Grand Award Records was a pop, jazz, and gospel music

record label A record label, or record company, is a brand or trademark of music recordings and music videos, or the company that owns it. Sometimes, a record label is also a publishing company that manages such brands and trademarks, coordinates the produ ...

founded by violinist and conductor

Enoch Light Enoch Henry Light (August 18, 1907 – July 31, 1978) was an American classically trained violinist, danceband leader, and recording engineer. As the leader of various dance bands that recorded as early as March 1927 and continuing through at le ...

in Harrison, New Jersey in 1955. Light used the liner notes to describe how the records were made and to advertise their importance by using words such as "acclaimed" and "approved by". The cover design consisted of a fake frame of black and white around a well-drawn illustration in the middle. Early ones carried the slogan "Great Music – Great Art". Most of the classical records had reproductions of European masters for the illustrations. The pop records had illustrations by American illustrators of the day:

Tracy Sugarman Tracy A. Sugarman (1921 – January 20, 2013) was an American illustrator. He illustrated hundreds of books and record covers in a career lasting over 50 years. He authored an annotated work on his sketches from World War II. He was a naval ...

Elmer Wexler Elmer Wexler (August 14, 1918 - October 3, 2007) was an American illustrator and cartoonist. He is most famous for his work on comic strips and comic books in the 1940s, including being the inventor of the DC comic hero '' Miss America'' in 1941. ...

, Arthur Shilstone, David Stone. Among the pop records issued by the label are the ''Roaring Twenties'' series done by the Charleston City All Stars band conducted by Light.

Paul Whiteman Paul Samuel Whiteman (March 28, 1890 – December 29, 1967) was an American bandleader, composer, orchestral director, and violinist. As the leader of one of the most popular dance bands in the United States during the 1920s and early 1930s, ...

recorded for the label. In 1959 Light formed subsidiary

Command Records Origin and history Command Records was a record label founded by Enoch Light in 1959 and, in October that year, was acquired by ABC-Paramount Records. Light produced a majority of the releases in the label's catalog. The company focused on prod ...

, and that October, sold Grand Award and all of its subsidiary labels--Command, as well as Audition, Colortone, and Waldorf Music Hall--to

ABC ABC are the first three letters of the Latin script known as the alphabet. ABC or abc may also refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Broadcasting * American Broadcasting Company, a commercial U.S. TV broadcaster ** Disney–ABC Television ...

. After the sale, Light was vice president and chief of A&R for the labels. For Command releases, he hired audio engineer Robert C. Fine to make audiophile recordings for pop and jazz fans rather than classical, where high fidelity was usually found. He continued to use inflated prose to sell music. His name was prominent on many albums both as musician and producer. A few of the earliest covers were designed by Josef Albers. Other fairly famous artists contributed as well. Grand Award LPs were phased out by 1961, but the label name was used by ABC at least until 1966. ABC started the rock label ABC Command Probe, the first home of English progressive rock band

Soft Machine Soft Machine are a British rock band from Canterbury formed in mid-1966 by Mike Ratledge (keyboards, 1966–1976), Robert Wyatt (drums, vocals, 1966–1971), Kevin Ayers (bass, guitar, vocals, 1966–1968) and Daevid Allen (guitar, 1966–196 ...

. By 1970, the history of Waldorf Music Hall/Grand Award/Command essentially came to an end, although ABC used the Command label later in the 1970s for

quadraphonic Quadraphonic (or quadrophonic and sometimes quadrasonic) sound – equivalent to what is now called 4.0 surround sound – uses four audio channels in which speakers are positioned at the four corners of a listening space. The system allows for th ...

versions of albums released on its other labels. A few LP reissues (with the label now ABC/Grand Award) kept the music alive until about 1977.

References

{{Authority control Defunct record labels of the United States Jazz record labels

See also

References