Okeh Records () is an American record label founded by the Otto Heinemann Phonograph Corporation, a phonograph supplier established in 1916, which branched out into phonograph records in 1918. The name was spelled "OkeH" from the initials of Otto K. E. Heinemann but later changed to "OKeh". Since 1926, Okeh has been a subsidiary of

Columbia Records Columbia Records is an American record label owned by Sony Music, Sony Music Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Corporation of America, the North American division of Japanese Conglomerate (company), conglomerate Sony. It was founded on Janua ...

, a subsidiary of

Sony Music Sony Music Entertainment (SME), also known as simply Sony Music, is an American multinational music company. Being owned by the parent conglomerate Sony Group Corporation, it is part of the Sony Music Group, which is owned by Sony Entertainment ...

. Okeh is 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 major ...

imprint, distributed by

Sony Masterworks Sony Music Masterworks (Sony Masterworks) is a record label, the result of a restructuring of Sony Music's classical music division. Before the acquisition of Bertelsmann's shares in the former Sony BMG, the label was known as Sony BMG Masterwor ...

, a specialty label of Columbia.

Early history

Okeh Records - Talking Machine World, February 1928

Okeh was founded by Otto (Jehuda) Karl Erich Heinemann (Lüneburg, Germany, 20 December 1876 - New York, USA, 13 September 1965) a German-American manager for the U.S. branch of

Odeon Records Odeon Records is a record label founded in 1903 by Max Straus and Heinrich Zuntz of the International Talking Machine Company in Berlin, Germany. The label's name and logo come from the Odéon-Théâtre de l'Europe in Paris. History Straus an ...

, which was owned by Carl Lindstrom. In 1916, Heinemann incorporated the Otto Heinemann Phonograph Corporation, set up a recording studio and pressing plant in New York City, and started the label in 1918. The first discs were vertical cut, but later the more common lateral-cut method was used. The label's parent company was renamed the General Phonograph Corporation, and the name on its record labels was changed to OKeh. The common 10-inch discs retailed for 75 cents each, the 12-inch discs for $1.25. The company's musical director was Frederick W. Hager, who was also credited under the pseudonym Milo Rega. Okeh issued popular songs, dance numbers, and vaudeville skits similar to other labels, but Heinemann also wanted to provide music for audiences neglected by the larger record companies. Okeh produced lines of recordings in German, Czech, Polish, Swedish, and

Yiddish Yiddish (, or , ''yidish'' or ''idish'', , ; , ''Yidish-Taytsh'', ) is a West Germanic language historically spoken by Ashkenazi Jews. It originated during the 9th century in Central Europe, providing the nascent Ashkenazi community with a ver ...

for immigrant communities in the United States. Some were pressed from masters leased from European labels, while others were recorded by Okeh in New York. Okeh's early releases included music by the New Orleans Jazz Band. In 1920,

Perry Bradford Perry Bradford (February 14, 1893, Montgomery, Alabama – April 20, 1970, New York City) was an American composer, songwriter, and vaudeville performer. His most notable songs included "Crazy Blues," "That Thing Called Love," and "You Can't Kee ...

encouraged Fred Hager, the director of artists and repertoire ( A&R), to record blues singer

Mamie Smith Mamie Smith (née Robinson; May 26, 1891 – September 16, 1946) was an American vaudeville singer, dancer, pianist, and actress. As a vaudeville singer she performed in multiple styles, including jazz and blues. In 1920, she entered blues histor ...

. The records were popular, and the label issued a series of

race records Race records were 78-rpm phonograph records marketed to African Americans between the 1920s and 1940s.Oliver, Paul. "Race record." Grove Music Online. Oxford Music Online. 13 Feb. 2015. They primarily contained race music, comprising various Afri ...

directed by Clarence Williams in New York City and

Richard M. Jones Richard M. Jones, born Richard Marigny Jones (sometimes written Richard Mariney Jones), (June 13, 1892 – December 8, 1945) was an American jazz pianist, composer, band leader, and record producer. Numerous songs bear his name as author, includi ...

in Chicago. From 1921 to 1932, this series included music by Williams, Lonnie Johnson,

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 Mute (music), mutes in jazz. Also a notable c ...

, and

Louis Armstrong Louis Daniel Armstrong (August 4, 1901 – July 6, 1971), nicknamed "Satchmo", "Satch", and "Pops", was an American trumpeter and vocalist. He was among the most influential figures in jazz. His career spanned five decades and several era ...

. Also recording for the label were

Bix Beiderbecke Leon Bismark "Bix" Beiderbecke (March 10, 1903 – August 6, 1931) was an American jazz cornetist, pianist and composer. Beiderbecke was one of the most influential jazz soloists of the 1920s, a cornet player noted for an inventive lyrical app ...

Bennie Moten Benjamin Moten (November 13, 1893 – April 2, 1935) was an American jazz pianist and band leader born and raised in Kansas City, Missouri, United States. He led his Kansas City Orchestra, the most important of the regional, blues-based orchest ...

Frankie Trumbauer Orie Frank Trumbauer (May 30, 1901 – June 11, 1956) was an American jazz saxophonist of the 1920s and 1930s. His main instrument was the C-melody saxophone, a now-uncommon instrument between an alto and tenor saxophone in size and pitch. He al ...

, and

Eddie Lang Eddie Lang (born Salvatore Massaro, October 25, 1902 – March 26, 1933) was an American musician who is credited as the father of jazz guitar. During the 1920s, he gave the guitar a prominence it previously lacked as a solo instrument, as p ...

. One of the more popular series was Louis Armstrong's Hot Five and Hot Seven, who recorded about 3 sessions per year between 1925 and 1928, which included popular hits such as " Heebie Jeebies", "Cornet Chop Suey", and "

West End Blues "West End Blues" is a multi-strain twelve-bar blues composition by Joe "King" Oliver. It is most commonly performed as an instrumental, although it has lyrics added by Clarence Williams. King Oliver and his Dixie Syncopators made the first rec ...

". After the success of these records, Armstrong's records were transferred to the popular series as well, which was marketed towards a white audience in 1928. As part of the

Carl Lindström Company Carl Lindström A.G. was a global record company founded in 1893 and based in Berlin, Germany. History Founded by Carl Lindström (1869–1932), a Swedish inventor living in Berlin, it originally produced phonographs or gramophones with ...

, Okeh's recordings were distributed by other labels owned by Lindstrom, including

Parlophone Parlophone Records Limited (also known as Parlophone Records and Parlophone) is a German–British record label founded in Germany in 1896 by the Carl Lindström Company as Parlophon. The British branch of the label was founded on 8 August 192 ...

in the UK. While musicians did not receive much payment for entering the studio, they copyrighted the songs they did record with the hopes that other bands would record the piece; in turn, they would make a steady stream from royalties In 1926, Okeh was sold to Columbia Records. Ownership changed to the American Record Corporation ( ARC) in 1934, and the race records series from the 1920s ended. CBS bought the company in 1938. OkeH was a label for rhythm and blues during the 1950s, but jazz albums continued to be released, as in the work of

Wild Bill Davis Wild Bill Davis (November 24, 1918 – August 17, 1995) was the stage name of American jazz pianist, organist, and arranger William Strethen Davis. He is best known for his pioneering jazz electric organ recordings and for his tenure with t ...

and Red Saunders.

The OKeh Laughing Record

''The OKeh Laughing Record'' was recorded in Germany by

Beka Records Beka Records was a record label based in Germany, active from about 1903 in music, 1903 to 1925 in music, 1925. Before World War I, Beka also made gramophone records for the United Kingdom market under the Beka-Grand Records label. The company ...

in 1920, by most accounts, and then purchased from that record label by OKeh Records in the US. It features who are likely opera singer Lucie Bernardo and Otto Rathke simply laughing for nearly three minutes while accompanied by

cornetist The cornet (, ) is a brass instrument similar to the trumpet but distinguished from it by its conical bore, more compact shape, and mellower tone quality. The most common cornet is a transposing instrument in B, though there is also a sopra ...

Felix Silbers. They recorded six recordings on the same day. It became a best-seller in the US in 1922, and is estimated to have sold around a million records. Okeh Records soon followed with the "Second Laughing Record", "The OKeh Laughing Dance Record" and "The OKeh Crying Record". Other record labels also released similar records. It may have influenced studios to include live audiences and laugh tracks in their shows. It was issued in the UK as ''The Parlophone Laughing Record'' and it was featured extensively in the

Walter Lantz Productions Walter Lantz Productions was an American animation studio. It was in operation from 1928 to 1972 and was the principal supplier of animation for Universal Studios. The studio was originally formed as Universal Cartoon Studios on the initiative o ...

cartoon short ''

Sh-h-h-h-h-h ''Sh-h-h-h-h-h'' is a 1955 cartoon directed by Tex Avery and produced by Walter Lantz. It was the fourth cartoon directed by Tex Avery at Walter Lantz Productions. This cartoon features the 1922 ''Okeh Laughing Record'' for much of its soundtrack. ...

'', the last short directed by

Tex Avery Frederick Bean "Tex" Avery (February 26, 1908 – August 26, 1980) was an American animator, cartoonist, animation director, director, and voice actor. He was known for directing and producing animated cartoons during the golden age of American a ...

Race records and remote recording

General Phonograph Corporation used

's popular song "

Crazy Blues "Crazy Blues" is a song, renamed from the originally titled "Harlem Blues" song of 1918, written by Perry Bradford. Mamie Smith and Her Jazz Hounds recorded it on August 10, 1920, which was released that year by Okeh Records (4169-A). The str ...

" to cultivate a new market in 1920 and they could not keep the record on the shelves because of its popularity. Portraits of Smith and lists of her records were printed in advertisements in newspapers such as the ''

Chicago Defender ''The Chicago Defender'' is a Chicago-based online African-American newspaper. It was founded in 1905 by Robert S. Abbott and was once considered the "most important" newspaper of its kind. Abbott's newspaper reported and campaigned against Jim ...

'', the '' Atlanta Independent'', '' New York Colored News'', and others popular with African-Americans (though Smith's records were part of Okeh's regular 4000 series). Okeh had further prominence in the demographic, as African-American musicians

Sara Martin Sara Martin (June 18, 1884 – May 24, 1955) was an American blues singer, in her time one of the most popular of the classic blues singers. She was billed as "The Famous Moanin' Mama" and "The Colored Sophie Tucker". She made many recordings, ...

Eva Taylor Eva Taylor (January 22, 1895 — October 31, 1977) was an American blues singer and stage actress. Life and career Born Irene Joy Gibbons in St. Louis, Missouri, as one of twelve children. On stage from the age of three, Taylor toured New ...

Shelton Brooks Shelton Brooks (May 4, 1886September 6, 1975) was a Canadian-born African American composer of popular music and jazz. He was known for his ragtime and vaudeville style, and wrote some of the biggest hits of the first third of the 20th century. ...

Esther Bigeou Esther Bigeou (1892 – November 15, 1936) was an American vaudeville and blues singer. Billed as "The Girl with the Million Dollar Smile", she was one of the classic female blues singers popular in the 1920s. Biography She was born in New Orlean ...

, and Handy's Orchestra recorded for the label. Okeh issued the 8000 series for

. The success of this series led Okeh to start recording music where it was being performed, known as

remote recording Remote recording, also known as location recording, is the act of making a high-quality complex audio recording of a live concert performance, or any other location recording that uses multitrack recording techniques outside of a recording studio. ...

or location recording. Starting in 1923, Okeh sent mobile recording equipment to tour the country and record performers not heard in New York or Chicago. Regular trips were made once or twice a year to New Orleans, Atlanta, San Antonio, St. Louis, Kansas City, and Detroit. The Okeh studio in Atlanta also catered to what was called, "Hillbilly" (now Country) stars at that time. One of the first was "Fiddlin'" John Carson, who is believed to have made the first country music recordings there in June 1923. A double sided record with "

The Little Old Log Cabin in the Lane "The Little Old Log Cabin In The Lane" is a popular song written by Will S. Hays in 1871 for the minstrel trade. Written in dialect, the song tells of an elderly man, presumably a slave or former slave, passing his later years in a broken-down old ...

" and "The Old Hen Cackled and the Rooster's Going To Crow."

1940–1970

Okeh releases were infrequent after 1932, although the label continued into 1935. In 1940, after Columbia lost the rights to the

Vocalion Vocalion Records is an American record company and label. History The label was founded in 1916 by the Aeolian Company, a maker of pianos and organs, as Aeolian-Vocalion; the company also sold phonographs under the Vocalion name. "Aeolian" was ...

name by dropping the Brunswick label, the Okeh name was revived to replace it, and the script logo was introduced on a demonstration record announcing that event. The label was again discontinued in 1946 and revived again in 1951. In 1953, Okeh became an exclusive R&B label when its parent, Columbia, transferred Okeh's pop music artists to the newly formed

Epic Records Epic Records is an American record label owned by Sony Music Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Corporation of America Sony Corporation of America (SONAM, also known as SCA), is the American arm of the Japanese conglomerate Sony Group ...

. Okeh's music publishing division was renamed April Music. In 1963,

Carl Davis Carl Davis, (born October 28, 1936) is an American-born conductor and composer who has lived in the United Kingdom since 1961. He has written music for more than 100 television programmes, but is best known for creating music to accompany si ...

became Okeh's A&R manager and improved Okeh's sales for a couple of years. Epic took over management of Okeh in 1965. Among the artists during Okeh's pop phase of the 1950s and 1960s were

Johnnie Ray John Alvin Ray (January 10, 1927 – February 24, 1990) was an American singer, songwriter, and pianist. Highly popular for most of the 1950s, Ray has been cited by critics as a major precursor to what became rock and roll, for his jazz and blu ...

and Little Joe & the Thrillers. With soul music becoming popular in the 1960s, Okeh signed

Major Lance Major Lance (April 4, 1939, 1941Soul music A-Z 1995 p. 185 or 1942The golden age of American rock 'n roll: Volume 3; 2002 p. 556 – September 3, 1994) was an American R&B singer. After a number of US hits in the 1960s, including "The Monk ...

, who gave the label two big successes with "

The Monkey Time "The Monkey Time" is a song written by Curtis Mayfield and performed by Major Lance. It reached No. 2 on the U.S. R&B chart and No. 8 on the U.S. pop chart in 1963. It was featured on his 1963 album ''The Monkey Time'', was arranged by Johnny ...

" and " Um, Um, Um, Um, Um, Um". Fifties rocker

Larry Williams Larry Williams (born Lawrence Eugene Williams, a.k.a. Lawrence Edward Williams; May 10, 1935 – January 7, 1980) was an American rhythm and blues and rock and roll singer, songwriter, producer, and pianist from New Orleans, Louisiana. Williams ...

found a musical home at Okeh for a period of time in the 1960s, recording and producing funky soul with a band that included

Johnny "Guitar" Watson John Watson Jr. (February 3, 1935 – May 17, 1996), known professionally as Johnny "Guitar" Watson, was an American musician and singer-songwriter. A flamboyant showman and electric guitarist in the style of T-Bone Walker, his recording career ...

. He was paired with

Little Richard Richard Wayne Penniman (December 5, 1932 – May 9, 2020), known professionally as Little Richard, was an American musician, singer, and songwriter. He was an influential figure in popular music and culture for seven decades. Described as the " ...

, who had been persuaded to return to secular music. Williams produced two Little Richard albums for Okeh in 1966 and 1967, which returned Little Richard to the ''Billboard'' album chart for the first time in ten years and produced the hit single "Poor Dog".White (2003), p. 268. He also acted as the music director for Little Richard's live performances at the Okeh Club in Los Angeles. Bookings for Little Richard during this period skyrocketed. Williams also recorded and released material of his own and with Watson, with some moderate chart success. Much of the success of Okeh in the 1960s was dependent on producer Carl Davis and songwriter

Curtis Mayfield Curtis Lee Mayfield (June 3, 1942 – December 26, 1999) was an American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and record producer, and one of the most influential musicians behind soul and politically conscious African-American music.

. After they left the label (due to disputes with Epic/Okeh head Len Levy), Okeh gradually slipped in sales and was quietly retired by Columbia in 1970.

1993–2000

In 1993,

reactivated the Okeh label (under distribution by

) as a new-age

blues Blues is a music genre and musical form which originated in the Deep South of the United States around the 1860s. Blues incorporated spirituals, work songs, field hollers, shouts, chants, and rhymed simple narrative ballads from the Afr ...

label. Okeh's first new signings included G. Love & Special Sauce,

Keb' Mo Kevin Roosevelt Moore (born October 3, 1951), known as Keb' Mo', is an American blues musician and five-time Grammy Award winner. He is a singer, guitarist, and songwriter, living in Nashville, Tennessee. He has been described as "a living link ...

Popa Chubby Theodore Joseph "Ted" Horowitz (born March 31, 1960 in The Bronx, New York City, United States), who plays under the stage name of Popa Chubby, is an American singer, composer, and guitarist. Life and career At age thirteen Horowitz began play ...

, and

Little Axe Skip McDonald (born Bernard Alexander, September 1949)Allmusic biography/ref> is an American musician who also performs under the stage name Little Axe. Career Early career Grounded in blues music learned from his father, a steel worker who ...

. Throughout the first year, in celebration of the relaunch, singles for G. Love, Popa Chubby and Keb' Mo were released on 10-inch vinyl. By 2000, the Okeh label was again retired, and G. Love & Special Sauce was moved to Epic. It was re-launched in 2013 as a jazz line under Sony Masterworks.

Since 2013

In January 2013,

reactivated the Okeh label as Sony's primary jazz imprint under

. The imprint is part of Sony Masterworks in the U.S., Sony Classical's domestic branch, focusing on both new and established artists who embody "global expressions in jazz". The new artists include

David Sanborn David William Sanborn (born July 30, 1945) is an American alto saxophonist. Though Sanborn has worked in many genres, his solo recordings typically blend jazz with instrumental pop and R&B. He released his first solo album ''Taking Off'' in 1 ...

, Bob James,

Bill Frisell William Richard Frisell (born March 18, 1951) is an American jazz guitarist, composer and arranger. Frisell first came to prominence at ECM Records in the 1980s, as both a session player and a leader. He went on to work in a variety of contexts ...

Regina Carter Regina Carter (born August 6, 1966) is an American jazz violinist. She is the cousin of jazz saxophonist James Carter. Early life Carter was born in Detroit and was one of three children in her family. She began piano lessons at the age of t ...

, Somi, and

Dhafer Youssef Dhafer Youssef ( ar, ظافر يوسف; born 19 November 1967) is a Tunisian composer, singer and oud player. Biography Dhafer Youssef was born in Téboulba (a small village of coastal Tunisia); his grandfather was a muezzin. He calls the radio ...

Ownership

Sony Music Entertainment owns the global rights to the Okeh Records catalogue through Epic Records and Sony's

Legacy Recordings Legacy Recordings is an American record label that is a division of Sony Music. Formed in 1990 after Sony's acquisition of CBS Records, Legacy originally handled the archives of Sony Music-owned labels Columbia Records and Epic Records. In 20 ...

reissue subsidiary.

EMI EMI Group Limited (originally an initialism for Electric and Musical Industries, also referred to as EMI Records Ltd. or simply EMI) was a British transnational conglomerate founded in March 1931 in London. At the time of its break-up in 201 ...

's rights to the Okeh catalogue in the UK expired in 1968, and CBS Records took over distribution.

References

External links

Official site
* Okeh masters in th
Discography of American Historical Recordings

Okeh Records
on the Internet Archive'
Great 78 Project
{{Authority control American record labels Vertical cut record labels Record labels established in 1916 Record labels disestablished in 1935 Record labels disestablished in 1970 Record labels established in 1994 Record labels disestablished in 2000 Re-established companies Jazz record labels Columbia Records Epic Records

Early history

The OKeh Laughing Record

Race records and remote recording

1940–1970

1993–2000

Since 2013

Ownership

See also

References

External links