Black Swan Records
Encyclopedia
Black Swan Records was a United States
record label
founded in 1921 in Harlem
, New York
. It was the first widely distributed label to be owned and operated by, and marketed to, African American
s. (Broome Special Phonograph Records was the first to be owned and operated by African Americans). The label name was revived in the 1990s for compact disc
reissues of historic jazz and blues recordings.
Black Swan's parent company, Pace Phonograph Corporation, was founded in March 1921
by Harry Pace
and was based in Harlem
. The new production company was formed after Pace's music publishing partnership with W.C. Handy, Pace & Handy, had dissolved. (Some historians have thought W.C. Handy had a stake in Pace's new business, but Handy's own words contradict this: " ...He [Harry Pace] simply chose this time to sever connection with our firm in order that he might organized Pace Phonograph Company, issuing Black Swan Records and making a serious bid for the Negro market. ... With Pace went a large number of our employees. ... Still more confusion and anguish grew out of the fact that people did not generally know that I had no stake in the Black Swan Record Company.")
Popular entertainer and pioneering black recording artist Bert Williams
was an early investor in Pace Phonograph. Williams also promised to record for the company once his exclusive contract with Columbia Records
ended, but he died before that could occur.
Pace Phonograph Corporation was renamed Black Swan Phonograph Company in the fall of 1922. Both the record label and production company were named after 19th century opera star Elizabeth Taylor Greenfield, who was known as the Black Swan.
Noted author, activist, and academic W.E.B. Du Bois
was a stockholder and member of the Board of Directors of Black Swan. Ads for Black Swan often ran in The Crisis
, the magazine of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People
, which Du Bois edited.
, the recording manager, provided piano
accompaniment for singers and led a small band for recording sessions. William Grant Still
was named arranger and later musical director.
in December 1923
; and in March 1924 Paramount Records
bought the Black Swan label. The Chicago Defender
reported the event by noting important accomplishments of Black Swan in a short career span, including: pointed out—to the major, all white-owned, record companies—the significant market demand for black artists; prompted several major companies to begin publishing music by these performers. In addition, the Defender credited Pace with showing the majors how to target black audiences and to advertise in black newspapers. Paramount discontinued the Black Swan label a short time later.
s of historic jazz
and blues
recordings originally issued on Black Swan and Paramount. These CDs were issued by George H. Buck's Jazzology
/GHB Record group, which gained rights to the Paramount back-catalogue, but not the Paramount brand name. Rights to the name "Black Swan Records" were also transferred to GHB.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
record label
Record label
In the music industry, a record label is a brand and a trademark associated with the marketing of music recordings and music videos. Most commonly, a record label is the company that manages such brands and trademarks, coordinates the production, manufacture, distribution, marketing and promotion,...
founded in 1921 in Harlem
Harlem
Harlem is a neighborhood in the New York City borough of Manhattan, which since the 1920s has been a major African-American residential, cultural and business center. Originally a Dutch village, formally organized in 1658, it is named after the city of Haarlem in the Netherlands...
, New York
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
. It was the first widely distributed label to be owned and operated by, and marketed to, African American
African American
African Americans are citizens or residents of the United States who have at least partial ancestry from any of the native populations of Sub-Saharan Africa and are the direct descendants of enslaved Africans within the boundaries of the present United States...
s. (Broome Special Phonograph Records was the first to be owned and operated by African Americans). The label name was revived in the 1990s for compact disc
Compact Disc
The Compact Disc is an optical disc used to store digital data. It was originally developed to store and playback sound recordings exclusively, but later expanded to encompass data storage , write-once audio and data storage , rewritable media , Video Compact Discs , Super Video Compact Discs ,...
reissues of historic jazz and blues recordings.
Origins
1921 in music
-Events:* Clarence Williams makes his first recordings* The Harvard Glee Club takes its first trip to Europe, garnering international press attention.* Amelita Galli-Curci marries her accompanist, Homer Samuels....
by Harry Pace
Harry Pace
Harry Herbert Pace was an African-American music publisher and insurance executive, and the founder of Black Swan Records....
and was based in Harlem
Harlem
Harlem is a neighborhood in the New York City borough of Manhattan, which since the 1920s has been a major African-American residential, cultural and business center. Originally a Dutch village, formally organized in 1658, it is named after the city of Haarlem in the Netherlands...
. The new production company was formed after Pace's music publishing partnership with W.C. Handy, Pace & Handy, had dissolved. (Some historians have thought W.C. Handy had a stake in Pace's new business, but Handy's own words contradict this: " ...He [Harry Pace] simply chose this time to sever connection with our firm in order that he might organized Pace Phonograph Company, issuing Black Swan Records and making a serious bid for the Negro market. ... With Pace went a large number of our employees. ... Still more confusion and anguish grew out of the fact that people did not generally know that I had no stake in the Black Swan Record Company.")
Popular entertainer and pioneering black recording artist Bert Williams
Bert Williams
Egbert Austin "Bert" Williams was one of the preeminent entertainers of the Vaudeville era and one of the most popular comedians for all audiences of his time. He was by far the best-selling black recording artist before 1920...
was an early investor in Pace Phonograph. Williams also promised to record for the company once his exclusive contract with Columbia Records
Columbia Records
Columbia Records is an American record label, owned by Japan's Sony Music Entertainment, operating under the Columbia Music Group with Aware Records. It was founded in 1888, evolving from an earlier enterprise, the American Graphophone Company — successor to the Volta Graphophone Company...
ended, but he died before that could occur.
Pace Phonograph Corporation was renamed Black Swan Phonograph Company in the fall of 1922. Both the record label and production company were named after 19th century opera star Elizabeth Taylor Greenfield, who was known as the Black Swan.
Noted author, activist, and academic W.E.B. Du Bois
W.E.B. Du Bois
William Edward Burghardt Du Bois was an American sociologist, historian, civil rights activist, Pan-Africanist, author, and editor. Born in Massachusetts, Du Bois attended Harvard, where he was the first African American to earn a doctorate...
was a stockholder and member of the Board of Directors of Black Swan. Ads for Black Swan often ran in The Crisis
The Crisis
The Crisis is the official magazine of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People , and was founded in 1910 by W. E. B. Du Bois , Oswald Garrison Villard, J. Max Barber, Charles Edward Russell, Kelly Miller, W.S. Braithwaite, M. D. Maclean.The original title of the journal was...
, the magazine of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People
National Association for the Advancement of Colored People
The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, usually abbreviated as NAACP, is an African-American civil rights organization in the United States, formed in 1909. Its mission is "to ensure the political, educational, social, and economic equality of rights of all persons and to...
, which Du Bois edited.
Notable employees
Former employees of Pace & Handy staffed the new company: Fletcher HendersonFletcher Henderson
James Fletcher Hamilton Henderson, Jr. was an American pianist, bandleader, arranger and composer, important in the development of big band jazz and swing music. His was one of the most prolific black orchestras and his influence was vast...
, the recording manager, provided piano
Piano
The piano is a musical instrument played by means of a keyboard. It is one of the most popular instruments in the world. Widely used in classical and jazz music for solo performances, ensemble use, chamber music and accompaniment, the piano is also very popular as an aid to composing and rehearsal...
accompaniment for singers and led a small band for recording sessions. William Grant Still
William Grant Still
William Grant Still was an African-American classical composer who wrote more than 150 compositions. He was the first African American to conduct a major American symphony orchestra, the first to have a symphony performed by a leading orchestra, the first to have an opera performed by a major...
was named arranger and later musical director.
Notable artists recorded
- Bessie AllisonBessie A. BuchananBessie Allison Buchanan of Manhattan in New York City became the first African-American woman to hold a seat in the New York State Legislature when she was elected to the New York State Assembly in 1954....
, original member of the Shuffle AlongShuffle AlongShuffle Along is the first major successful African American musical. Written by Flournoy Miller and Aubrey Lyles, with music and lyrics by Noble Sissle and Eubie Blake, the musical premiered on Broadway in 1921.-Plot:...
cast - C. Carroll Clark, baritoneBaritoneBaritone is a type of male singing voice that lies between the bass and tenor voices. It is the most common male voice. Originally from the Greek , meaning deep sounding, music for this voice is typically written in the range from the second F below middle C to the F above middle C Baritone (or...
who was the first artist recorded by the label - Four Harmony Kings, vocal quartetQuartetIn music, a quartet is a method of instrumentation , used to perform a musical composition, and consisting of four parts.-Western art music:...
- Henry CreamerHenry CreamerHenry Creamer was an American popular song lyricist. He was born in Richmond, Virginia and died in New York. He co-wrote many popular songs in the years from 1900 to 1929, often collaborating with Turner Layton, with whom he also appeared in vaudeville.Creamer was a co-founder with James Reese...
and J. Turner Layton, vaudevilleVaudevilleVaudeville was a theatrical genre of variety entertainment in the United States and Canada from the early 1880s until the early 1930s. Each performance was made up of a series of separate, unrelated acts grouped together on a common bill...
duo - Katie CrippenKatie CrippenKatie Crippen , also billed as Little Katie Crippen or Ella White, was an African American entertainer and singer....
, vaudeville singer - Kemper HarreldKemper HarreldKemper Harreld , born William Kemper Harreld in Muncie, Indiana, was a renowned African American concert violinist. In addition to being an accomplished violinist, Harreld was also a pianist and organist...
, violinViolinThe violin is a string instrument, usually with four strings tuned in perfect fifths. It is the smallest, highest-pitched member of the violin family of string instruments, which includes the viola and cello....
ist - Lucille HegaminLucille HegaminLucille Nelson Hegamin was an American singer and entertainer, and a pioneer African American blues recording artist.-Life and career:...
, jazz and blues singer - Revella HughesRevella HughesRevella Eudosia Hughes was an American singer, musician and recording artist. She was one of the best known and most successful African American sopranos of the first half of the 20th century.-Early life:...
, sopranoSopranoA soprano is a voice type with a vocal range from approximately middle C to "high A" in choral music, or to "soprano C" or higher in operatic music. In four-part chorale style harmony, the soprano takes the highest part, which usually encompasses the melody...
featured on one of the label's first releases - Alberta HunterAlberta HunterAlberta Hunter was an American blues singer, songwriter, and nurse. Her career had started back in the early 1920s, and from there on, she became a successful jazz and blues recording artist, being critically acclaimed to the ranks of Ethel Waters and Bessie Smith...
, bluesBluesBlues is the name given to both a musical form and a music genre that originated in African-American communities of primarily the "Deep South" of the United States at the end of the 19th century from spirituals, work songs, field hollers, shouts and chants, and rhymed simple narrative ballads...
singer - "Mamie Jones", pseudonymPseudonymA pseudonym is a name that a person assumes for a particular purpose and that differs from his or her original orthonym...
for singer Aileen StanleyAileen StanleyAileen Stanley, born Maude Elsie Aileen Muggeridge , was a popular American singer.-Early life:...
who was one of many Caucasian artists to record for Black Swan. These artists were "passing for colored" since the label was advertised as featuring only black artists. - Trixie SmithTrixie SmithTrixie Smith was an African American blues singer, recording artist, vaudeville entertainer, and actress. She made four dozen recordings.-Biography:...
, blues singer, second only to Ethel Waters in Black Swan sales. - Florence Cole TalbertFlorence Cole TalbertFlorence Cole Talbert-McCleave was a Detroit, Michigan, born African American soprano. Her family moved to Los Angeles, California in 1910, where Talbert was the first African American to attend Los Angeles High School...
, soprano - Eva Taylor, singer
- Ethel WatersEthel WatersEthel Waters was an American blues, jazz and gospel vocalist and actress. She frequently performed jazz, big band, and pop music, on the Broadway stage and in concerts, although she began her career in the 1920s singing blues.Her best-known recordings includes, "Dinah", "Birmingham Bertha",...
, blues and pop song singer. She had the label's first commercially successful records, and remained their best seller. - Essie Whitman, vaudeville singer
Purchase by Paramount
The production company declared bankruptcyBankruptcy
Bankruptcy is a legal status of an insolvent person or an organisation, that is, one that cannot repay the debts owed to creditors. In most jurisdictions bankruptcy is imposed by a court order, often initiated by the debtor....
in December 1923
1923 in music
-Events:*November 11 - Premiere of John Foulds's World Requiem at the Royal Albert Hall in London. It is repeated on that date each year until 1926....
; and in March 1924 Paramount Records
Paramount Records
Paramount Records was an American record label, best known for its recordings of African-American jazz and blues in the 1920s and early 1930s, including such artists as Ma Rainey and Blind Lemon Jefferson.-Early years:...
bought the Black Swan label. The Chicago Defender
Chicago Defender
The Chicago Defender is a Chicago based newspaper founded in 1905 by an African American for primarily African American readers.In just three years from 1919–1922 the Defender also attracted the writing talents of Langston Hughes and Gwendolyn Brooks....
reported the event by noting important accomplishments of Black Swan in a short career span, including: pointed out—to the major, all white-owned, record companies—the significant market demand for black artists; prompted several major companies to begin publishing music by these performers. In addition, the Defender credited Pace with showing the majors how to target black audiences and to advertise in black newspapers. Paramount discontinued the Black Swan label a short time later.
Later incarnation of the Black Swan label
The Black Swan label was revived in the 1990s for a series of reissue compact discCompact Disc
The Compact Disc is an optical disc used to store digital data. It was originally developed to store and playback sound recordings exclusively, but later expanded to encompass data storage , write-once audio and data storage , rewritable media , Video Compact Discs , Super Video Compact Discs ,...
s of historic jazz
Jazz
Jazz is a musical style that originated at the beginning of the 20th century in African American communities in the Southern United States. It was born out of a mix of African and European music traditions. From its early development until the present, jazz has incorporated music from 19th and 20th...
and blues
Blues
Blues is the name given to both a musical form and a music genre that originated in African-American communities of primarily the "Deep South" of the United States at the end of the 19th century from spirituals, work songs, field hollers, shouts and chants, and rhymed simple narrative ballads...
recordings originally issued on Black Swan and Paramount. These CDs were issued by George H. Buck's Jazzology
Jazzology Records
Jazzology Records is a United States based record label specializing in traditional jazz.Jazzology was founded in 1949 by George H. Buck, who still runs it, now under the auspices of the George H. Buck, Jr. Foundation, dedicated to the preservation great jazz recordings...
/GHB Record group, which gained rights to the Paramount back-catalogue, but not the Paramount brand name. Rights to the name "Black Swan Records" were also transferred to GHB.