Project 3 Records was a

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 in 1966 by

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 ...

, featuring LPs of pop and jazz performances employing high quality stereo recording techniques, marketed at premium prices.

Origins

American musician, bandleader, and recording engineer

founded Project 3 Records in August 1966. It was a joint undertaking with sewing machine manufacturer

The Singer Company Singer Corporation is an American manufacturer of consumer sewing machines, first established as I. M. Singer & Co. in 1851 by Isaac M. Singer with New York lawyer Edward C. Clark. Best known for its sewing machines, it was renamed Singer Man ...

. Singer had entered the home entertainment and music business several years earlier as part of its diversification process, with a line of battery-operated phonographs. In 1963 Singer had also acquired KLH Research and Development Corporation, manufacturer of KLH loudspeakers, and stereo and radio products. Project 3 was Light's industry move after having headed up

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 ...

ABC-Paramount Records ABC Records was an American record label founded in New York City in 1955. It originated as the main popular music label operated by the Am-Par Record Corporation. Am-Par also created the Impulse! jazz label in 1960. It acquired many labels bef ...

for six years. He founded the Command label in 1959, sold it to ABC in October that year, and ran the label as an autonomous division until his departure in 1965. The new label was targeted to release recordings in the Command vein, employing quality stereo recording techniques, marketed at a premium price. Albums were released in three formats, as

phonograph record A phonograph record (also known as a gramophone record, especially in British English), or simply a record, is an analog sound storage medium in the form of a flat disc with an inscribed, modulated spiral groove. The groove usually starts nea ...

s, reel-to-reel pre-recorded tapes, and

8-track tape The 8-track tape (formally Stereo 8; commonly called eight-track cartridge, eight-track tape, and eight-track) is a magnetic tape sound recording technology that was popular from the mid-1960s to the early 1980s, when the compact cassette, wh ...

Artists

Project 3 artists, some of whom had recorded for Light on Command, included

Tony Mottola Anthony C. Mottola (April 18, 1918 – August 9, 2004) was an American jazz guitarist who released dozens of solo albums. Mottola was born in Kearny, New Jersey and died in Denville. Career Like many of his contemporaries, Mottola began ...

Bobby Hackett Robert Leo Hackett (January 31, 1915 – June 7, 1976) was an American jazz musician who played trumpet, cornet, and guitar with the bands of Glenn Miller and Benny Goodman in the late 1930s and early 1940s. Hackett was a featured soloist o ...

Buddy Greco Armando Joseph "Buddy" Greco (August 14, 1926 – January 10, 2017) was an American jazz and pop singer and pianist who had a long career in the US and UK. His recordings have sold millions, including "Oh Look A-There Ain't She Pretty", " Up, Up ...

, Stan Freeman, and

Peter Matz Peter Matz (November 6, 1928 – August 9, 2002) was an American musician, composer, arranger and conductor. His musical career in film, theater, television and studio recording spanned fifty years, and he worked with a number of prominent ...

, in addition to Enoch Light and the Light Brigade. In 1973, with the imprimatur of

Popular Science ''Popular Science'' (also known as ''PopSci'') is an American digital magazine carrying popular science content, which refers to articles for the general reader on science and technology subjects. ''Popular Science'' has won over 58 awards, incl ...

magazine, Project 3 released a test record to set up and calibrate 4-channel

quadraphonic sound 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 ...

. A year later, the label released a quadraphonic test record produced for

Fisher Electronics Fisher Electronics was an American company specialising in the field of hi-fi electronics. The company and the name was bought by Japanese electronics conglomerate Sanyo in 1975. History Fisher Electronics was an American audio equipment man ...

. The liner notes described the unique test disk: :This is a most unusual recording. Side 1 is produced via the CD-4 discrete 4 channel system and Side 2 is encoded and produced through the SQ matrix system. We believe that as of this date it is the only recording in the world which has been produced under these conditions and we do hope that it will prove to be entertaining as well as helpful in setting up your equipment and in demonstrating the different methods of 4 channel production.

Sale

Light continued to direct Project 3 until his death in August 1978. The label was acquired by record industry executive Herb Linsky in June 1979. In 1980, Linsky entered into licensing arrangements to release sessions by Larry Elgart and his Orchestra,

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 ...

, and

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, ...

. He also signed a deal for national distribution of Project 3 recordings by

Arista Records Arista Records () is an American record label owned by Sony Music Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Corporation of America, the North American division of the Japanese conglomerate Sony. The label was previously handled by BMG Entertainmen ...

. In July 1982, Linsky launched Project 3's midline label, Seagull Records. In September 1991, Linsky sold Project 3 to Essex Entertainment, a New Jersey-based company engaged in music licensing and allied activities.

Select Albums

Source:

References

{{Reflist American_record_labels Companies with year of disestablishment missing