Now's the time

Anderson's record could well be the boost Leaning House needs if it's going to continue to exist: Already, advance orders for the disc sit at about 1,300 copies--far more than any previous Leaning House release. And for the first time, Elliott and Foerster have hired an outside publicist to promote the record, and they've made promotion discs to send to radio and retail. Leaning House has even taken out an ad for the disc in the Chicago Reader during that city's forthcoming jazz festival--and Anderson isn't even performing.

"A record like Wess' keeps me going, because I feel like this is where we need to be at this point," Elliott says. "I understand this can't go on forever if there's no money coming in, but it's great to be in a position to be able to put out a record like this. At some point, either the money will run dry or the sense of fulfillment will, and it will make sense to stop. I don't know which is going to dry up first, but in the meantime it's great to have this one on the books.