Seymour Solomon (May 23, 1922 – July 18, 2002)Massachusetts Death Index, 1970-2003, Seymour Solomon, at ''Ancestry.com''
Retrieved 10 April 2014 was an American music business executive who co-founded

Vanguard Records Vanguard Recording Society is an American record label set up in 1950 by brothers Maynard and Seymour Solomon in New York City. It was a primarily classical label at its peak in the 1950s and 1960s, but also has a catalogue of recordings by a n ...

in 1950, with his younger brother

Maynard Solomon Maynard Elliott Solomon (January 5, 1930 – September 28, 2020) was an American music executive and musicologist, a co-founder of Vanguard Records as well as a music producer."Maynard Solomon" in '' Baker's Biographical Dictionary of Musicians'', ...

. He was born in Manhattan, New York, and studied

violin The violin, sometimes known as a '' fiddle'', is a wooden chordophone ( string instrument) in the violin family. Most violins have a hollow wooden body. It is the smallest and thus highest-pitched instrument ( soprano) in the family in regu ...

at the

Juilliard School The Juilliard School ( ) is a Private university, private performing arts music school, conservatory in New York City. Established in 1905, the school trains about 850 undergraduate and graduate students in dance, drama, and music. It is widely ...

. He joined the

United States Army Air Forces The United States Army Air Forces (USAAF or AAF) was the major land-based aerial warfare service component of the United States Army and ''de facto'' aerial warfare service branch of the United States during and immediately after World War II ...

Orchestra in World War II, and played for US troops in the

Far East The ''Far East'' was a European term to refer to the geographical regions that includes East and Southeast Asia as well as the Russian Far East to a lesser extent. South Asia is sometimes also included for economic and cultural reasons. The t ...

. After his return he studied musicology at

New York University New York University (NYU) is a private research university in New York City. Chartered in 1831 by the New York State Legislature, NYU was founded by a group of New Yorkers led by then- Secretary of the Treasury Albert Gallatin. In 1832, th ...

before working as a critic for music magazines, and on radio stations. In 1950 he traveled to Europe with a

tape recorder An audio tape recorder, also known as a tape deck, tape player or tape machine or simply a tape recorder, is a sound recording and reproduction device that records and plays back sounds usually using magnetic tape for storage. In its present ...

, and recorded five Bach cantatas performed by the Vienna Philharmonic and Vienna State Opera. On his return, he released the recordings on the Bach Guild label that he set up for the purpose. Later in the year, with the help of a loan from his father and the involvement of his younger brother Maynard, he formed the Vanguard Recording Society, into which the Bach Guild was subsumed. The company took full advantage of the new technology of

long-playing record The LP (from "long playing" or "long play") is an analog sound storage medium, a phonograph record format characterized by: a speed of rpm; a 12- or 10-inch (30- or 25-cm) diameter; use of the "microgroove" groove specification; and ...

s, allowing it to release longer unbroken

classical music Classical music generally refers to the art music of the Western world, considered to be distinct from Western folk music or popular music traditions. It is sometimes distinguished as Western classical music, as the term "classical music" al ...

performances than was previously possible. Although initially recording an eclectic range of classical music, as the label developed through the 1950s and 1960s its roster expanded to include

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 ...

, folk, and

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 ...

musicians, including The Weavers,

Joan Baez Joan Chandos Baez (; born January 9, 1941) is an American singer, songwriter, musician, and activist. Her contemporary folk music often includes songs of protest and social justice. Baez has performed publicly for over 60 years, releasing more ...

, Odetta,

Larry Coryell Larry Coryell (born Lorenz Albert Van DeLinder III; April 2, 1943 – February 19, 2017) was an American jazz guitarist. Early life Larry Coryell was born in Galveston, Texas, United States. He never knew his biological father, a musician. He ...

, Mississippi John Hurt,

Charlie Musselwhite Charles Douglas Musselwhite (born January 31, 1944) is an American electric blues harmonica player and bandleader, one of the white bluesmen who came to prominence, along with Mike Bloomfield, Paul Butterfield, and Elvin Bishop, as a pivotal ...

, and Buddy Guy. Seymour and Maynard Solomon sold Vanguard in 1986 to the

Welk Music Group Welk Music Group is an American record company comprising Ranwood Records. It was founded by Lawrence Welk and is still owned by the Welk Family. The company evolved from when Welk's Teleklew Productions acquired Harry Von Tilzer Music in 1957. Wel ...

. In 1988, Seymour Solomon started a new company, Omega Classics, and later bought back Vanguard's classical catalog from Welk, reissuing it on CD on the Omega and Vanguard Classics labels. He died in 2002 at his summer home in Lenox, Massachusetts, at the age of 80.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Solomon, Seymour 1922 births 2002 deaths American music industry executives United States Army Air Forces personnel of World War II Juilliard School alumni New York University alumni