knowledge of the city to book the gigs each year, which often ask conference-goers to venture outside their comfort zone. The group has played a “death metal nightclub in the basement of a bigger club,” a “dungeon-like” dive bar, and a “boudoir-esque, little cocktail bar.” This year, they will play at her agency’s 20th anniversary celebration, hosted on the first night of Frankfurt Book Fair.
One question people might ask is: what do playing jazz and publishing have in common? Hoffmann has an answer: both are based on trust. “There’s so much content flying around that, if you don’t know who you’re selling to, and if the people who buy from you don’t know that they can trust you… you’re not going to be doing business well,” Hoffmann said. “Being in a band together is another expression of that. Yes, we’re competitive with each other… but we also pull together to support each other, and to enjoy being in the business that we all like to complain about, but that we clearly also all love.”
