Dawn Records (American label)

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Dawn Records was an American record label. It was founded as a subsidiary of Seeco Records in 1954 and was run by Sidney Siegel.

A record label, or record company, is a brand or trademark associated with the marketing of music recordings and music videos. Sometimes, a record label is also a publishing company that manages such brands and trademarks, coordinates the production, manufacture, distribution, marketing, promotion, and enforcement of copyright for sound recordings and music videos, while also conducting talent scouting and development of new artists, and maintaining contracts with recording artists and their managers. The term "record label" derives from the circular label in the center of a vinyl record which prominently displays the manufacturer's name, along with other information. Within the mainstream music industry, recording artists have traditionally been reliant upon record labels to broaden their consumer base, market their albums, and be both promoted and heard on music streaming services, radio, and television. Record labels also provide publicists, who assist performers in gaining positive media coverage, and arrange for their merchandise to be available via stores and other media outlets.

Dawn first started issuing albums in the mid-1950s, releasing primarily jazz, but also pop, R&B, and folk revival material. While it was active only for a few years, it released a number of significant jazz releases. Its holdings were bought later by Biograph Records and then by Fresh Sound Records, both of which reissued much of its catalog on CD. [1]

Biograph Records is a record label founded in 1967 by Arnold S. Caplin that specialized in early American ragtime, jazz, and blues music. Its reissues includes Bunny Berigan, Bing Crosby, The California Ramblers, Ruth Etting, Benny Goodman, Earl Hines, George Lewis, Ted Lewis, Jimmy O'Bryant, Jabbo Smith, Jack Teagarden, Ethel Waters, and Clarence Williams. The company's label are Melodeon, Center, Regal and Dawn.

Artists

Al Cohn American saxophonist

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Paul Quinichette was an American jazz musician who played the tenor saxophone. He was known as the "Vice President" or "Vice Prez" for his uncanny emulation of the breathy style of Lester Young, known as "Prez". Young, who affectionately called everyone "Lady ****", called him "Lady Q". He was also capable of a gruffer style on his own.

Mat Mathews, born Mathieu Hubert Wijnandts Schwarts, was a Dutch jazz accordionist.

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Zoot Sims jazz musician

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John Surman British saxophonist and clarinetist

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Pacific Jazz Records was a Los Angeles-based record company and label best known for cool jazz or West coast jazz. It was founded in 1952 by producer Richard Bock (1927–1988) and drummer Roy Harte (1924–2003). Harte, in 1954, also co-founded Nocturne Records with jazz bassist Harry Babasin (1921–1988).

<i>Kulu Sé Mama</i> 1967 studio album by John Coltrane

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Where Fortune Smiles is a jazz fusion LP credited to John McLaughlin, John Surman, Dave Holland, Karl Berger, and Stu Martin on Dawn Records DNLS ASD 3018, which was recorded in 1970 and released in 1971 in a stereo format.

Windham Hill Records record label

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<i>The Modern Art of Jazz by Randy Weston</i> album by Randy Weston

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"The Old Master Painter" is a song composed by Beasley Smith with lyrics by Haven Gillespie about a spiritual rendering of a sunset which evokes God. Published in 1949, it has since been recorded by many different artists, including Jackie Paris, Richard Hayes, Frank Sinatra, Snooky Lanson, Peggy Lee, Phil Harris and Mel Tormé.

Invitation is a song by Bronisław Kaper with lyrics by Paul Francis Webster, originally used in the film A Life of Her Own (1950). Though it was nominated for a Golden Globe award for Best Score in the original film, it only became a jazz standard after being used as the theme in the 1952 film Invitation. Tony Thomas notes that it was selected for the film for its degree of poignance. It is considered to be Kaper's second best known song after "On Green Dolphin Street". Jazzstandards.com describes it as a "lush and haunting score", and notes that it is most associated with John Coltrane, who recorded it in 1958. Howard Morgen, who arranged it for guitar, writes that the "haunting" tune has "long been recognized by jazz players for its potential as an interesting mood piece" and "still sounds fresh and contemporary today".

<i>The Modern Art of Jazz by Zoot Sims</i> album by Zoot Sims

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References

  1. "Dawn". The New Grove Dictionary of Jazz . 2nd edition, ed. Barry Kernfeld, 2004.