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Signature Records
Signature Records was a jazz record company and label founded in 1939 by Bob Thiele when he was 17 years old. Its roster included Coleman Hawkins, Earl Hines, Erroll Garner, and Lester Young. At age 14, Thiele was a disc jockey for his own jazz radio show, edited his own jazz magazine, and played clarinet with bands in New York City. He started Signature at age 17. Thiele was head producer and president of the label. Its musical director was orchestra leader Ray Bloch. Some sources recite that Signature closed in 1948. However, other sources indicate that the label continued to release records into the 50s, but that by the late 50s it was moribund. Having freelanced and produced for Decca Records and its Coral and Brunswick labels, and served as vice president for A&R for Dot Records, Thiele announced in May 1959 that he was reactivating the Signature label. The venture appears to have been in partnership with Steve Allen, one of the co-owners of Hanover Records, who brought t ...
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Warner Music Group
Warner Music Group Corp. ( d.b.a. Warner Music Group, commonly abbreviated as WMG) is an American multinational entertainment and record label conglomerate headquartered in New York City. It is one of the " big three" recording companies and the third-largest in the global music industry, after Universal Music Group (UMG) and Sony Music Entertainment (SME). Formerly part of Time Warner (now Warner Bros. Discovery), WMG was publicly traded on the New York Stock Exchange from 2005 until 2011, when it announced its privatization and sale to Access Industries. It later had its second IPO on Nasdaq in 2020, once again becoming a public company. With a multibillion-dollar annual turnover, WMG employs more than 3,500 people and has operations in more than 50 countries throughout the world. The company owns and operates some of the largest and most successful labels in the world, including Elektra Records, Reprise Records, Warner Records, Parlophone Records (formerly owned by EMI), ...
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Bob Thiele
Bob, BOB, or B.O.B. may refer to: Places *Mount Bob, New York, United States *Bob Island, Palmer Archipelago, Antarctica People, fictional characters, and named animals *Bob (given name), a list of people and fictional characters *Bob (surname) *Bob (dog), a dog that received the Dickin Medal for bravery in World War II *Bob the Railway Dog, a part of South Australian Railways folklore Television, games, and radio * ''Bob'' (TV series), an American comedy series starring Bob Newhart * ''B.O.B.'' (video game), a side-scrolling shooter *Bob FM, on-air brand of a number of FM radio stations in North America Music Musicians and groups *B.o.B (born 1988), American rapper and record producer *Bob (band), a British indie pop band *The Bobs, an American a cappella group *Boyz on Block, a British pop supergroup Songs * "B.O.B" (song), by OutKast * "Bob" ("Weird Al" Yankovic song), from the 2003 album ''Poodle Hat'' by "Weird Al" Yankovic *"Bob", a song from the album ''Brighter Than Cr ...
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Coleman Hawkins
Coleman Randolph Hawkins (November 21, 1904 – May 19, 1969), nicknamed "Hawk" and sometimes "Bean", was an American jazz tenor saxophonist.Yanow, Scot"Coleman Hawkins: Artist Biography" AllMusic. Retrieved December 27, 2013. One of the first prominent jazz musicians on his instrument, as Joachim E. Berendt explained: "there were some tenor players before him, but the instrument was not an acknowledged jazz horn". Hawkins biographer John Chilton described the prevalent styles of tenor saxophone solos prior to Hawkins as "mooing" and "rubbery belches." Hawkins cited as influences Happy Caldwell, Stump Evans, and Prince Robinson, although he was the first to tailor his method of improvisation to the saxophone rather than imitate the techniques of the clarinet. Hawkins' virtuosic, arpeggiated approach to improvisation, with his characteristic rich, emotional, and vibrato-laden tonal style, was the main influence on a generation of tenor players that included Chu Berry, Charlie Bar ...
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Earl Hines
Earl Kenneth Hines, also known as Earl "Fatha" Hines (December 28, 1903 – April 22, 1983), was an American jazz pianist and bandleader. He was one of the most influential figures in the development of jazz piano and, according to one source, "one of a small number of pianists whose playing shaped the history of jazz". The trumpeter Dizzy Gillespie (a member of Hines's big band, along with Charlie Parker) wrote, The piano is the basis of modern harmony. This little guy came out of Chicago, Earl Hines. He changed the style of the piano. You can find the roots of Bud Powell, Herbie Hancock, all the guys who came after that. If it hadn't been for Earl Hines blazing the path for the next generation to come, it's no telling where or how they would be playing now. There were individual variations but the style of … the modern piano came from Earl Hines. The pianist Lennie Tristano said, "Earl Hines is the ''only'' one of us capable of creating real jazz and real swing when play ...
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Erroll Garner
Erroll Louis Garner (June 15, 1921 – January 2, 1977) was an American jazz pianist and composer known for his swing playing and ballads. His instrumental ballad "Misty", his best-known composition, has become a jazz standard. It was first recorded in 1956 with Mitch Miller and his orchestra, and played a prominent part in the motion picture ''Play Misty for Me''. Scott Yanow of Allmusic calls him "one of the most distinctive of all pianists" and a "brilliant virtuoso." He received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6363 Hollywood Blvd. His live album ''Concert by the Sea'' first released in 1955, sold over 1 million copies by 1958, and Yanow's opinion on the album is that it "made such a strong impression that Garner was considered immortal from then on." Life and career Garner was born, along with twin brother Ernest in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania on June 15, 1921, the youngest of six children. He attended George Westinghouse High School (as did fellow pianists Billy Stra ...
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Lester Young
Lester Willis Young (August 27, 1909 – March 15, 1959), nicknamed "Pres" or "Prez", was an American jazz tenor saxophonist and occasional clarinetist. Coming to prominence while a member of Count Basie's orchestra, Young was one of the most influential players on his instrument. In contrast to many of his hard-driving peers, Young played with a relaxed, cool tone and used sophisticated harmonies, using what one critic called "a free-floating style, wheeling and diving like a gull, banking with low, funky riffs that pleased dancers and listeners alike". Known for his hip, introverted style, he invented or popularized much of the hipster jargon which came to be associated with the music. Early life and career Lester Young was born in Woodville, Mississippi, on August 27, 1909. to Lizetta Young (née Johnson), and Willis Handy Young, originally from Louisiana. Lester had two siblings – a brother, Leonidas Raymond, known as Lee Young, who became a drummer, and a sister, Irma ...
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Ray Bloch
Raymond Arthur Bloch (August 3, 1902 – March 29, 1982) Career During the 1920s, he performed with small groups on piano and also conducted ballroom bands. Later in the decade he began appearing as a pianist on radio stations. He began working as an arranger and composer for the Four Eton Boys in the early 1930s, and followed that as a conductor for choral groups. In 1939 he joined the CBS radio variety show ''Johnny Presents'' as choral director and was promoted to orchestra conductor. This was the beginning of a long and successful career in "conducting, coaching, orchestrating, and choral directing" on radio, television, and albums. Radio Bloch and his orchestra were featured on numerous radio variety shows of the late-1930s and 1940s. These included: ''Johnny Presents'' (1939-1946), ''The Gay Nineties Revue'' (CBS, 1939–1944), ''Let Yourself Go'' (CBS, 1944–1945), ''The Continental Celebrity Club'' (1945-1946), ''The Milton Berle Show'' (NBC, 1948–1949), and '' The Mary ...
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Decca Records
Decca Records is a British record label established in 1929 by Edward Lewis (Decca), Edward Lewis. Its U.S. label was established in late 1934 by Lewis, Jack Kapp, American Decca's first president, and Milton Rackmil, who later became American Decca's president. In 1937, anticipating Nazi Germany, Nazi aggression leading to World War II, Lewis sold American Decca and the link between the U.K. and U.S. Decca labels was broken for several decades. The British label was renowned for its development of recording methods, while the American company developed the concept of cast albums in the musical genre. Both wings are now part of the Universal Music Group. The U.S. Decca label was the foundation company that evolved into UMG (Universal Music Group). Label name The name dates back to a portable phonograph, gramophone called the "Decca Dulcephone" patented in 1914 by musical instrument makers Barnett Samuel and Sons. The name "Decca" was coined by Wilfred S. Samuel by merging the w ...
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Coral Records
Coral Records was a subsidiary of Decca Records that was formed in 1949. Coral released music by Patsy Cline, Buddy Holly, the McGuire Sisters and Teresa Brewer. Coral issued jazz and swing music in the 1940s, but after Bob Thiele became head of the label in 1954, he produced pop and rock musicians such as Buddy Holly, Jackie Wilson, Lawrence Welk, and Steve Lawrence and Eydie Gormé. He also produced hit songs by his wife, Teresa Brewer. Coral stopped issuing new material in 1971. In 1973, MCA amalgamated Decca, Kapp Records, and Uni Records under the single MCA Records banner, and Coral was repositioned as a mid-line and budget album reissue label in the U.S. and internationally. That version of Coral (MCA Coral) lasted into the 1980s. Some product from MCA's former Vocalion Records budget label was manufactured with MCA Coral labels that bore Vocalion catalog numbers and was shipped in sleeves still bearing the Vocalion trademark, presumably to cut costs. Roster * Steve ...
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Brunswick Records
Brunswick Records is an American record label founded in 1916. History From 1916 Records under the Brunswick label were first produced by the Brunswick-Balke-Collender Company, a company based in Dubuque, Iowa which had been manufacturing products ranging from pianos to sporting equipment since 1845. The company first began producing phonographs in 1916, then began marketing their own line of records as an afterthought. These first Brunswick records used the vertical cut system like Edison Disc Records, and were not sold in large numbers. They were recorded in the United States but sold only in Canada. 1920s In January 1920, a new line of Brunswick Records was introduced in the U.S. and Canada that employed the lateral cut system which was becoming the default cut for 78 discs. Brunswick started its standard popular series at 2000 and ended up in 1940 at 8517. However, when the series reached 4999, they skipped over the previous allocated 5000s and continued at 6000. When t ...
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Dot Records
Dot Records was an American record label founded by Randy Wood (record producer), Randy Wood and Gene Nobles that was active between 1950 and 1978. The original headquarters of Dot Records were in Gallatin, Tennessee. In 1956, the company moved to Hollywood, California. In its early years, Dot specialized in artists from Tennessee. Then it branched out to include musicians from across the U.S. It recorded country music, rhythm and blues, polkas, waltzes, Gospel music, gospel, rockabilly, pop music, pop, and early rock and roll. After moving to Hollywood, Dot Records bought many recordings by small local independent labels and issued them nationally. In 1957, Wood sold the label to Paramount Pictures, but remained in charge until 1967, when he departed to join Lawrence Welk in the formation of Ranwood Records. In 1968, the label was acquired as part of the acquisition of Paramount by Gulf and Western Industries, Gulf+Western, which transitioned it to exclusively recording country ...
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Flying Dutchman Records
Flying Dutchman Records was an American jazz record label, which was owned by music industry executive, producer and songwriter Bob Thiele. History Initially distributed by Atlantic Records, Thiele made a five-album deal in 1972 with Mega Records to issue five albums in the Flying Dutchman Series. The deal was not renewed and distribution shifted to RCA Records, which took over the label in 1976. The label released albums until 1984 when Thiele established Doctor Jazz Records. Some of the musicians who recorded several albums for the label include singer Leon Thomas, saxophonist Gato Barbieri, arranger Oliver Nelson, saxophonist Tom Scott and pianist Lonnie Liston Smith. Gil Scott-Heron released three albums for the label, including his debut ''Small Talk at 125th and Lenox'' and ''Free Will''. Flying Dutchman had three sublabels, Amsterdam, BluesTime, and Contact. Flying Dutchman is independently owned and since 2011 has been distributed and marketed by Ace Records. Discogr ...
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