Storyville Records
Encyclopedia
Storyville Records is a large international record label
based in Copenhagen
, Denmark
, specializing in jazz
and blues
music. Besides its original material, Storyville Records has licensed and reissued many vintage jazz recordings that previously appeared on such labels as Paramount Records
, American Music Records
and Southland Records
. Many Storyville gramophone record
s were pressed in Japan
.
Storyville Records was founded in 1952 by Karl Emil Knudsen, a jazz record Danish collector. It is today owned by Edition Wilhelm Hansen, a subsidy under Music Sales Group.
by Karl Emil Knudsen, a jazz record collector, then working for the Copenhagen
telephone company. Named after Storyville
the famous historic red-light district of New Orleans, Louisiana
, its main focus has always been on jazz
and blues
.
The label's first releases were 78 rpm reissues featuring Ma Rainey
, Clarence Williams Blue Five, and James P. Johnson
, but Storyville soon began releasing original recordings, starting with Ken Colyer
's Jazz Men, a British
group whose members included trombonist Chris Barber
, clarinetist Monty Sunshine
, and singer-guitarist
Lonnie Donegan
. Knudsen was also co-founder of the Storyville Club, a popular Copenhagen trad band hangout that brought the Colyer band to Denmark in 1953. The band was recorded by Chris Albertson
during its stay in Denmark and these performances—which constituted the label's first release of original material—remain in the Storyville catalogue. Today, the company's catalogue contains an eclectic representation of jazz genres and has expanded to also include a substantial number of video releases and—under the umbrella company, JazzMedia—jazz and blues-oriented books and discographies. When Karl Emil Knudsen died on September 5, 2003, the company continued to function under the leadership of Anders Stefansen, who remained at the helm in 2005, when it was acquired by Edition Wilhelm Hansen, Denmark's oldest music publishing
company. The label continues to expand its catalog.
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,...
based in Copenhagen
Copenhagen
Copenhagen is the capital and largest city of Denmark, with an urban population of 1,199,224 and a metropolitan population of 1,930,260 . With the completion of the transnational Øresund Bridge in 2000, Copenhagen has become the centre of the increasingly integrating Øresund Region...
, Denmark
Denmark
Denmark is a Scandinavian country in Northern Europe. The countries of Denmark and Greenland, as well as the Faroe Islands, constitute the Kingdom of Denmark . It is the southernmost of the Nordic countries, southwest of Sweden and south of Norway, and bordered to the south by Germany. Denmark...
, specializing in 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...
music. Besides its original material, Storyville Records has licensed and reissued many vintage jazz recordings that previously appeared on such labels as 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:...
, American Music Records
American Music Records
American Music Records is a United States-based record label specializing in traditional New Orleans jazz.The label was founded by William Russell in 1944, who ran the label almost entirely by himself for most of his life...
and Southland Records
Southland Records
Southland Records is a New Orleans, Louisiana based independent record label.Southland was founded c.1948 by Joeseph P. Mares. Mares was the an amateur jazz clarinetist, and the younger brother of noted jazz cornetist Paul Mares...
. Many Storyville 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 were pressed in Japan
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
.
Storyville Records was founded in 1952 by Karl Emil Knudsen, a jazz record Danish collector. It is today owned by Edition Wilhelm Hansen, a subsidy under Music Sales Group.
History
Storyville Records was founded in 19501950 in music
-Events:*January 3 – Sam Phillips launches Sun Records at 706 Union Avenue in Memphis, Tennessee.*August – Herbert Howells' Hymnus Paradisi is premiered at the Three Choirs Festival.*Malcolm Sargent becomes chief conductor of the BBC Symphony Orchestra....
by Karl Emil Knudsen, a jazz record collector, then working for the Copenhagen
Copenhagen
Copenhagen is the capital and largest city of Denmark, with an urban population of 1,199,224 and a metropolitan population of 1,930,260 . With the completion of the transnational Øresund Bridge in 2000, Copenhagen has become the centre of the increasingly integrating Øresund Region...
telephone company. Named after Storyville
Storyville
Storyville was the red-light district of New Orleans, Louisiana, from 1897 through 1917. Locals usually simply referred to the area as The District.-History:...
the famous historic red-light district of New Orleans, Louisiana
New Orleans, Louisiana
New Orleans is a major United States port and the largest city and metropolitan area in the state of Louisiana. The New Orleans metropolitan area has a population of 1,235,650 as of 2009, the 46th largest in the USA. The New Orleans – Metairie – Bogalusa combined statistical area has a population...
, its main focus has always been on 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...
.
The label's first releases were 78 rpm reissues featuring 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....
, Clarence Williams Blue Five, and James P. Johnson
James P. Johnson
James P. Johnson was an American pianist and composer...
, but Storyville soon began releasing original recordings, starting with Ken Colyer
Ken Colyer
Kenneth Colyer was a British jazz trumpeter and cornetist, devoted totally to New Orleans jazz. His band was also known for skiffle interludes.-Biography:...
's Jazz Men, a British
British people
The British are citizens of the United Kingdom, of the Isle of Man, any of the Channel Islands, or of any of the British overseas territories, and their descendants...
group whose members included trombonist Chris Barber
Chris Barber
Donald Christopher 'Chris' Barber is best known as a jazz trombonist. As well as scoring a UK top twenty trad jazz hit he helped the careers of many musicians, notably the blues singer Ottilie Patterson, who was at one time his wife, and vocalist/banjoist Lonnie Donegan, whose appearances with...
, clarinetist Monty Sunshine
Monty Sunshine
Monty Sunshine was an English jazz clarinetist, whose main claim to fame was his clarinet solo on the track "Petite Fleur", a million seller for the Chris Barber Jazz Band in 1959...
, and singer-guitarist
Guitarist
A guitarist is a musician who plays the guitar. Guitarists may play a variety of instruments such as classical guitars, acoustic guitars, electric guitars, and bass guitars. Some guitarists accompany themselves on the guitar while singing.- Versatility :The guitarist controls an extremely...
Lonnie Donegan
Lonnie Donegan
Anthony James "Lonnie" Donegan MBE was a skiffle musician, with more than 20 UK Top 30 hits to his name. He is known as the "King of Skiffle" and is often cited as a large influence on the generation of British musicians who became famous in the 1960s...
. Knudsen was also co-founder of the Storyville Club, a popular Copenhagen trad band hangout that brought the Colyer band to Denmark in 1953. The band was recorded by Chris Albertson
Chris Albertson
Christiern Gunnar Albertson is a New York City-based jazz journalist, writer and record producer.He was born in Reykjavík and educated in Iceland, Denmark and England before studying commercial art in Copenhagen...
during its stay in Denmark and these performances—which constituted the label's first release of original material—remain in the Storyville catalogue. Today, the company's catalogue contains an eclectic representation of jazz genres and has expanded to also include a substantial number of video releases and—under the umbrella company, JazzMedia—jazz and blues-oriented books and discographies. When Karl Emil Knudsen died on September 5, 2003, the company continued to function under the leadership of Anders Stefansen, who remained at the helm in 2005, when it was acquired by Edition Wilhelm Hansen, Denmark's oldest music publishing
Publishing
Publishing is the process of production and dissemination of literature or information—the activity of making information available to the general public...
company. The label continues to expand its catalog.
Jazz
- Louis ArmstrongLouis ArmstrongLouis Armstrong , nicknamed Satchmo or Pops, was an American jazz trumpeter and singer from New Orleans, Louisiana....
- Sharkey BonanoSharkey BonanoJoseph "Sharkey" Bonano was a jazz trumpeter, band leader, and vocalist....
- Papa BuePapa BueArne "Papa" Bue Jensen , known as Papa Bue, was a Danish trombonist and bandleader, chiefly associated with the Dixieland jazz revival style of which he was considered an important proponent. He founded and led the Viking Jazz Band, which was active from 1956.-Early life and career:Arne Bue Jensen...
- Miles DavisMiles DavisMiles Dewey Davis III was an American jazz musician, trumpeter, bandleader, and composer. Widely considered one of the most influential musicians of the 20th century, Miles Davis was, with his musical groups, at the forefront of several major developments in jazz music, including bebop, cool jazz,...
- Kenny DrewKenny DrewKenneth Sidney "Kenny" Drew was an American jazz pianist.-Biography:Born in New York City, New York, he first recorded with Howard McGhee in 1949, and over the next two years recorded with Buddy DeFranco, Coleman Hawkins, Milt Jackson, Charlie Parker, Buddy Rich, and Dinah Washington...
- Duke EllingtonDuke EllingtonEdward Kennedy "Duke" Ellington was an American composer, pianist, and big band leader. Ellington wrote over 1,000 compositions...
- Stan GetzStan GetzStanley Getz was an American jazz saxophone player. Getz was known as "The Sound" because of his warm, lyrical tone, his prime influence being the wispy, mellow timbre of his idol, Lester Young. Coming to prominence in the late 1940s with Woody Herman's big band, Getz is described by critic Scott...
- Art TatumArt TatumArthur "Art" Tatum, Jr. was an American jazz pianist and virtuoso who played with phenomenal facility despite being nearly blind.Tatum is widely acknowledged as one of the greatest jazz pianists of all time...
- Dexter GordonDexter GordonDexter Gordon was an American jazz tenor saxophonist and an Academy Award-nominated actor . He is regarded as one of the first and most important musicians to adapt the bebop musical language of people like Charlie Parker, Dizzy Gillespie, and Bud Powell to the tenor saxophone...
- Coleman HawkinsColeman HawkinsColeman Randolph Hawkins was an American jazz tenor saxophonist. Hawkins was one of the first prominent jazz musicians on his instrument. As Joachim E. Berendt explained, "there were some tenor players before him, but the instrument was not an acknowledged jazz horn"...
- Woody HermanWoody HermanWoodrow Charles Herman , known as Woody Herman, was an American jazz clarinetist, alto and soprano saxophonist, singer, and big band leader. Leading various groups called "The Herd," Herman was one of the most popular of the 1930s and '40s bandleaders...
- Earl HinesEarl HinesEarl Kenneth Hines, universally known as Earl "Fatha" Hines, was an American jazz pianist. Hines was one of the most influential figures in the development of modern jazz piano and, according to one source, is "one of a small number of pianists whose playing shaped the history of jazz".-Early...
- Billie HolidayBillie HolidayBillie Holiday was an American jazz singer and songwriter. Nicknamed "Lady Day" by her friend and musical partner Lester Young, Holiday had a seminal influence on jazz and pop singing...
- Clint HoustonClint HoustonClinton Joseph Houston was an American jazz double-bassist.Houston played with George Cables and Lenny White in the house band at Slugs, a club in New York City, then played with Nina Simone , Roy Haynes , Sonny Greenwich and Don Thompson , Roy Ayers , Charles Tolliver , Stan Getz , and Woody Shaw...
- Gene KrupaGene KrupaGene Krupa was an American jazz and big band drummer and composer, known for his highly energetic and flamboyant style.-Biography:...
- George LewisGeorge Lewis (clarinetist)George Lewis was an American jazz clarinetist who achieved his greatest fame and influence in the later decades of his life.-Ancestry:...
- Thelonious MonkThelonious MonkThelonious Sphere Monk was an American jazz pianist and composer considered "one of the giants of American music". Monk had a unique improvisational style and made numerous contributions to the standard jazz repertoire, including "Epistrophy", "'Round Midnight", "Blue Monk", "Straight, No Chaser"...
- Charlie ParkerCharlie ParkerCharles Parker, Jr. , famously called Bird or Yardbird, was an American jazz saxophonist and composer....
- Ralph SuttonRalph SuttonRalph Earl Sutton was an American jazz pianist born in Hamburg, Missouri. He was a stride pianist in the tradition of James P. Johnson and Fats Waller....
- Jack TeagardenJack TeagardenWeldon Leo "Jack" Teagarden , known as "Big T" and "The Swingin' Gate", was an influential jazz trombonist, bandleader, composer, and vocalist, regarded as the "Father of Jazz Trombone".-Early life:...
- Lester YoungLester YoungLester Willis Young , nicknamed "Prez", was an American jazz tenor saxophonist and clarinetist. He also played trumpet, violin, and drums....
- Stuff SmithStuff SmithHezekiah Leroy Gordon Smith , better known as Stuff Smith, was a jazz violinist. He is known well for the song "If You're a Viper".-Biography:...
- Charles TylerCharles Tyler (musician)Charles Lacy Tyler was an American jazz baritone saxophonist.Tyler was born in Cadiz, Kentucky and spent his childhood years in Indiana, New York City and Cleveland, Ohio...
Blues
- Big Bill BroonzyBig Bill BroonzyBig Bill Broonzy was a prolific American blues singer, songwriter and guitarist. His career began in the 1920s when he played country blues to mostly black audiences. Through the ‘30s and ‘40s he successfully navigated a transition in style to a more urban blues sound popular with white audiences...
- Eddie Clearwater
- Jimmy DawkinsJimmy DawkinsJames Henry "Jimmy" Dawkins is an American Chicago blues and electric blues guitarist and singer. He is generally considered a part of the "West Side Sound" of Chicago blues.-Career:...
- Champion Jack DupreeChampion Jack DupreeWilliam Thomas Dupree, best known as Champion Jack Dupree, was an American blues pianist. His birth date is disputed, given as July 4, July 10, and July 23, in the years 1908, 1909, or 1910. He died on January 21, 1992.-Biography:...
- Snooks EaglinSnooks EaglinSnooks Eaglin, born Fird Eaglin, Jr. , was a New Orleans-based guitarist and singer. He was also referred to as Blind Snooks Eaglin in his early years....
- Lonnie JohnsonLonnie JohnsonAlonzo "Lonnie" Johnson was an American blues and jazz singer/guitarist and songwriter who pioneered the role of jazz guitar and is recognized as the first to play single-string guitar solos...
- Memphis SlimMemphis SlimMemphis Slim was an American blues pianist, singer, and composer. He led a series of bands that, reflecting the popular appeal of jump blues, included saxophones, bass, drums, and piano. A song he first cut in 1947, "Every Day I Have the Blues", has become a blues standard, recorded by many other...
- Otis SpannOtis SpannOtis Spann was an American blues musician, who many consider the leading postwar Chicago blues pianist.-Career:Born in Jackson, Mississippi, United States, Spann became known for his distinct piano style....
- Big Joe WilliamsBig Joe WilliamsJoseph Lee Williams , billed throughout his career as Big Joe Williams, was an American Delta blues guitarist, singer and songwriter, notable for the distinctive sound of his nine-string guitar...
- Sonny Boy WilliamsonSonny Boy Williamson IIWillie "Sonny Boy" Williamson was an American blues harmonica player, singer and songwriter, from Mississippi. He is acknowledged as one of the most charismatic and influential blues musicians, with considerable prowess on the harmonica and highly creative songwriting skills...
External links
- Official site
- Illustrated Storyville Records discography (emphasis on blues)