Talk:Artt Frank

Edit Request: Professional relationship with MJA Records and Mike Armando

Disclosure: I have a Conflict of Interest (COI) regarding this subject due to my professional role as the producer and owner of MJA Records. I am requesting this edit here rather than making it myself.

I would like to request an addition to the article regarding Artt Frank's association with MJA Records, producer Mike Armando, and bassist Phil Bowler.

• Proposed Text:

Frank established a working relationship with bassist Phil Bowler, interviewing him on Bowler's WPKN radio show, Jazz Adventure. Mike Armando called the station after hearing live recordings of Artts music. This introduction led to Frank signing with the label. Frank's subsequent recordings were released under Mike Armando's MJA Records label, including the CD Waltz for Sharon Stone. In 2002 Artt Frank performed at the MJA Jazz & Blues Festival at the Event Center in Lake Grove, Long Island, New York.

• Suggested Placement: In the biography or career section, preceding the existing discography list.

Thank you to any neutral editor who has the time to review and implement this request. Carolann54 (talk) 00:09, 3 September 2026 (UTC)

Response: 2026-09-13

Not done: The sources given are not reliable and don't establish these specific claims. The source given for the "working relationship" with Phil Bowler is a blog of no clear provenance (see WP:UG) and doesn't say that he had any relationship with Artt Frank (it actually says Armando appeared on the show, not Frank!). The sources given for their introduction don't talk about the introduction either. Newton Bee says they'll be attending an event together but nothing about how they met. The Psychedelic Baby Mag article is an interview with Armando in which he claims he is the producer of all of Frank's CDs but says nothing really about how this became the case. The source given for the MJA Jazz and Blues Festival in 2002 is about a totally separate event in 2024 in which Phil Bowler says he played with Frank (and cites this article??) and separately also says he hosted this event in 2002 (but in no way even implies that Frank was there).

There was clearly some kind of professional relationship between Bowler, Frank, and Armando but we need to WP:STICKTOTHESOURCE.

Packrat3860 (talk) 05:05, 13 September 2026 (UTC)

OK thank you for getting back. I will check if I can find some better sources. Thank you Carolann54 (talk) 08:05, 13 September 2026 (UTC)

Hi I have a Youtube vidoe of the mja Jazz and Blues Fest with Artt Frank and Phil Bowler performing with each other. Would that be a source that can be used? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IahxLB1MAk4 Carolann54 (talk) 08:37, 13 September 2026 (UTC)

I made some edits to the addition with some new sources. Let me know if this is OK. Thanks Carolann54 (talk) 13:12, 13 September 2026 (UTC)

Not done:

Frank established a working relationship with bassist Phil Bowler, interviewing him on Bowler's WPKN radio show

This sounds strange. Frank went on Bowler's show and interviewed Bowler? Can you provide a quotation from the source for this?

Mike Armando called the station after hearing live recordings of Artts music. This introduction led to Frank signing with the label

This is the core of the claim of this paragraph (the relationship between the subject, MJA, and Armando), but it does not have a source. We need a secondary source for this.

I'm assuming you have good intentions here, but it seems like you are writing this article WP:BACKWARD. There's a story that this paragraph is trying to tell about how Frank met Armando, and that story is very plausible. Frank knew Bowler, as evinced by their occasional collaboration, he met Armando after meeting Bowler, the three of them appear together at several later events, and Armando says he produced all of Frank's records in a later interview. However it's not enough to provide sourcing that illustrates the before and after of the event and then extrapolate how it probably happened, even if that does sound to me like how it probably happened (or at least I have no reason to doubt it). If we're going to tell the story about how Frank met Armando then we need to have an independent source that tells us how Frank met Armando.

As an aside, we also need to be a little suspicious of basing the claim the Armando was the producer of Frank's records entirely on an interview with Armando. He stands to benefit (financially, reputationally) from being recognized as the producer of these records, so he cannot be a truly independent source. In the absence of anybody contesting that claim I think it's probably believable enough (this magazine thought so), but it's worth noting that we're kinda already out on limb here. Packrat3860 (talk) 19:36, 13 September 2026 (UTC)

"Regarding the 4 CDs released on MJA Records, I understand that user-generated databases like Discogs and MusicBrainz are not considered reliable by Wikipedia standards.However, Artt Frank's published memoir explicitly confirms the relationship with the label, stating that 'MJA Released Waltz for Sharon Stone CD on the MJA Records Label' (p. 282).To address the concern about going 'out on a limb' regarding the production credits, we can adjust the language to focus strictly on what the published text verifies. Instead of stating definitively that Armando produced all four records as an absolute fact, we can frame it like this:'Frank's subsequent recordings were released under Mike Armando's MJA Records label, including the CD Waltz for Sharon Stone. 'Would this more conservative phrasing—backed by Frank's published memoir—be acceptable to cover the catalog release?" Please see the corrected new draft. CarolAnn54...

Frank established a working relationship with bassist Phil Bowler, interviewing him on Bowler's WPKN radio show, Jazz Adventure. Mike Armando called the station after hearing live recordings of Artt's music. This introduction led to Frank signing with the label. Frank's subsequent recordings were released under Mike Armando's MJA Records label, including the CD Waltz for Sharon Stone. Carolann54 (talk) 20:11, 14 September 2026 (UTC) Carolann54 (talk) 21:19, 14 September 2026 (UTC)

I'm going to go look for a copy of the book to verify this. Hold please ^-^ Packrat3860 (talk) 02:23, 15 September 2026 (UTC)

OK thank you. If you want me to scan the pages and send them to you also let me know. Thanks Carolann54 (talk) 02:32, 15 September 2026 (UTC)

Hi any luck yet? Carolann54 (talk) 01:13, 29 September 2026 (UTC)

I have been unable to find a copy at my local libraries. If you can send me some scans via email that'd be great. I think WP:EMAIL should have instructions but as far as I can tell it boils down to emailing me here Special:EmailUser/Packrat3860 (I have not used it before so we'll see I guess?). Let me know if that doesn't work. Packrat3860 (talk) 20:25, 30 September 2026 (UTC)

OK i will send you some scans of the pages and hopefuly they get though to you. Thanks Carolann54 Carolann54 (talk) 20:29, 30 September 2026 (UTC)

I emailed you the requested scans. Please let me know if you received them, thanks. Carolann54 Carolann54 (talk) 21:06, 30 September 2026 (UTC)

References