Paramount Records
Encyclopedia
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
.
, was founded in the 1910s as a subsidiary of the Wisconsin Chair Company
of Port Washington, Wisconsin
, Fred Dennett Key, director. The chair company had made some wooden phonograph
cabinets by contract for Edison Records
. Wisconsin Chair decided to start making its own line of phonographs with a subsidiary called the "United Phonograph Corporation" at the end of 1915. It made phonographs under the "Vista" brand name through the end of the decade; the line failed commercially.
In 1918 a line of phonograph gramophone record
s was debuted with the "Paramount" label. They were recorded and pressed by Chair Company subsidiary "The New York Recording Laboratories, Incorporated", which despite its name was located in the same Wisconsin factory complex as the parent concern (advertisements, however, stated somewhat misleadingly, "Paramounts are recorded in our own New York laboratory").
In its initial years, the Paramount label fared only slightly better than the "Vista Phonograph" line. The product had little to distinguish itself. Paramount offered recordings of standard pop-music fare, on records initially recorded with average audio fidelity pressed in average quality shellac
, but with the coming of electric recording, both the audio fidelity and shellac quality went downhill to well below average (although an occasional well pressed record on better shellac have been seen and collected).
In the early 1920s, Paramount was still racking up debts for the Chair Company while producing no net profit. Paramount began offering to press records for other companies at low prices.
. When that later company floundered, Paramount bought out Black Swan and thus got into the business of making recordings by and for African-Americans. These so-called "race music" records became Paramount's most famous and lucrative business (their legendary 12000 series).
Paramount's "race record" series was launched in 1922 with a few vaudeville
blues songs by Lucille Hegamin
and Alberta Hunter
. It had a large mail-order operation that was a key to its early success.
Most of Paramount's race music recordings were arranged by Black entrepreneur J. Mayo Williams
. "Ink" Williams had no official position with Paramount, but was given wide latitude to bring African-American talent to Paramount recording studios and to market Paramount records to African-American consumers. Williams did not know at the time that the "race market" had become Paramount's prime business, and he was essentially keeping the label afloat.
Problems with low audio fidelity and poor pressings continued. Blind Lemon Jefferson
's big 1926 hit, "Got the Blues" and "Long Lonesome Blues", had to be hurriedly rerecorded in the superior facilities of Marsh Laboratories and subsequent releases used that version; since both versions appear on compilation albums, they may be compared.
In 1927, Mayo Williams moved to competitor Okeh Records
, taking Blind Lemon Jefferson with him for just one recording, "Matchbox Blues". Paramount's recording of the same song can be compared with Okeh's on compilation album
s, to Paramount's detriment. In 1929 Paramount was building a new studio in Grafton, Wisconsin
, so it sent Charlie Patton
— 'sent up' by Jackson, Mississippi
storeowner H.C. Speir — to the studio of Gennett Records
in Richmond, Indiana
, where on June 14 he cut 14 famous sides which led many to consider him the "Father of the Delta Blues".
, a label taken over by Paramount following the collapse of Bridgeport Die & Machine Company in 1924. Besides making their own recordings of regional bands and popular artists, Broadway issued scores of records from leased master including those from Emerson, Banner and later Crown. Alternate takes were often found on Broadway. (Based on the number of Broadway Records still found in junk shops, they appeared to have sold rather well.)
drove many record companies out of business. Paramount stopped recording in 1932, and closed down in 1935.
In 1948 the remains of the Paramount Records company were purchased from Wisconsin Chair Company by John Steiner, who revived the label for reissues of important historical Paramount recordings as well as new recordings of jazz and blues. In 1952, Steiner leased reissue rights to a newly-formed jazz label, Riverside Records, which reissued a substantial number of 10" and then 12" LPs by many of the blues singers in the Paramount catalog, as well as instrumental jazz by such Chicago-based notables as Jelly Roll Morton, King Oliver's Creole Jazz Band (which included a very young Louis Armstrong), Johnny Dodds, Muggsy Spanier, and Meade Lux Lewis. Riverside remained active until 1964.
The rights to Paramount's back catalogue were next acquired by George H. Buck in 1970. Buck continues to reissue Paramount recordings as part of his Jazzology Records
group, but use of the name "Paramount Records" was purchased from Buck by Paramount Pictures
, a previously unconnected company.
As happened with a number of record companies in the Great Depression, the majority of Paramount's metal masters were sold for their scrap metal
value. Some of the company's recordings were said to have been thrown into the Milwaukee River
by disgruntled employees when the record company was closing down. In 2006 an episode of PBS television show History Detectives
had local divers searching the river to try to find Paramount masters and unsold 78s, but they were unsuccessful.
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,...
, best known for its recordings of African-American 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...
in the 1920s and early 1930s, including such artists as Ma Rainey
Ma Rainey
Ma Rainey was one of the earliest known American professional blues singers and one of the first generation of such singers to record. She was billed as The Mother of the Blues....
and Blind Lemon Jefferson
Blind Lemon Jefferson
"Blind" Lemon Jefferson was an American blues singer and guitarist from Texas. He was one of the most popular blues singers of the 1920s, and has been titled "Father of the Texas Blues"....
.
Early years
Paramount Records, founded in Grafton, WisconsinGrafton, Wisconsin
Grafton is a village in Ozaukee County, Wisconsin, United States. The population was 10,312 at the 2000 census. The village is adjacent to the Town of Grafton and the City of Cedarburg.-History:...
, was founded in the 1910s as a subsidiary of the Wisconsin Chair Company
Wisconsin Chair Company
The Wisconsin Chair Company was a large factory that for over half a century was the main backbone of Port Washington, Wisconsin. It was destroyed twice: the first time by a huge, devastating fire in 1899 and the second time by demolition in 1959.-Formation:...
of Port Washington, Wisconsin
Port Washington, Wisconsin
Port Washington is the county seat of Ozaukee County in the U.S. state of Wisconsin. The city is about 25 miles north of Milwaukee and 110 miles north of Chicago. In the 2000 census Port Washington had a population of 10,467...
, Fred Dennett Key, director. The chair company had made some wooden phonograph
Phonograph
The phonograph record player, or gramophone is a device introduced in 1877 that has had continued common use for reproducing sound recordings, although when first developed, the phonograph was used to both record and reproduce sounds...
cabinets by contract for Edison Records
Edison Records
Edison Records was one of the earliest record labels which pioneered recorded sound and was an important player in the early recording industry.- Early phonographs before commercial mass produced records :...
. Wisconsin Chair decided to start making its own line of phonographs with a subsidiary called the "United Phonograph Corporation" at the end of 1915. It made phonographs under the "Vista" brand name through the end of the decade; the line failed commercially.
In 1918 a line of phonograph gramophone record
Gramophone record
A gramophone record, commonly known as a phonograph record , vinyl record , or colloquially, a record, is an analog sound storage medium consisting of a flat disc with an inscribed, modulated spiral groove...
s was debuted with the "Paramount" label. They were recorded and pressed by Chair Company subsidiary "The New York Recording Laboratories, Incorporated", which despite its name was located in the same Wisconsin factory complex as the parent concern (advertisements, however, stated somewhat misleadingly, "Paramounts are recorded in our own New York laboratory").
In its initial years, the Paramount label fared only slightly better than the "Vista Phonograph" line. The product had little to distinguish itself. Paramount offered recordings of standard pop-music fare, on records initially recorded with average audio fidelity pressed in average quality shellac
Shellac
Shellac is a resin secreted by the female lac bug, on trees in the forests of India and Thailand. It is processed and sold as dry flakes , which are dissolved in ethyl alcohol to make liquid shellac, which is used as a brush-on colorant, food glaze and wood finish...
, but with the coming of electric recording, both the audio fidelity and shellac quality went downhill to well below average (although an occasional well pressed record on better shellac have been seen and collected).
"Race records"
The Paramount Record's of Grafton, WI, pressing plant was contracted to press discs for Black Swan RecordsBlack Swan Records
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 Americans....
. When that later company floundered, Paramount bought out Black Swan and thus got into the business of making recordings by and for African-Americans. These so-called "race music" records became Paramount's most famous and lucrative business (their legendary 12000 series).
Paramount's "race record" series was launched in 1922 with a few vaudeville
Vaudeville
Vaudeville 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...
blues songs by Lucille Hegamin
Lucille Hegamin
Lucille Nelson Hegamin was an American singer and entertainer, and a pioneer African American blues recording artist.-Life and career:...
and Alberta Hunter
Alberta Hunter
Alberta 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...
. It had a large mail-order operation that was a key to its early success.
Most of Paramount's race music recordings were arranged by Black entrepreneur J. Mayo Williams
J. Mayo Williams
Jay Mayo "Ink" Williams was a pioneering African-American producer of recorded blues music. Ink Williams earned his nickname by his ability to get the signatures of talented African-American musicians on recording contracts...
. "Ink" Williams had no official position with Paramount, but was given wide latitude to bring African-American talent to Paramount recording studios and to market Paramount records to African-American consumers. Williams did not know at the time that the "race market" had become Paramount's prime business, and he was essentially keeping the label afloat.
Problems with low audio fidelity and poor pressings continued. Blind Lemon Jefferson
Blind Lemon Jefferson
"Blind" Lemon Jefferson was an American blues singer and guitarist from Texas. He was one of the most popular blues singers of the 1920s, and has been titled "Father of the Texas Blues"....
's big 1926 hit, "Got the Blues" and "Long Lonesome Blues", had to be hurriedly rerecorded in the superior facilities of Marsh Laboratories and subsequent releases used that version; since both versions appear on compilation albums, they may be compared.
In 1927, Mayo Williams moved to competitor Okeh Records
Okeh Records
Okeh Records began as an independent record label based in the United States of America in 1918. From 1926 on, it was a subsidiary of Columbia Records.-History:...
, taking Blind Lemon Jefferson with him for just one recording, "Matchbox Blues". Paramount's recording of the same song can be compared with Okeh's on compilation album
Compilation album
A compilation album is an album featuring tracks from one or more performers, often culled from a variety of sources The tracks are usually collected according to a common characteristic, such as popularity, genre, source or subject matter...
s, to Paramount's detriment. In 1929 Paramount was building a new studio in Grafton, Wisconsin
Grafton, Wisconsin
Grafton is a village in Ozaukee County, Wisconsin, United States. The population was 10,312 at the 2000 census. The village is adjacent to the Town of Grafton and the City of Cedarburg.-History:...
, so it sent Charlie Patton
Charlie Patton
Charlie Patton , better known as Charley Patton, was an American Delta blues musician. He is considered by many to be the "Father of the Delta Blues", and is credited with creating an enduring body of American music and personally inspiring just about every Delta blues man...
— 'sent up' by Jackson, Mississippi
Jackson, Mississippi
Jackson is the capital and the most populous city of the US state of Mississippi. It is one of two county seats of Hinds County ,. The population of the city declined from 184,256 at the 2000 census to 173,514 at the 2010 census...
storeowner H.C. Speir — to the studio of Gennett Records
Gennett Records
Gennett was a United States based record label which flourished in the 1920s.-Label history:Gennett records was founded in Richmond, Indiana by the Starr Piano Company, and released its first records in October 1917. The company took its name from its top managers: Harry, Fred and Clarence Gennett....
in Richmond, Indiana
Richmond, Indiana
Richmond is a city largely within Wayne Township, Wayne County, in east central Indiana, United States, which borders Ohio. The city also includes the Richmond Municipal Airport, which is in Boston Township and separated from the rest of the city...
, where on June 14 he cut 14 famous sides which led many to consider him the "Father of the Delta Blues".
Broadway Records
As the 12000 race series sold well, Paramount's 20000 popular series floundered. Paramount turned to their dime-store label, BroadwayBroadway Records
Broadway Records was a United States-based record label of the 1920s and 1930s.Broadway Records were first manufactured about 1921 by the Bridgeport Die and Machine Company of Bridgeport, Connecticut. Most of the early issues were from masters recorded by Paramount Records...
, a label taken over by Paramount following the collapse of Bridgeport Die & Machine Company in 1924. Besides making their own recordings of regional bands and popular artists, Broadway issued scores of records from leased master including those from Emerson, Banner and later Crown. Alternate takes were often found on Broadway. (Based on the number of Broadway Records still found in junk shops, they appeared to have sold rather well.)
Depression, closure, reissues
The Great DepressionGreat Depression
The Great Depression was a severe worldwide economic depression in the decade preceding World War II. The timing of the Great Depression varied across nations, but in most countries it started in about 1929 and lasted until the late 1930s or early 1940s...
drove many record companies out of business. Paramount stopped recording in 1932, and closed down in 1935.
In 1948 the remains of the Paramount Records company were purchased from Wisconsin Chair Company by John Steiner, who revived the label for reissues of important historical Paramount recordings as well as new recordings of jazz and blues. In 1952, Steiner leased reissue rights to a newly-formed jazz label, Riverside Records, which reissued a substantial number of 10" and then 12" LPs by many of the blues singers in the Paramount catalog, as well as instrumental jazz by such Chicago-based notables as Jelly Roll Morton, King Oliver's Creole Jazz Band (which included a very young Louis Armstrong), Johnny Dodds, Muggsy Spanier, and Meade Lux Lewis. Riverside remained active until 1964.
The rights to Paramount's back catalogue were next acquired by George H. Buck in 1970. Buck continues to reissue Paramount recordings as part of his Jazzology Records
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...
group, but use of the name "Paramount Records" was purchased from Buck by Paramount Pictures
Paramount Pictures
Paramount Pictures Corporation is an American film production and distribution company, located at 5555 Melrose Avenue in Hollywood. Founded in 1912 and currently owned by media conglomerate Viacom, it is America's oldest existing film studio; it is also the last major film studio still...
, a previously unconnected company.
As happened with a number of record companies in the Great Depression, the majority of Paramount's metal masters were sold for their scrap metal
Scrap Metal
Scrap Metal were a band from Broome, Western Australia who played rock music with elements of country and reggae. The members had Aboriginal, Irish, Filipino, French, Chinese, Scottish, Indonesian and Japanese heritage. The band toured nationally as part of the Bran Nue Dae musical and with...
value. Some of the company's recordings were said to have been thrown into the Milwaukee River
Milwaukee River
The Milwaukee River is a river in the state of Wisconsin. It is about long.- Description :The river begins in Fond du Lac County, Wisconsin and flows south past Grafton to downtown Milwaukee, where it empties into Lake Michigan...
by disgruntled employees when the record company was closing down. In 2006 an episode of PBS television show History Detectives
History Detectives
History Detectives is a documentary television series on PBS. A group of researchers help people to seek answers to various historical questions they have, usually centering around a family heirloom, an old house or other historic object or structure...
had local divers searching the river to try to find Paramount masters and unsold 78s, but they were unsuccessful.
External links
- ParamountsHome.org
- Online Paramount Discography at the Mills Music Library, University of Wisconsin-Madison
- Paramount Album Discography mostly on later Paramount; has some of the label's history wrong