Subject: Borland Jazzes Up Christmas Presents With Gifts of Music
Date: Published: 12/21/90 (63 lines)
Source: Wall Street Journal. Copyright Dow Jones & Co. Inc.

    Borland Jazzes Up
    Christmas Presents
    With Gifts of Music
    ---
    Chief Executive/Jazz Player
    Recorded CD for Clients;
    Claims `No Time' for Tour
    ----
    By G. Pascal Zachary
    Staff Reporter of The Wall Street Journal

    Chief executives officers, from Lee Iacocca to John
 Sculley, have written books to burnish their images.  Now,
 there's a new twist on such hype-releasing music albums.
    In the spirit of Christmas, Borland International Inc.,
 one of the largest suppliers of software for personal
 computers, has just released a compact disk containing 72
 minutes of music recorded by Philippe Kahn, Borland's chief,
 and a group of well-known jazz musicians.
    Indeed, Mr. Kahn says the album, called "Pacific High,"
 turned out so well that listeners are urging him to go on
 tour with his studio-group, which includes guitarist John
 Abercrombie, drummer Billy Hart and saxophonist David
 Liebman.  All three are widely recorded musicians.
    "I don't think I have the time for a tour," says Mr. Kahn,
 a mathematician by training, who sees parallels between
 writing computer software and playing music.
    "It took a lot of guts for him to stand up in the same
 studio with musicians of such accomplishment," says Ron
 McClure, bassist on the recording and a popular jazzman
 himself.
    And while it isn't likely Mr. Kahn, who plays the flute
 and various saxophones, will win a Grammy for his effort, the
 critics aren't snickering either.  "I thought (Mr. Kahn's)
 playing was very good," says Jamey Aebersold, a noted jazz
 instructor.  "I like the variety of the music too, and his
 choice of musicians is superb."
    Mr. Kahn says he's wanted to record a jazz album for
 years, and did so this August -- at Borland's expense --
 after deciding to break with the practice of giving customers
 a bottle of wine for Christmas and issue his album instead.
    "We spent much less money" on this album than the
 traditional Christmas gifts, Mr. Kahn says, even with the
 costs of paying musicians and a recording studio.  Moreover,
 he insists that he isn't simply "using Borland for
 self-promotion," but hopes to distribute the CD commercially
 and donate the proceeds to AIDS research.
    The French-born Mr. Kahn often does the unorthodox.  He
 founded Borland, which is based in Scotts Valley, Calif.,
 while still an illegal alien.  Successfully thwarting
 Immigration and Naturalization Service efforts to deport him,
 he turned the company into a software powerhouse.
    Mr. Kahn has gigged casually for years, often taking time
 during his frequent travels to practice in hotel stairways.

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