Hy-Tone was an influential
independent record label
An independent record label (or indie label) is a record label that operates without the funding or distribution of major record labels; they are a type of small- to medium-sized enterprise, or SME. The labels and artists are often represented ...
in
Chicago that issued
rhythm and blues records between 1946 and 1948.
History
It was originally set up in March 1946 as the Melody Lane label by guitarist, bandleader and
record store
A record shop or record store is a retail outlet that sells recorded music. In the late 19th century and the early 20th century, record shops only sold gramophone records, but over the 20th century, record shops sold the new formats that were ...
owner Freddie Williams (1898-1955),
[ but soon changed its name to Hy-Tone when Russian-born juke box operator Nathan Rothner (1912-2003) became involved. The label recorded musicians mainly from the ]South Side of Chicago
The South Side is an area of Chicago, Illinois, U.S. It lies south of the city's Loop area in the downtown. Geographically, it is the largest of the three sides of the city that radiate from downtown, with the other two being the north and we ...
, and issued early recordings by Memphis Slim, Crown Prince Waterford, Jo Jo Adams
Joel Adams (c. 1918 – February 27, 1988), sometimes credited as Doctor Jo Jo Adams, was an American jump blues singer, comedian, dancer, and MC, who recorded in the 1940s and 1950s.
Career
He was born in a rural area of Alabama, an ...
, Sunnyland Slim, guitarist Floyd Smith
Floyd Robert Donald Smith (born May 16, 1935, in Perth, Ontario) is a Canadian former professional ice hockey centre and coach.
Biography
Smith grew up in Galt, Ontario, playing junior hockey with the Galt Black Hawks. He made his National Ho ...
, gospel singer R. L. Knowles
R. or r. may refer to:
* ''Reign'', the period of time during which an Emperor, king, queen, etc., is ruler.
* '' Rex'', abbreviated as R., the Latin word meaning King
* ''Regina'', abbreviated as R., the Latin word meaning Queen
* or , abbreviat ...
, Freddie Williams' own band, and others. Robert Pruter, "Hy-Tone", in Edward Komara (ed.), ''Encyclopedia of the Blues'', Psychology Press, 2005, p.483
/ref>
The label is credited with helping to establish Chicago as a recording venue for R&B music after the Second World War. It closed in 1948 after King Records in Cincinnati bought some of the Hi-Tone master recordings from Rothner.[ Robert Pruter, Robert L. Campbell, and Tom Kelly, "The Hy-Tone Label"]
. Retrieved 31 March 2014
Other labels
The name Hy-Tone, Hytone, or Hi-Tone has been used for several other, unrelated, record labels.[ These include:
*Hytone, set up by the Indestructible Phonograph Company in 1921
*Hi-Tone, set up in New York in 1949 as a subsidiary of Bob Thiele's ]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 r ...
*Hy-Tone, set up in New York in 1957
*Hy-Tone, which issued gospel records in California in the 1960s.
References
External links
Hy-Tone Records
on the Internet Archive'
Great 78 Project
American independent record labels
American companies established in 1946
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