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46-401: The Dorsey Brothers recorded songs for the dime store labels ( Banner , Cameo , Domino , Jewel, Oriole, Perfect ). A handful of sides during their Brunswick period were issued by Vocalion . They signed to Decca in 1934, formed a touring band, with Tommy as front man, and a rather unusual lineup of one trumpet, three trombones, three saxes and four rhythm. The band performed live mainly in

92-567: A 7000 race series (with the distinctive 'lightning bolt' label design, also used for their popular 100 hillbilly series) as well as the Vocalion 1000 race series. These race records series recorded hot jazz, urban and rural blues, and gospel. Brunswick also had a very successful business supplying radio with sponsored transcriptions of popular music, comedy and personalities. In the early 1920s Brunswick also embarked on an ambitious domestic classical instrumental recording program which carried over into

138-700: A budget label in other discount stores. Banner was formed in January 1922 as the flagship label of the Plaza Music Company of New York City. Plaza Music produced several cheap labels targeted at discount houses and hired bandleader Adrian Schubert as musical director. At the beginning, Banner concentrated on popular dance hits, though it also recorded comedy, semi-classical music, and a small number of country and blues records. In its first years Banner also leased masters from Paramount Records and Emerson Records . In July 1929 Plaza merged with Cameo-Pathé and

184-614: A company based in Dubuque, Iowa which had been manufacturing products ranging from pianos to sporting equipment since 1845. The company first began producing phonographs in 1916, then began marketing their own line of records as an afterthought. These first Brunswick records used the vertical cut system like Edison Disc Records , and were not sold in large numbers. They were recorded in the United States but sold only in Canada. In January 1920,

230-510: A conventional condenser microphone recording process (licensed through Western Electric ) in 1927, with better results. Prior to this, however, they had introduced the Brunswick Panatrope all-electric phonograph with electric amplification. This phonograph met with critical acclaim, and composer Ottorino Respighi selected the Brunswick Panatrope to play a recording of bird songs in his composition The Pines of Rome . Jack Kapp became

276-611: A fledgling alto sax player expressed an admiration for Jimmy, died in front of the TV while watching a Dorsey Brothers' show. When in November 1956 Tommy died in his sleep from choking on his own vomit, Jimmy, already desperately ill, carried on for some months with Tommy's silent trombone displayed on stage, until in June 1957 he succumbed to lung cancer. Jimmy and Tommy appeared as the Mystery Guests on

322-406: A new line of Brunswick Records was introduced in the U.S. and Canada that employed the lateral cut system which was becoming the default cut for 78 discs . Brunswick started its standard popular series at 2000 and ended up in 1940 at 8517. However, when the series reached 4999, they skipped over the previous allocated 5000s and continued at 6000. When they reached 6999, they continued at 7301 (because

368-516: Is no relationship between the Hebrew Banner label and the earlier products of Plaza Music or ARC/BRC; nor is there is a relationship to a dime-store label put out by Leeds and Caitlin in the early 1900s, though the label's design is similar. Banner debuted with two concurrent label series in January 1922: a popular 1000 series side by side with a "Standard" 2000 series of semi-classical music, comedy, and some Jewish material. Reaching Banner 1999 in

414-726: The ARC takeover of December 1931 are not duplicated on these labels. When Vitaphone was abandoned in favor of sound-on-film systems—and record industry sales plummeted due to the Great Depression —Warner Bros. leased the Brunswick record operation to Consolidated Film Industries , the parent company of the American Record Corporation (ARC), in December 1931. In 1932, the UK branch of Brunswick

460-553: The Ben Pollack orchestra, among others. Although some of the artists from the previous incarnation of Banner survived into this second period, particularly in 1929-1931, none of these artists appeared on the first label. Brunswick Records Brunswick Records is an American record label founded in 1916. Records under the Brunswick label were first produced by the Brunswick-Balke-Collender Company ,

506-466: The Scranton Button Company to form the ( ARC ). ARC dropped Pathé and Scranton Button's label Emerson but kept active all of the other labels belonging to the combined company, including Banner. After ARC acquired the rights to Brunswick Records , Banner's product lines began to reflect the general ARC product, and this added more African-American and country music to its catalogue. As part of

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552-789: The Vocalion Records label. Audio fidelity of early-1920s, acoustically-recorded Brunswick discs is above average for the era. They were pressed into good quality shellac , although not as durable as that used by Victor. General music director Walter B. Rogers and his colleague Gus Haenschen lured significant classical and popular soloists into Brunswick's roster, including Sigrid Onegin , Marie Tiffany , Michael Bohnen , Mario Chamlee , Richard Bonelli , Giacomo Lauri-Volpi , and popular singers Al Bernard , Ernest Hare , and light-voiced Nick Lucas . Significant Brunswick instrumentalists included pianists Leopold Godowsky and Josef Hofmann , and violinists Bronislaw Huberman and Max Rosen . In

598-701: The 1920s. Since then, Decca and its successors have had ownership of the historic Brunswick Records archive from this time period. After World War II, American Decca releases were issued in the United Kingdom on the Brunswick label until 1968 when the MCA Records label was introduced in the UK. During the war, British Decca sold its American branch. By 1952, Brunswick was put under the management of Decca's Coral Records subsidiary. That same year, Brunswick resumed releasing new material, initially as rhythm and blues specialty label, adding pop music in 1957. Later in

644-502: The 1950s, American Decca made Brunswick its leading rock and roll label, featuring artists such as Buddy Holly & the Crickets , with releases having backup vocals (by The Picks or The Roses) and labeled under the group name without reference to Holly. Hit records by Buddy Holly were released during the same period of his career on the co-owned Coral Records. The records released on Coral by Holly normally were without backup vocals, with

690-499: The 1970s for Brunswick, "Have You Seen Her" and "Oh Girl", both co-written and co-produced by lead singer, Eugene Record. "Oh Girl" also topped the Billboard Hot 100 . Davis formed a sister label, Dakar Records , in 1969, with Tyrone Davis (no relation) becoming its main artist and a major-selling R&B act. Dakar was first distributed by Atlantic Records for two years, but moved under Brunswick distribution from January 1972, after

736-677: The ARC dime store labels as a means to compete with Decca's 35 cent price. In 1939, the American Record Corp. was bought by the Columbia Broadcasting System for $ 750,000, which discontinued the Brunswick label in 1940, in favor of reviving the Columbia label (as well as reviving the OKeh label, replacing Vocalion). This, along with the lower than agreed-upon sales/production numbers, violated

782-653: The ARC-BRC combination, it no longer enjoyed a flagship status accorded to Melotone among the budget labels. Although ARC-BRC dropped some of the dime-store labels, it kept Banner until December 1938, when the CBS Broadcasting Network bought ARC-BRC and liquidated all of the dime-store labels. In December 1946, entrepreneur Sam Selsman formed a new Banner Records label, devoted to Jewish music and Yiddish-language comedy routines; although this later Banner Records no longer actively records, its catalogue continues. There

828-490: The Chi-Lites . Jackie Wilson's manager, Nat Tarnopol , joined the label in 1957 as head of A&R . Brunswick became a separate company and a unit of Decca in 1960 with Tarnopol serving as executive vice-president. He acquired a 50% interest in Brunswick from Decca in 1964 and then the rest of Brunswick from Decca in 1969 to settle disputes with Decca management. Nat Tarnopol worked with R&B singer Jackie Wilson Many of

874-584: The Decca-era pre-Tarnopol Brunswick recordings (excluding the late 1931–1939 era, which is still controlled by Columbia Records' parent, Sony Music Entertainment ). The Decca-era Brunswick jazz catalogue is managed by the Verve Music Group (which is also part of Universal). The official Brunswick Records web site has a detailed history of the Tarnopol-era Brunswick Records. The label

920-546: The GE system's electronic and sonic inconsistencies. (Only Brunswick and Vocalion records pressed at their West Coast plant bore the name "Light-Ray Process" on the labels.) Once Brunswick's engineers had tentative control of their new equipment, the company expanded its popular music recording activities, exploiting its roster of stars: the dance bands of Bob Haring , Isham Jones , Ben Bernie , Abe Lyman , Earl Burtnett , and banjoist Harry Reser and his various ensembles (especially

966-655: The New England area, with acrimony between the brothers steadily building up, until a definitive falling out between Tommy and Jimmy over the tempo of "I'll Never Say Never Again Again" in May 1935, after which Tommy walked off the stage. Glenn Miller composed four songs for the Dorsey Brothers when he was a member in 1934 and 1935, " Annie's Cousin Fannie ", on which both Tommy and Glenn share

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1012-451: The October 16, 1955 airing of What's My Line? . They were guessed by Dorothy Kilgallen . In 1996, the U.S. Postal Service issued a commemorative postage stamp in honor of Jimmy Dorsey and Tommy Dorsey. Banner Records Banner Records was an American record company and label in the 1920s and 1930s. It was created primarily for the S.S. Kresge Company , though it was employed as

1058-710: The Six Jumping Jacks), and Al Jolson (whose record labels proclaimed him "The World's Greatest Entertainer With Orchestra"). Then based in Chicago (although they maintained an office and studio in New York), many of the city's best orchestras and performers recorded for Brunswick. The label's jazz roster included Fletcher Henderson , Duke Ellington (usually as the Jungle Band), King Oliver , Johnny Dodds , Andy Kirk , Roger Wolfe Kahn , and Red Nichols . Brunswick initiated

1104-437: The United States, indicating their popularity as Plaza's flagship label. The audio fidelity of the records was average to slightly below average for the time, but as Banner was a cheap label they were pressed from cheaper materials that did not withstand repeated playing with the heavy phonograph players of the time. Most Banner discs found today exhibit considerable wear and surface noise , but they are still valued by virtue of

1150-550: The Warner lease agreement, resulting in the Brunswick trademark reverting to Warner. In 1941, Warner sold the Brunswick and Vocalion labels to American Decca (which Warner had a financial interest in), with all masters recorded prior to December 1931. Rights to recordings from late December 1931 on were retained by CBS/Columbia . In 1943, Decca revived the Brunswick label, mostly for reissues of recordings from earlier decades, particularly Bing Crosby's early hits of 1931 and jazz items from

1196-550: The combined orchestras of Jimmy and Tommy Dorsey. They reunited again in 1947 for the film The Fabulous Dorseys . In 1950, Jimmy disbanded his orchestra and joined Tommy's band on a permanent basis. On May 23, 1953, the combined orchestra made its television debut on the Jackie Gleason Show . Starting in 1954, they had a network TV series, Stage Show produced by Jackie Gleason. Elvis Presley made his national television debut on their show in 1956. Charlie Parker , who as

1242-575: The company became independent from Decca. Brunswick and Dakar artists included the Chi-Lites , Hamilton Bohannon , Tyrone Davis, Jackie Wilson, Barbara Acklin, Young-Holt Unlimited, Gene Chandler, the Artistics, Otis Leavill, the Lost Generation, Walter Jackson, Erma Franklin, Willie Henderson & the Soul, Maryann Farra & Satin soul, Strutt, Touch, Sunny Nash and Little Richard . Main producers for

1288-505: The early 7000s had been previously allocated as their Race series). The parent company marketed them extensively, and within a few years Brunswick became a competitor to America's "big three" record companies, Edison Records , Victor , and Columbia Records . The Brunswick line of home phonographs were commercially successful. Brunswick had a hit with their Ultona phonograph capable of playing Edison Disc Records , Pathé disc records , and standard lateral 78s. In late 1924, Brunswick acquired

1334-572: The electrical era, recording violinist Bronislaw Huberman , pianists Josef Hofmann and Leopold Godowsky (both of whom made the majority of their American recordings for Brunswick), and the New York String Quartet. They moved into orchestral recording in 1922 with the renowned "Capitol Grand Orchestra" under Erno Rapee from the Capitol Theatre in New York (at a time when Eugene Ormandy

1380-422: The exception of "Rave On" and "Early In The Morning". In 1957, Brunswick became a subsidiary label to Coral. A pre- Four Seasons Nick Massi made his recording debut for Brunswick in 1959. Starting in the latter part of the 1950s and continuing well into the 1970s, the label recorded mainly R&B/soul acts, such as the label's leading artist in the late 1950s and early/mid 1960s, Jackie Wilson , and later on,

1426-444: The label and Tarnopol in financial difficulties. By then, Carl Davis and most of the artists had left the company. Tarnopol blamed his legal problems on a personal vendetta led by Lew Wasserman , the head of Decca's parent corporation, MCA Inc. Tarnopol died in 1987 at age 56. The Tarnopol family only claims ownership of Brunswick recordings since Tarnopol joined Brunswick in 1957. Decca's parent company, Universal Music controls

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1472-565: The labels, along with Davis, were Eugene Record, Willie Henderson and later, Leo Graham, while staff arrangers during the Chicago years included Sonny Sanders , Tony Moulton Quinton Joseph and Willie Henderson. The Chi-Lites' "Oh Girl" was the label's only release from post-1957 to reach the top of the Billboard Hot 100, but Brunswick and Dakar managed to top the R&;B chart a total of 10 times during

1518-456: The main series in mid-1927, Banner skipped ahead to 6000 and terminated the Standard series at the end of the year at Banner 2183. At this point, Banner also stopped the 6000 series at Banner 6167 and moved again to a 7000 series starting at Banner 7001. This ended in early 1929 at Banner 7265 and then reverted to the old series, starting at Banner 6200. The series survived the merger into ARC, but

1564-574: The orchestra in 1935 to take over the Joe Haymes band, turning it into Tommy Dorsey and his Orchestra, with the nucleus of the Dorsey Brothers' Orchestra carrying on under Jimmy's leadership. Tommy's chair was filled by the 16-year-old Bobby Byrne. The Dorseys reunited on March 15, 1945, to record a V-Disc at Liederkranz Hall in New York City. Released in June 1945, the disc contained " More Than You Know " and "Brotherly Jump". The songs were performed by

1610-521: The photoelectric cell process; symphony orchestra recording, however, further exacerbated the problems of the "Light-Ray" system. Few orchestral records were approved for issue and those that did appear on the market often combined excellent performances with execrable sound, which particularly displeased Toscanini (only two sides he conducted were ever released). Brunswick found it expedient and ultimately cheaper to contract with European companies (whose electrical recording systems surpassed Brunswick's). Among

1656-490: The rather racy vocal, " Dese Dem Dose ", " Harlem Chapel Chimes ", and " Tomorrow's Another Day ". Miller left in late 1934 to take up the job as Ray Noble 's musical director and arranger. In 1935, the Dorsey Brothers Orchestra had two No. 1 recordings on Decca, including " Lullaby of Broadway " with Bob Crosby on vocals, topping the charts for two weeks and No. 1 for three weeks. Tommy Dorsey permanently left

1702-563: The record company executive of Brunswick in 1930. In April 1930, Brunswick-Balke-Collender sold Brunswick Records to Warner Bros. , and the company's headquarters moved to New York. Warner Bros. hoped to make their own soundtrack recordings for their sound-on-disc Vitaphone system. A number of interesting recordings were made by actors during this period, featuring songs from musical films. Actors who made recordings included Noah Beery , Charles King , and J. Harold Murray . During this Warner Brothers period Brunswick signed Bing Crosby , who

1748-522: The recordings Brunswick imported and issued under their own label (through an agreement reached with Polydor , Deutsche Grammophon 's export branch) were historic performances conducted by Hans Pfitzner and Richard Strauss —the latter conducting critically acclaimed performances of his symphonic poems Don Juan and Till Eulenspiegel's Merry Pranks , recorded in Berlin in 1929–30. Some of these recordings have been reissued on CD. Brunswick itself switched to

1794-538: The recordings which established Brunswick as a major force in R&B and soul music in the mid-1960s and into the 1970s were supervised by producer Carl Davis in Chicago. He joined the label after helping to revive Jackie Wilson's recording career with his production on Wilson's 1966 hit, "Whispers". Wilson and Davis collaborated the following year for one of the label's biggest selling singles, "Higher And Higher", which sold over two million copies (No. 1 R&B, No. 5 pop). The Chi-Lites recorded two No. 1 R&B hits in

1840-430: The same period, six by Jackie Wilson and two each by Tyrone Davis and the Chi-Lites. Legal problems caused Brunswick to become dormant after 1982, in which Tarnopol licensed Brunswick recordings from 1957 onwards to the special products unit of Columbia Records . Brunswick had its last chart hits in 1982. Although Brunswick was eventually cleared of the charges, the situation, which had resulted in court action, left both

1886-507: The selections. In keeping with their low-price production, it is common for a current hit song on the A-side and a lesser-known song as the B side. Many of these B side songs are eccentric tunes not recorded elsewhere (but, of course, found on the other Plaza/ARC labels). Many of these odd songs have great hot solos, making them quite enjoyable. Also scattered around these B sides are hot tunes by Luis Russell , Duke Ellington , small groups from

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1932-569: The spring of 1925 Brunswick introduced its own version of electrical recording derived from the Pallophotophone system, developed by Charles A. Hoxie (and licensed from General Electric ) using photoelectric cells, which Brunswick called the "Light-Ray" process. These early electric discs have a harsh equalization which does not compare well to early electric Columbias and Victors, and the company's logbooks from 1925–27 show many recordings that were unissued for technical reasons having to do with

1978-658: Was acquired by British Decca . Between early 1932 and 1939, Brunswick was ARC's flagship label, selling for 75 cents, while all of the other ARC labels were selling for 35 cents. Best selling artists during that time were Bing Crosby, the Boswell Sisters, the Mills Brothers, Duke Ellington , Cab Calloway, Abe Lyman , Casa Loma Orchestra, Leo Reisman , Ben Bernie , Red Norvo , Teddy Wilson , and Anson Weeks . Many of these artists moved over to Decca in late 1934, causing Brunswick to reissue popular records by these artists on

2024-573: Was ended at the start of 1930 at Banner 6566 and restarted at 0500 until it reached 0872 later in the year. The number series was then started again at 32001 and the price changed from 25 cents to 35 cents in order to bring Banner in line with other dime-store labels being sold 3 for a dollar. This lasted until 1935, when the dime-store labels were all married to a central numbering system. But releases were not necessarily unified; for example, Robert Johnson , who did have some releases on Melotone, did not appear on Banner. Banner discs are found throughout

2070-781: Was the orchestra's concertmaster), then contracting with the Minneapolis Symphony under Henri Verbrugghen and the Cleveland Orchestra under Nikolai Sokoloff in 1924, the orchestra of the Metropolitan Opera House (39th Street) under Gennaro Papi , and in a tremendous steal from Victor, they put the New York Philharmonic with conductors Willem Mengelberg and Arturo Toscanini on their artists roster - but only briefly. The popular records, which used small performing groups, were difficult enough to make with

2116-516: Was to become their biggest recording star, as well as the Mills Brothers , Adelaide Hall , the Boswell Sisters , Cab Calloway , the Casa Loma Orchestra and Ozzie Nelson . In November 1930, the new budget-line, Melotone , debuted, entering a field of lower-priced electrical records, including Columbia's Clarion, Velvet Tone, Harmony and the labels of the Plaza Music Company, such as Perfect , Banner , and Romeo . Melotone releases before

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