| Circle Records | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Parent company | Jazzology |
| Founded | 1946 |
| Founder | Rudi Blesh Harriet Janis |
| Genre | Jazz |
| Country of origin | U.S. |
| Location | New Orleans |
| Official website | www |
Circle Records is a jazz record label founded in 1946 by Rudi Blesh and Harriet Janis. [1]
In New York, Blesh and Janis heard jazz drummer Warren "Baby" Dodds playing inventive solos with Bunk Johnson's band. Blesh said he hated drum solos until he saw Dodds. To record Dodds and others, they started Circle Records. The name was given by fellow audience member Marcel Duchamp.
Circle recorded traditional jazz of the time, and its releases included Chippie Hill, George Lewis, and broadcasts of Blesh's This is Jazz radio show. The label was the first to release Jelly Roll Morton's Library of Congress recordings. Blesh and Janis continued the label until 1952. [1] Circle Records also released modern classical music by artists including Henry Cowell and Paul Hindemith.
Circle was bought in the mid-1960s by George H. Buck, Jr. The Circle catalog is now under the control of the George H. Buck Jr. Jazz Foundation. Some of the original Circle recordings have been reissued on compact disc through other labels controlled by the George H. Buck Jr. Jazz Foundation, including American Music, Southland, [nb 1] and Jazzology. [nb 2]
This Circle Records is not to be confused with the German record label of the same name. [1]
The first record issued by Circle Records was by the Baby Dodds Trio. Many of their subsequent releases were albums of from two to four 10", 78 RPM shellac records, issued in a binder. Many of the albums included cover art by Jimmy Ernst or Charles Alston.
| Catalog No. | Artist | Title | Personnel | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| J-1001 | Baby Dodds Trio | "Wolverine Blues / Drum Improvisation No. 1" [4] [5] | Clarinet– Albert Nicholas Piano – Don Ewell Drums – Baby Dodds | Later included on Circle album S-17 |
| C-1 | Chippie Hill | "Chippie Hill And The Blues: Now Appearing At The Village Vanguard" | Trumpet – Lee Collins Piano – Lovie Austin, J.H. Shayne Bass – John Lindsay Drums – Baby Dodds | Two 78 RPM records. Reissued on Riverside Records RLP 1059 |
| S-1 | Original Zenith Brass Band | "Marching Jazz" [6] [nb 3] | Trumpet – Kid Howard, Peter Bocage Trombone – Jim Robinson Clarinet – George Lewis Baritone Horn – Harrison Barnes Mellophone – Isidore Barbarin Tuba – Joe Howard Bass Drum – Lawrence Marrero Snare Drum – Baby Dodds | Cover art by Charles Alston. Three 78 RPM records. Reissued on Riverside Records RLP 1058 |
| S-2 | Montana Taylor | "Barrel House Blues" | Piano – Montana Taylor | Three 78 RPM records. |
| S-3 | Dan Burley | "South Side Shake" [8] | Guitar – Brownie McGhee, Globe Trotter McGhee Piano – Dan Burley Bass – Pops Foster | Three 78 RPM records. |
| S-8 | Tony Parenti's Ragtimers | "The Ragtime Band" [9] | Cornet – Wild Bill Davison Trombone – Jimmy Archey Clarinet – Tony Parenti Piano – Ralph Sutton Banjo – Danny Barker Tuba – Cy St. Clair Drums – Baby Dodds | Three 78 RPM records. Reissued on Riverside Records RLP 12-205 |
| S-9 | Wild Bill Davison | "Wild Bill Davison Showcase" [10] | Cornet – Wild Bill Davison Trombone – Jimmy Archey Clarinet, Bassoon – Garvin Bushell Piano, Celeste – Ralph Sutton Bass – Sid Weiss Drums – Morey Feld | Three 78 RPM records. Reissued on Circle Records LP L-405 |
| S-15 | The All Star Stompers | "This Is Jazz, Vol. 3" [11] | Cornet – Wild Bill Davison Trombone – Jimmy Archey Clarinet – Edmond Hall, Albert Nicholas Piano – Ralph Sutton, James P. Johnson Guitar – Danny Barker Bass – Pops Foster Drums – Baby Dodds | Three 78 RPM records. Material recorded for Rudi Blesh's radio show “This Is Jazz” |
| S-20 | Ralph Sutton | "St. Louis Piano" | Piano – Ralph Sutton | Two 78 RPM records. |
| S-21 | Tony Parenti's Ragpickers | "Tony Parenti's Ragpickers" [12] | Clarinet – Tony Parenti Piano – Ralph Sutton Drums – George Wettling | Three 78 RPM records. Reissued on Riverside Records RLP 12-205 |
| L-51-100 | Paul Hindemith | Four Compositions By Paul Hindemith | Released on LP. Part of the Composer's Workshop series. | |
| L-51-101 | Henry Cowell | The Piano Music Of Henry Cowell | Released on LP. Part of the Composer's Workshop series. | |
| Vol. I to Vol. XII | Jelly Roll Morton | "The Saga Of Mr. Jelly Lord" | Piano, Vocals – Jelly Roll Morton | The Library of Congress recordings, released as a series of albums with three or four 78 RPM red vinyl records. Reissued by Circle as L 14001 to L 14012; and by Riverside as RLP 9001 to RLP 9012. [13] |
Circle Records was reactivated and is used by the George H. Buck Jr. Jazz Foundation to release swing music. The reactivated Circle label put out recordings from the Lang-Worth and World transcriptions. [14]
Ragtime – also spelled rag-time or rag time – is a musical style that enjoyed its peak popularity between 1895 and 1919. Its cardinal trait is its syncopated or "ragged" rhythm. Ragtime was popularized during the early 20th century by ragtime composer Scott Joplin and his school of classical ragtime which was survived by James Scott and Joseph Lamb after Joplin's death in 1917. Maple Leaf Rag, The Entertainer, Fig Leaf Rag, Frog Legs Rag, and Sensation Rag, among others, are among the most popular songs of the genre. Ragtime was an immediate precursor to jazz.
Scott Joplin was an African-American composer and pianist. Joplin is also known as the "King of Ragtime" because of the fame achieved for his ragtime compositions, music that was born out of the African-American community. During his brief career, he wrote over 40 original ragtime pieces, one ragtime ballet, and two operas. One of his first and most popular pieces, the "Maple Leaf Rag", became ragtime's first and most influential hit, and has been recognized as the archetypal rag. Joplin considered ragtime to be a form of classical music and largely disdained the practice of ragtime such as that in honky tonk.
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James Price Johnson was an American pianist and composer. A pioneer of stride piano, he was one of the most important pianists in the early era of recording, and like Jelly Roll Morton, one of the key figures in the evolution of ragtime into what was eventually called jazz. Johnson was a major influence on Count Basie, Duke Ellington, Art Tatum, and Fats Waller, who was his student.
American Music Records is a jazz record company and label that was established by Bill Russell in 1944.
George Lewis was an American jazz clarinetist who achieved his highest profile in the later decades of his life.
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Jazzology Records is an American jazz record company and label. It is part of the Jazzology group of labels owned and operated by the George H. Buck Jr. Jazz Foundation.
Tony Parenti was an American jazz clarinettist and saxophonist born in New Orleans, Louisiana, United States. After starting his musical career in New Orleans, he had a successful career in music in New York City for decades.
Rudolph Pickett Blesh was an American jazz critic and enthusiast.
Richard MacQueen Wellstood was an American jazz pianist.
Paul Bacon was an American book and album cover designer and jazz musician. He is known for introducing the "Big Book Look" in book jacket design, and designed about 6,500 jackets and more than 200 jazz record covers.
Audiophile Records is a record company and label founded in 1947 by Ewing Dunbar Nunn to produce recordings of Dixieland jazz. A very few of the early pressings were classical music, Robert Noehren on pipe organ, AP-2 and AP-9 for example.
Harry Blons(néHarry Raymond Yblonski; 29 November 1911 Saint Paul, Minnesota — 20 July 1987 Minneapolis, Minnesota) was an American jazz clarinetist from Minnesota. He performed with the touring groups of Hal McIntyre, Red Nichols, and Red Dougherty. He had performed with jazz combos in Saint Paul and Minneapolis.
George Herman Buck Jr. was an American entrepreneur who devoted much of his life to recording jazz by producing albums and acquiring the rights to those produced by companies established by others. Buck acquired the inventories of record labels and transcription discs made by radio broadcasting companies decades earlier. He was a major record collector. Until his death at age 84, he ran his businesses and philanthropy. He began his radio career as a partner in radio station WJNO in West Palm Beach.
The George H. Buck Jr. Jazz Foundation was created by George Buck in the 1980s to maintain the catalog of his jazz record labels. The catalog includes dixieland jazz, swing, blues, rhythm and blues, gospel, and cabaret music.
Solo Art Records is a U.S. based record label and was purchased by Rudi Blesh and Harriet Janis from the original owner in 1946 and run alongside their Circle label. It had issued recordings of solo jazz and blues piano on 78s. The label was sold with the Circle label to the George H. Buck Jr. Jazz Foundation Inc., located in New Orleans, Louisiana, in 1979.
Jazz Information was an American non-commercial weekly jazz publication founded as a record collector's sheet in 1939 by Eugene Williams (1918–1948), Ralph Gleason, Ralph de Toledano, and Jean Rayburn, who married Ralph Gleason in 1940. The first issue, dated September 8, 1939, was a four-page newsletter that was mimeographed late one night in the back room of the Commodore Music Shop in Manhattan at 46 West 52nd Street. The publication ran sporadically until November 1941.
Donald Ashwander (1929–1994) was an American composer in the contemporary ragtime movement. Much of his printed music was not available to the general public until 1996, two years after his death.
They All Played Ragtime is a non-fiction book by journalist Rudi Blesh and author Harriet Janis, originally published by Grove Press in 1950. It was subsequently reissued in 1959, 1966, and 1971 by Oak Publications, and in 2007 by Nelson Press. According to the Preface to the Fourth Edition, by Rudi Blesh, the book was conceived and researched largely by Harriet Janis, who died in 1963. It is generally recognized as the pioneering and first serious book to document the history and major composers of ragtime in America, and has been referred to as The Bible of Ragtime.
