Decca Records is a British record label established in 1929 by Edward Lewis. Its U.S. label was established in late 1934 by Lewis, American Decca's first president Jack Kapp and later American Decca president Milton Rackmil. In 1937, anticipating Nazi aggression leading to World War II, Lewis sold American Decca and the link between the UK and U.S. Decca labels was broken for several decades. The British label was renowned for its development of recording methods, while the American company developed the concept of cast albums in the musical genre.
Mercury Records was an American record label that had significant success as an independent operation in the 1940s and 1950s. Smash Records and Fontana Records were sub labels of Mercury. Later Mercury was owned by Philips, PolyGram, and Universal Music Group. In the United States, it operated through Island Records; in the United Kingdom, it was distributed by EMI Records.
MGM Records was a record label founded by the Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer film studio in 1946 for the purpose of releasing soundtrack recordings of their musical films. It transitioned into a pop music label that continued into the 1970s. The company also released soundtrack albums of the music for some of their non-musical films as well, and on rare occasions, cast albums of off-Broadway musicals such as The Fantasticks and the 1954 revival of The Threepenny Opera. In one instance, it released the highly successful soundtrack album of a film made by another studio, Columbia Pictures's Born Free (1966).
Vee-Jay Records is an American record label founded in the 1950s, located in Chicago and specializing in blues, jazz, rhythm and blues and rock and roll.
Verve Records is an American record label owned by Universal Music Group (UMG). Founded in 1956 by Norman Granz, the label is home to the world's largest jazz catalogue, which includes recordings by artists such as Ella Fitzgerald, Nina Simone, Stan Getz, Bill Evans, Billie Holiday, and Oscar Peterson, among others. It absorbed the catalogues of Granz's earlier labels, Clef Records, founded in 1946, Norgran Records, founded in 1953, and material previously licensed to Mercury Records.
Joe Henderson was an American jazz tenor saxophonist. In a career spanning more than four decades, Henderson played with many of the leading American players of his day and recorded for several prominent labels, including Blue Note, Milestone, and Verve.
ABKCO Music & Records, Inc. is a major American independent record label, music publisher, and film and video production company. It owns and/or administers the rights to music by Sam Cooke, the Rolling Stones, the Animals, Herman's Hermits, Marianne Faithfull, Dishwalla, the Kinks as well as the Cameo Parkway label, which includes recordings by such artists as Chubby Checker, Bobby Rydell, the Orlons, the Dovells, Question Mark & the Mysterians, the Tymes and Dee Dee Sharp. Until 2009, ABKCO administered Philles Records and its master recordings, including hits by the Righteous Brothers, the Ronettes, the Crystals and others.
Impulse! Records is an American jazz record company and label established by Creed Taylor in 1960. John Coltrane was among Impulse!'s earliest signings. Thanks to consistent sales and positive critiques of his recordings, the label came to be known as "the house that Trane built".
Bizarre Records, self-identified simply as Bizarre, was a production company and record label formed for artists discovered by rock musician Frank Zappa and his business partner/manager Herb Cohen.
Betty Carter was an American jazz singer known for her improvisational technique, scatting and other complex musical abilities that demonstrated her vocal talent and imaginative interpretation of lyrics and melodies. Vocalist Carmen McRae once remarked: "There's really only one jazz singer—only one: Betty Carter."
Melodiya is a Russian record label. It was the state-owned major record company of the Soviet Union.
Helen Merrill is an American jazz vocalist. Her first album, the eponymous 1954 recording Helen Merrill, was an immediate success and associated her with the first generation of bebop jazz musicians. After an active 1950s and 1960s, Merrill spent time recording and touring in Europe and Japan, falling into obscurity in the United States. In the 1980s and '90s, she was under contract with Verve and high-profile performances in America returned her to prominence. Known for her emotional, sensual vocal performances, her career continues in its sixth decade with concerts and recordings.
Shirley Valerie Horn was an American jazz singer and pianist. She collaborated with many jazz musicians including Miles Davis, Dizzy Gillespie, Toots Thielemans, Ron Carter, Carmen McRae, Wynton Marsalis and others. She was most noted for her ability to accompany herself with nearly incomparable independence and ability on the piano while singing, something described by arranger Johnny Mandel as "like having two heads", and for her rich, lush voice, a smoky contralto, which was described by noted producer and arranger Quincy Jones as "like clothing, as she seduces you with her voice".
Regina Carter is an American jazz violinist. She is the cousin of jazz saxophonist James Carter.
The Audience with Betty Carter is a 1980 live double album by the American jazz singer Betty Carter.
I'm Yours, You're Mine is a 1997 studio album by the American jazz singer Betty Carter. Recorded in January 1996, this was the last album that Carter recorded before her death in September 1998.
The Betty Carter Album is a 1976 album by Betty Carter. It is unique among her albums in its use of overdubbing on some tracks to allow her to record multiple vocal lines. It was also her first album for which she wrote the majority of the songs herself.
Betty Carter at the Village Vanguard is a 1970 live album by Betty Carter featuring her performing with her trio at the Village Vanguard. It was Carter's first live album to be released, and the first album issued on her own label, Bet-Car Records. Originally eponymously titled, it was given its present title for its 1993 release on CD by Verve Records.
"Mean to Me" is a popular song with music by Fred E. Ahlert and lyrics by Roy Turk, published in 1929. Hit versions that year were by Ruth Etting and by Helen Morgan. Ben Bernie and the Hotel Roosevelt Orchestra also recorded what might be the first male version in February 1929 with vocals by Scrappy Albert.
Live in Paris is a 1987 live album by American jazz singer Dee Dee Bridgewater. The concert was recorded on 24–25 November, 1986 at the jazz club New Morning in Paris. She is accompanied by her piano trio of the time. The repertoire reaches from jazz standards including Miles Davis' "All Blues" and the up-tempo "Cherokee" mostly associated with Charlie Parker, and sung by Sarah Vaughan, a "Blues Medley" to Aretha Franklin's Dr. Feelgood. She seemed leave her disco-funk efforts in America behind. Her following album Victim of Love would be another, before she left pop productions for good.
