Nordskog Records was a

jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with its roots in blues and ragtime. Since the 1920s Jazz Age, it has been recognized as a m ...

record company and label founded by Andrae Nordskog in 1921 in

Santa Monica, California Santa Monica (; Spanish: ''Santa Mónica'') is a city in Los Angeles County, situated along Santa Monica Bay on California's South Coast. Santa Monica's 2020 U.S. Census population was 93,076. Santa Monica is a popular resort town, owing t ...

. The label's recording studio and factory were in Los Angeles. It issued 27 double-sided discs. It had no pressing plant, so it contracted with

Arto Records Arto Records was a record company and label that operated from 1920 to 1923. Arto was owned by the Standard Music Roll Company in Orange, New Jersey. The recording studio was located in New York City. Arto was one of the first labels to issue rel ...

Orange, New Jersey The City of Orange is a township in Essex County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. As of the 2010 U.S. census, the township's population was 30,134, reflecting a decline of 2,734 (−8.3%) from the 32,868 counted in 2000. Orange was original ...

. Wax masters were shipped across country by railroad; many melted on the trip across the desert. By some accounts among the recordings lost were sessions by

Jelly Roll Morton Ferdinand Joseph LaMothe (later Morton; c. September 20, 1890 – July 10, 1941), known professionally as Jelly Roll Morton, was an American ragtime and jazz pianist, bandleader, and composer. Morton was jazz's first arranger, proving that a gen ...

and

King Oliver Joseph Nathan "King" Oliver (December 19, 1881 – April 8/10, 1938) was an American jazz cornet player and bandleader. He was particularly recognized for his playing style and his pioneering use of mutes in jazz. Also a notable composer, he wr ...

. Among the records which survived were the only recordings of

Eva Tanguay Eva Tanguay (August 1, 1878 – January 11, 1947) was a Canadian singer and entertainer who billed herself as "the girl who made vaudeville famous". She was known as "The Queen of Vaudeville" during the height of her popularity from the early 1 ...

, early sides by

Abe Lyman Abe Lyman (August 4, 1897 – October 23, 1957) was a popular bandleader from the 1920s to the 1940s. He made recordings, appeared in films and provided the music for numerous radio shows, including ''Your Hit Parade''. His name at birth was Abra ...

's Orchestra, Henry Halstead's Orchestra, and a number of recordings by

Kid Ory Edward "Kid" Ory (December 25, 1886 – January 23, 1973) was an American jazz composer, trombonist and bandleader. One of the early users of the glissando technique, he helped establish it as a central element of New Orleans jazz. He was ...

's band. The Ory sides were the first recorded jazz by an

African American African Americans (also referred to as Black Americans and Afro-Americans) are an ethnic group consisting of Americans with partial or total ancestry from sub-Saharan Africa. The term "African American" generally denotes descendants of ens ...

band from New Orleans. In 1923, Arto filed for bankruptcy. Nordskog sued for the return of some 80 unissued masters, with mothers and stampers then in Arto's possession, but failed to regain anything. Nordskog went out of business. The labels proclaim Nordskog records to be "The Golden-Voiced Records".

References

External links

Kid Ory’s Legendary Nordskog/Sunshine Recordings by Floyd Levin
also includes some general information about the label and photos {{Authority control American record labels Record labels established in 1921 Record labels disestablished in 1923 Jazz record labels

See also

References

External links