Sledgehammer Blues

Last updated
Sledgehammer Blues
Parent company Valley Entertainment
Founded1990 (1990)
FounderJoe Harley
Genre Blues, jazz
Country of originU.S.
LocationNew York City
Official website Valley-Entertainment

Sledgehammer Blues is an audiophile record label owned by Valley Entertainment. It was formerly named AudioQuest Music.

Contents

Audioquest Music was founded in 1990 by Joe Harley of the audio cable company Audioquest to demonstrate the quality of its cables. Harley made one album, by blues guitarist Robert Lucas, that was so successful he decided to release more jazz and blues. Its catalogue included work by Charles Fambrough, Victor Lewis, James Newton, Edward Simon, and Larry Willis. [1]

From the label's website: "The blues label was founded in the late 1980s with the mission to create the highest standard audiophile recordings based on the technology available. These are analog recordings using custom built tube electronics and eschewing noise reduction, compression, equalization or sound limiters. By recording the most proficient artists available at the highest possible standards, these recordings have been adapted to every subsequent audiophile platform-XRCD, SACD, etc." [2]

Discography

Selection NumberArtistAlbum
2-AQM-1001 Robert Lucas Usin' Man Blues
2-AQM-1002 Strunz & Farah Misterio
2-AQM-1003Tuxedo CowboyWoman of the Heart
2-AQM-1004Robert LucasLuke and the Locomotives
2-AQM-1005Trio GalanterieEighteenth Century Music for Lute and Strings
2-AQM-1006MokaveVolume 1
2-AQM-1007MokaveVolume 2
2-AQM-1008Various ArtistsWorks of Art, Volume 1
2-AQM-1009 Larry Willis Steal Away
2-AQM-1010 Victor Lewis Family Portrait
2-AQM-1011Robert LucasBuilt for Comfort
2-AQM-1012 Bruce Katz Crescent Crawl
2-AQM-1013Sasha MatsonSteel Chords
2-AQM-1014Jeff PalmerEase On
2-AQM-1015 Mighty Sam McClain Give It Up to Love
2-AQM-1016Various ArtistsWorks of Art Volume 2
2-AQM-1017 Bennie Wallace The Old Songs
2-AQM-1018 Ronnie Earl and The BroadcastersStill River
2-AQM-1019Les ArbuckleNo More No Les
2-AQM-1020Rob MullinsOne Night in Houston
2-AQM-1021Robert LucasLayaway
2-AQM-1022Larry Willis A Tribute to Someone
2-AQM-1023 James Newton EnsembleSuite for Frida Kahlo
2-AQM-1024MokaveAfrique
2-AQM-1025 Edward Simon GroupBeauty Within
2-AQM-1026Bruce KatzTransformation
2-AQM-1027 Doug MacLeod Come To Find
2-AQM-1028 Kei Akagi Mirror Puzzle
2-AQM-1029Various ArtistsWorks of Art Volume 3
2-AQM-1030 David Binney The Luxury of Guessing
2-AQM-1031 Mighty Sam McClain Keep On Movin'
2-AQM-1032The Bush CrewThe Bush Crew
2-AQM-1033 Charles Fambrough Keeper of the Spirit
2-AQM-1034Various ArtistsBlues Masters
2-AQM-1035Various ArtistsJazz Masters
2-AQM-1036 Joey Calderazzo Secrets
2-AQM-1037Lloyd JonesTrouble Monkey
2-AQM-1038 Terry Evans Puttin' It Down
2-AQM-1039Joe BeardBlues Union
2-AQM-1041Doug MacLeodYou Can't Take My Blues
2-AQM-1042Mighty Sam McClainSledgehammer Soul and Down Home Blues
2-AQM-1043Ronnie Earl, Pinetop Perkins, Willie "Big Eyes" Smith and Calvin "Fuzz" Jones Eye to Eye
2-AQM-1044Terry EvansCome to the River
2-AQM-1045Robert LucasCompletely Blue
2-AQM-1046Doug MacLeodUnmarked Road
2-AQM-1047Bruce KatzMississippi Moan
2-AQM-1048Mighty Sam McClainJourney
2-AQM-1049Joe Beard featuring Duke Robillard and FriendsFor Real
2-AQM-1050 Sherman Robertson Going Back Home
2-AQM-1051Bennie WallaceBennie Wallace
2-AQM-1052Various ArtistsBluesquest
2-AQM-1053Mighty Sam McClainSoul Survivor
2-AQM-1054Doug MacLeodWhose Truth, Whose Lies?
2-AQM-1055Joe Beard featuring Duke Robillard and FriendsDealin'
2-AQM-1056Bruce KatzThree Feet Off the Ground
2-AQM-1057Terry EvansMississippi Magic
2-AQM-1058Terry EvansLive Like a Hurricane
2-AQM-1059Little Al Thomas & The Crazy House BandSouth Side Story
2-AQM-2000WolfeWhy Thank You Very Much: Live at The Bluetone Cafe

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">High fidelity</span> High-quality reproduction of sound

High fidelity is the high-quality reproduction of sound. It is important to audiophiles and home audio enthusiasts. Ideally, high-fidelity equipment has inaudible noise and distortion, and a flat frequency response within the human hearing range.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Blue Note Records</span> American record label

Blue Note Records is an American jazz record label owned by Universal Music Group and operated under Capitol Music Group. Established in 1939 by Alfred Lion and Max Margulis, it derived its name from the blue notes of jazz and the blues. Originally dedicated to recording traditional jazz and small group swing, the label began to switch its attention to modern jazz around 1947. From there, Blue Note grew to become one of the most prolific, influential and respected jazz labels of the mid-20th century, noted for its role in facilitating the development of hard bop, post-bop and avant-garde jazz, as well as for its iconic modernist art direction.

Incus Records is a British record company and label founded by Derek Bailey, Tony Oxley, Evan Parker and Michael Walters that specializes in free jazz and improvised music.

An audiophile is a person who is enthusiastic about high-fidelity sound reproduction. An audiophile seeks to reproduce the sound of a live musical performance, typically in a room with good acoustics. It is widely agreed that reaching this goal is very difficult and that even the best-regarded recording and playback systems rarely, if ever, achieve it.

Discography is the study and cataloging of published sound recordings, often by specified artists or within identified music genres. The exact information included varies depending on the type and scope of the discography, but a discography entry for a specific recording will often list such details as the names of the artists involved, the time and place of the recording, the title of the piece performed, release dates, chart positions, and sales figures.

Horizon Records was an American independent record label founded in 1960 by Dave Hubert.

Argo Records was a record label in Chicago that was established in 1955 as a division of Chess Records.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Prestige Records</span> American jazz record label

Prestige Records is a jazz record company and label founded in 1949 by Bob Weinstock in New York City which issued recordings in the mainstream, bop, and cool jazz idioms. The company recorded hundreds of albums by many of the leading jazz musicians of the day, sometimes issuing them on subsidiary labels. In 1971, the company was sold to Fantasy, which was later absorbed by Concord.

Contemporary Records was a jazz record company and label founded by Lester Koenig in Los Angeles in 1951. Contemporary produced music from a variety of jazz styles and players.

Original Jazz Classics is a record label that founded in 1983 as an imprint of Fantasy Records.

Telarc International Corporation is an American audiophile independent record label founded in 1977 by two classically trained musicians and former teachers, Jack Renner and Robert Woods. Based in Cleveland, Ohio, the label has had a long association with the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra and the Cleveland Orchestra, as well as with the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra and the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra. Although it started as a classical music label, Telarc has released jazz, blues and country music recordings.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bruce Katz</span> American jazz musician

Bruce Katz is an American musician, playing piano, organ and bass guitar. From 1996 to 2010, he was on the faculty at the Berklee College of Music in Boston as an associate professor. He founded his own musical group, the Bruce Katz Band in 1991 and has recorded and toured with that band to the present. He has also recorded and toured with many other well-known artists in the Blues, Jazz and Rock music world.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Aladdin Records</span> American record company and label

Aladdin Records was a record company and label founded in Los Angeles in 1945 by brothers Eddie and Leo Mesner. It was originally called Philo Records before changing its name in 1946.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ajax Records</span> American record company and label

Ajax Records was a record company and label founded in 1921. Jazz and blues records were produced in New York City, with some in Montreal, and marketed via the Ajax Record Company of Chicago.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Doug MacLeod (musician)</span> American storytelling blues musician (born 1946)

Doug MacLeod is an American storytelling blues musician. Although now associated with his home in Memphis, he has lived and worked in North Carolina, St. Louis, New York, Los Angeles, and Norfolk, Virginia, where he was stationed in the United States Navy. He became acquainted with the blues in St Louis in his teens and started his career playing country blues on acoustic guitar, finding that singing eased a stutter and helped him to manage it. Although predominantly associated with acoustic guitar, his skills were developed as a blues bass player, and honed by his subsequent journeys into jazz and electric blues.

Valley Entertainment is an American independent record label and music distributor based in New York City, United States. The company was founded in 1994 by Barney Cohen and Jon Birge. In 2001, it acquired the prestigious back catalogue of space, ambient, and new-age music from Hearts of Space Records. As of 2017, it has a catalogue of about 375 releases.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sherman Robertson</span> American blues musician (1948–2021)

Sherman Robertson was an American blues guitarist and singer who has been described as "one part zydeco, one part swamp blues, one part electric blues and one part classic rhythm and blues."

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mighty Sam McClain</span> American songwriter

Samuel McClain, billed as Mighty Sam McClain, was an American soul blues singer and songwriter.

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.

HDtracks is a high-resolution digital music store offering DRM-free music in multiple formats as well as cover art with audio CD-quality and high-definition audio master recording quality download selections.

References

  1. Kennedy, Gary (2002). Barry Kernfeld (ed.). The New Grove Dictionary of Jazz, vol. 1 (2nd ed.). New York: Grove's Dictionaries Inc. p. 91. ISBN   1561592846.
  2. "About Us". Valley Entertainment. Retrieved 7 July 2010.