OKeh Records
| Okeh Records | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Parent company | Sony Music Entertainment |
| Founded | 1916 |
| Founder | Otto Heinemann |
| Distributor(s) |
Sony Masterworks Legacy Recordings (reissues) |
| Genre | Various (1916–1953) Rhythm & blues (1953–1970) New-age blues (1994–2000) Jazz (current) |
| Country of origin | U.S. |
| Official website | okeh-records |
Okeh Records was a record label founded by the Otto Heinemann Phonograph Corporation, a phonograph supplier established in 1916, which branched out into phonograph records in 1918. Since 1926, it has been a subsidiary of Columbia Records, now itself a subsidiary of Sony Music Entertainment. Today, Okeh is an imprint of Sony Masterworks, a specialty label of Columbia.
Okeh (pronounced 'okay') was founded by Otto K. E. Heinemann (1877–1965), a German-American manager for the U.S. branch of German-owned Odeon Records. Heinemann incorporated the Otto Heinemann Phonograph Corporation in 1916, set up his own recording studio and gramophone record pressing plant in New York and introduced the company's line of records for public sale in September 1918. Heinemann formed the name of the record label from his initials; on early disc labels, the name is spelled OkeH. The first discs were vertical cut. In 1919, Okeh switched to the lateral-cut method of sound recording, more commony used for disc records. In that year the label's parent company was renamed the General Phonograph Corporation, and the name on its record labels was changed to OKeh. The common 10-inch discs retailed for 75 cents each, the 12-inch discs for $1.25. The company's musical director was Fred Hager, who was also credited under the pseudonym Milo Rega (his middle name and his surname reversed).
Okeh at first issued popular songs, dance numbers, and vaudeville skits similar to the fare of other labels, but Heineman also wanted to provide music for audiences neglected by the larger record companies. Okeh produced lines of recordings in German, Czech, Polish, Swedish, and Yiddish for immigrant communities in the United States. Some were pressed from masters leased from European labels, others were recorded by Okeh in New York.
In 1920, Ralph Peer's recordings of the African-American blues singer Mamie Smith were a surprise smash hit for Okeh. The company perceived the significant, little-tapped market for blues and jazz by African-American artists. In 1922, Okeh hired Clarence Williams as director of "race" (African-American) recordings for Okeh's New York studios, in addition to making recordings under his own name. Okeh then opened a recording studio in Chicago, the center of jazz in the 1920s, where Richard M. Jones served as "race" recordings director. Many classic jazz performances by such prominent artists as King Oliver, Lucille Bogan, Sidney Bechet, Hattie McDaniel, Louis Armstrong, and Duke Ellington were recorded by Okeh. As part of the Carl Lindstrom Company, Okeh recordings were distributed by other Lindstrom labels, including Parlophone in the United Kingdom.
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