| Project 3 Records | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Founded | 1966 |
| Founder | Enoch Light |
| Status | Inactive |
| Genre | Pop, Jazz |
| Country of origin | U.S. |
| Location | New York, NY |
Project 3 Records was a record label founded in 1966 by Enoch Light, featuring LPs of pop and jazz performances employing high quality stereo recording techniques, marketed at premium prices.
American musician, bandleader, and recording engineer Enoch Light founded Project 3 Records in August 1966. It was a joint undertaking with sewing machine manufacturer The Singer Company. Singer had entered the home entertainment and music business several years earlier as part of its diversification process, with a line of battery-operated phonographs. In 1963 Singer had also acquired KLH Research and Development Corporation, manufacturer of KLH loudspeakers, and stereo and radio products. [1]
Project 3 was Light's industry move after having headed up Command Records at ABC-Paramount Records for six years. He founded the Command label in 1959, sold it to ABC in October that year, and ran the label as an autonomous division until his departure in 1965. [2] The new label was targeted to release recordings in the Command vein, employing quality stereo recording techniques, marketed at a premium price. Albums were released in three formats, as phonograph records, reel-to-reel pre-recorded tapes, and 8-track tapes. [1]
Project 3 artists, some of whom had recorded for Light on Command, included Tony Mottola, Bobby Hackett, Buddy Greco, Stan Freeman, and Peter Matz, in addition to Enoch Light and the Light Brigade.
In 1973, with the imprimatur of Popular Science magazine, Project 3 released a test record to set up and calibrate 4-channel quadraphonic sound. [3]
A year later, the label released a quadraphonic test record produced for Fisher Electronics. [4] The liner notes described the unique test disk:
Light continued to direct Project 3 until his death in August 1978. [5] The label was acquired by record industry executive Herb Linsky in June 1979. [6]
In 1980, Linsky entered into licensing arrangements to release sessions by Larry Elgart and his Orchestra, Louis Armstrong, and Paul Whiteman. [7] He also signed a deal for national distribution of Project 3 recordings by Arista Records. [8]
In July 1982, Linsky launched Project 3's midline label, Seagull Records. [9]
In September 1991, Linsky sold Project 3 to Essex Entertainment, [10] a New Jersey–based company engaged in music licensing and allied activities. [11]
| Artist | Title | Catalog No. | Year |
|---|---|---|---|
| Spanish Strings | Enoch Light & The Light Brigade | PR500SD | 1966 |
| The Kissin' Cousins | The Kissin' Cousins Sing | PR5001SD | 1966 |
| Tony Mottola | Heart & Soul Guitar | PR5003SD | 1966 |
| Top Hits . . . C. 1420-1635 A.D. | The Renaissance Quartet | PR7000SD | 1966 |
| That Midnight Touch | Bobby Hackett | PR5006SD | 1967 |
| Urbie Green and Twenty of the "World's Greatest" | Twenty-One Trombones | PR50014SD | 1967 |
| The Free Design | Kites Are Fun | PR50019SD | 1967 |
| Pearl Bailey | The Real Pearl | PR50022SD | 1967 |
| Jerry Goldsmith | Planet of the Apes (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack) | PR50023SD | 1968 |
| Enoch Light and The Brass Menagerie | Enoch Light and The Brass Menagerie | PR50036SD | 1969 |
Source: "Project 3 Total Sound". discogs.com.
The 8-track tape is a magnetic-tape sound recording technology that was popular from the mid-1960s to the early 1980s, when the compact cassette, which pre-dated the 8-track system, surpassed it in popularity for pre-recorded music.
Columbia Records is an American record label owned by Sony Music Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Corporation of America, the American division of multinational conglomerate Sony. Columbia is the oldest surviving brand name in the recorded sound business, and the second major company to produce records. From 1961 to 1991, its recordings were released outside North America under the name CBS Records to avoid confusion with EMI's Columbia Graphophone Company. Columbia is one of Sony Music's four flagship record labels: Epic Records, and former longtime rivals, RCA Records and Arista Records as the latter two were originally owned by BMG before its 2008 relaunch after Sony's acquisition alongside other BMG labels.
RCA Records is an American record label owned by Sony Music Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Group Corporation.
Brunswick Records is an American record label founded in 1916.
Quadraphonic sound – equivalent to what is now called 4.0 surround sound – uses four audio channels in which speakers are positioned at the four corners of a listening space. The system allows for the reproduction of sound signals that are independent of one another.
Shelter Records was a U.S. record label started by Leon Russell and Denny Cordell that operated from 1969 to 1981. The company established offices in both Los Angeles and Tulsa, Russell's home town, where the label sought to promote a "workshop atmosphere" with a recording studio in a converted church, adjoining houses for artists working at the studio, and other facilities. The Tulsa recording studio was housed in the historic The Church Studio. Russell remained with Shelter until 1976, when he and Cordell fell out. In a settlement, Cordell then became sole owner of the label, while Russell left to start his own label, Paradise Records.
Waldorf Music Hall Records was a budget record label exclusively sold in Woolworth stores from 1954 to 1959. Waldorf was headed by Enoch Light and based in Harrison, New Jersey. Light's business partners in this venture were Casper Pinsker and Dick Davemos. The business model for Waldorf Music Hall appears to have been inspired by the popularity of the Your Hit Parade television program. In the 1950s it was common to refer to Waldorf Music Hall, and other labels like it, as 'Hit Parader Records.'
Command Records was a record label founded by Enoch Light in 1959 and, in October that year, was acquired by ABC-Paramount Records. Light produced a majority of the releases in the label's catalog.
LeFrak-Moelis Records was a New York City-based record label founded by Samuel J. LeFrak of the LeFrak Organization and Herb Moelis, an executive who had worked for Columbia Pictures' music division, and later, Kirshner Entertainment. They had initial success in the late 1980s and early 1990s with Miami-based freestyle artist Stevie B. Other artists that LMR had in its roster included Maestro Fresh Wes, Daisy Dee and Jaya.
Enoch Henry Light was an American classically trained violinist, danceband leader, and recording engineer. As the leader of various dance bands that recorded as early as March 1927 and continuing through at least 1940, Light and his band primarily worked in various hotels in New York. For a time in 1928 he also led a band in Paris. In the 1930s Light also studied conducting with the French conductor Maurice Frigara in Paris.
Lady in Satin is an album by the jazz singer Billie Holiday released in 1958 on Columbia Records, catalogue CL 1157 in mono and CS 8048 in stereo. It is the penultimate album completed by the singer, and the last to be released in her lifetime. Her final album, Last Recording, was recorded in March 1959, and released just after her death. The original album was produced by Irving Townsend and engineered by Fred Plaut.
Anthony C. "Tony" Mottola was an American jazz guitarist who released dozens of solo albums. Mottola was born in Kearny, New Jersey and died in Denville.
DiscReet Records, self-identified simply as DiscReet, was a record label founded by Frank Zappa and his then business partner and manager Herb Cohen. The name of the label was a pun derived from disc and the Compatible Discrete 4 process of encoding quadraphonic sound signals into phonograph records.
Louis Dorren, commonly referred to as Lou Dorren, was an American sound engineer, music producer and inventor. He was also the owner of Bay Sound Records.
32 Records was a record label established in 1995 by record producer Joel Dorn and attorney Robert Miller. Its 32 Jazz imprint released a successful series of compilation albums. It was named for Dorn's favorite sports number. It also released new material by artists such as The Jazz Passengers and established 32 R&B, 32 Blues, 32 Groove, and 32 Pop subsidiaries.
Speedway is the seventeenth soundtrack album by American singer and musician Elvis Presley, released by RCA Victor in mono and stereo, LPM/LSP 3989, on June 25, 1968. It serves as the soundtrack album for the 1968 film Speedway starring Presley. Recording sessions took place at Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer studios in Hollywood, California, on June 20 and 21, 1967. It peaked at number 82 on the Billboard 200.
Quadraphonic Sound was a phase amplitude matrix 4-channel quadraphonic sound system for phonograph records. The system was based on technology created by Peter Scheiber, but further developed by engineer Ryosuke Ito of Sansui in the early 1970s.
Stereo-4, also known as EV or EV-4, was a matrix 4-channel quadraphonic sound system developed in 1970 by Leonard Feldman and Jon Fixler.
The Best of Lynn Anderson: Memories and Desires is a studio album by American country artist Lynn Anderson. It was released in 1982 via Era Records.Internationally, the album was released on the K-tel distribution company. Although labeled as "The Best of," the album was actually a studio release but it contained re-recordings of songs Anderson first cut in years prior for other labels. Many of the songs on the project were re-recordings of songs she has first cut for other labels. Previously unrecorded tracks were also included on the project.
Provocative Percussion Vol. III is a studio album by Enoch Light and the Light Brigade. It was produced by Light and released in 1961 on Light's Command Records label. The featured musicians included Tony Mottola (guitar), Doc Severinsen (trumpet), Bobby Byrne (trombone), Urbie Green, Bob Haggart, Phil Bodner, Stanley Webb, Moe Wechsler and Joe Wilder. The arrangements were by Lew Davies. The album cover artwork is by abstract painter Josef Albers.