Jazz/Labels

Jazz > Labels

The Jazz Labels Compendium

What is the purpose of this group of pages?

• Assume the interim function to document jazz labels in MusicBrainz, as long as we don't have label entries in the system
• Help editors (who do work on labels and catalogs # in releases annotations) to quickly find what they need
• Be a field of experiment to help determine what exactly we expect from "real" labels entries in the system

As such, the following pieces of data are found in this page:

• alphabetically sorted flat list of labels
• hierarchical list of labels (reflecting the "who bought who" structure)

And each individual label page provides the following:

• official web site, wikipedia page and/or discographic work site about it
• label activity details (production type, name of the founding members, period of activity, subsidiaries)
• current status (now belong to, top parent company, distributed by)
• trivia
• catalog, possibly linking to the releases in MusicBrainz

Ultimate Goal

Ultimately, label / catalog# should be database entries (this is apparently in the cooker). Labels should be entities (like artists) on which we could have both advanced relationships and annotations (that would allow most of what is documented here).

Disclaimer

Not only this is work in progress, but it's also experimental, is not the result of a discussion/consensus, and is the work of a unique editor (hence reflects his very personal opinions).

So data (may/will/could) change quickly, and the whole organization of it may be rehauled.

Introductory Note

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Jazz golden era is probably 45-70.

The 70s period resort mainly to Free Jazz, while the pre-40s period, although very interesting, somewhat lacks recorded material (most of what's available being reissued in anthologies by specialized labels).

There's of course a modern jazz, both by (quite old now) veterans, and by talented newcomers, but this is Yllona Richardson's territories - so she might talk about that better than me.

During a period (I would say until the 90s), labels buying other labels tend to reissue the bought catalogs under their own name (Fantasy reissues used the name Original Jazz Classics).

Recently though, now that all is left is "the 4 big ones" (Universal's Verve Music Group, the EMI Group, the Warner Music Group, Sony BMG), and the little one (Concord Music Group), such holdings tend to reissue stuff under the original label name, or even produce new stuff under that name, which of course are not to be confused with the "historical" labels/periods.

Editing notes

• "Country" should be 2 letter iso codes.
• "Production type" should be: original, reissue, bootleg (or combination of these, using slash as separators), or holding
• Maybe "founded by" could point to /Jazz/People/NameOfTheBuddy (as we can't create them in the db...)?
• Any mention of another label should link to the corresponding page, even if it doesn't exist yet
• You should link catalog entries to the corresponding releases in MusicBrainz. If you do so, please backlink the label name in the release annotation to the wiki page.

Editing ressources

• Scott Yanow label page: usefull for a quick heads-up about jazz labels
• May help to find labels homesites: http://www.rlabels.com/ and http://www.allrecordlabels.com/
• Michael Fitzgerald label page: has a *lot* of catalogs (although not really detailed), and is very usefull to flesh out a new label catalog (although not enough)
• The usual suspects have not a lot of labels catalogs, but when they have one, oh my god! :p
• Country codes: you know what this is
• Wikipedia labels list page

Labels List (hierarchical)

Groups

• Warner Music Group
  • Atlantic Records
    • Atco Records (non jazz)
    • Spark Records (non jazz)
    • Lava Records (non jazz)
    • 143 Records (non jazz)

• • Rhino Records
    • Roulette Records (only the non jazz catalog, for US distribution)

• • Warner Jazz

Magazines

• JAZZIZ

Independent labels

• Hat Art
• VSOP
  • Mode Records

Labels List (flat)

0-9

• 32 Jazz

A

• Atlantic Records

B

• Bethlehem
• Black Lion
• Blue Note
• Brunswick Records
• Bird Notes
• Bluesville
• BYGActuel

C

• Collectables
• Capitol
• Charly
• Columbia
• Concord Jazz/Concord Records
• Concord Music Group
• Contemporary
• Cool 'N Blue

D

• Decca Records
• Discovery
• DIW
• Debut
• Dial

E

• Elektra/Musician
• Evidence
• EmArcy
• ESP
• Enja

F

• Fantasy
• Freedom

G

• Gazell
• Gennett Records
• GetBack!

H

• Hat Art

I

• Impulse!

J

• JAZZIZ

L

• Landscape
• Liberty Records
• Limelight
• Lonehill Jazz

M

• Metrojazz
• Mighty Quinn
• Mode Records
• Moodsville
• Mandarim
• Mercury
• Milestone
• Mobile Fidelity
• Mosaic Records
• Muse

N

• New Jazz

O

• Original Jazz Classics

P

• Pacific Jazz (World Pacific Records grouped for now)
• Prestige
• Pablo

R

• Regent Records
• Rhino Records
• Riverside
• Revenant
• Roulette Records

S

• Sonet
• Stateside
• Storyville
• Swingville
• Savoy Records

T

• Transition

V

• VSOP
• Verve
• Verve Music Group
• Vocalion Records

W

• Warner Jazz
• Warner Music Group

DEPRECATED

For a time, I used to push all label data on one page, which has quickly proved unmanageable. Below are the remains of this attempt, waiting to be properly migrated in the new one-label/one-page architecture.

Quick Find Me

This section mention labels names, country of origin, historical period of activity, off-sites links, and mentions bootleg.

Major Labels

Label Name/Site	Country	Active Period	Sold to	Discographic ressources	Subsidiaries	Comment
Capitol (wp)	USA	1942-?	EMI (1955)			Made a career out of messing records
Columbia (wp)	USA	1888-?	Sony (1988)	BothSides
Contemporary (wp)	USA	1951-1984	Fantasy (1984)	JD.com
EmArcy (wp)	USA	1954-1962	Verve Music Group	JD.com JD.org		Replaced by Limelight, then revived 80s
ESP (wp)	USA	1966-?		JD.com Shut		Dormant and/or "distributed" by dubious european thingies (Axaras, GetBack!), the label came back to life in 2005
Dial (wp)	USA	1946-	???	JD.com JD.org		Not to be confused with other Dial companies
Vocalion Records (wp)	USA/UK	1916-1940	Brunswick Records (1925)			Revived in the 50s as a budget label, and in 1997 as a reissue label (material from Decca and EMI). Alternate site
Enja	DE	1971		Stuff JD.com
Fantasy (wp)	USA	1949-	Concord		Debut Records, Good Time, Prestige (1971), Riverside, Milestone (1972), Stax Records (1977), Contemporary (1984), Specialty Records (1991), Pablo (1987), Takoma Records, Kicking Mule Records (1995)	Gobbled a good number of jazz label, which were cd reissued in the 80s90s under the collection/label name Original Jazz Classics (apparently on mondays during 85-95)
Gennet Records (wp)	USA	1917-1934	Decca Records (1935)			Oldies from the 20s
Impulse! (wp)	USA	1960-late 70s	Verve Music Group	JD.com		Now a reissue label. Has been shortly revived for new stuff though.
Liberty Records (wp)	USA	1955-?	EMI (?)		Pacific Jazz (1957), Blue Note (1965)	A complicated history also...
Limelight wp	USA		X	JD.com		Mercury subsidiary
Milestone (wp)	USA	1966-1972	Fantasy	JD.com		Reissued stuff from Gennett Records
Mercury (wp)	USA (UK now)	1945-	Verve Group	JD.org	Blue Rock Records, Cumberland Records, EmArcy Records, Fontana Records, Limelight Records, Philips Records, Smash Records and Wing Records
Original Jazz Classics (wp)	USA	1983-	Is a sub/collection of Fantasy		Reissued on cd most stuff owned by OJC in the 80s-90s
Pablo (wp)	USA	1973	Fantasy (1987)	JD.com JD.org		Fantasy continued to use the name to release stuff after 1987
Prestige (wp)	USA	1949-1971	Fantasy (1971)	Plosin JD.org	Used funny coll. names like Swingsville, Bluesville, Moodsville, and "New Jazz"	The junkies label
Riverside wp	USA	1953-1963	Fantasy (1972)	JD.com JD.org
Verve (wp)	USA	1956	MGM (1961) -> Polygram -> Universal (=Verve Music Group)	JD.com JD.org	Norgran Records, Clef Records, Mercury/EmArcy
[Savoy USA] wp	USA	1942-?1980?	Bop catalog sold to Arista Records (1974)	JD.com JD.org