Mainstream Records was an American record company and
independent record label founded by producer
Bob Shad in 1964.
Mainstream's early releases were reissues from
Commodore Records
Commodore Records was an American independent record label known for producing Dixieland jazz and swing. It is also remembered for releasing Billie Holiday's hit " Strange Fruit".
History
Commodore Records was founded in the spring of 1938 by Mi ...
. Its catalogue grew to include
Bob Brookmeyer,
Maynard Ferguson,
Jim Hall,
Helen Merrill,
Carmen McRae,
Jimmy Raney,
Zoot Sims,
Clark Terry, and
Sarah Vaughan.
Janis Joplin, with
Big Brother and the Holding Company
Big Brother and the Holding Company is an American rock band that formed in San Francisco in 1965 as part of the same psychedelic music scene that produced the Grateful Dead, Quicksilver Messenger Service, and Jefferson Airplane. After some in ...
, first appeared on Mainstream.
In 1978, Mainstream ceased activities. Bob Shad died in 1985. In 1990, the label was restarted by his daughter, Tamara, and
Humphrey Walwyn, the former head of
BBC Records.
It was bought by
Legacy Recordings in 1993 and purchased back by the Shad family in the early 2000s. The label is now run by Shad's granddaughter
Mia Apatow, with the help of her brother
Judd Apatow.
Discography
56000/S6000 series (12" LPs)
The Mainstream 56000/S6000 Series commenced in 1964 when the label was established by Bob Shad and ran until 1971 and initially reissued material from
Commodore Records
Commodore Records was an American independent record label known for producing Dixieland jazz and swing. It is also remembered for releasing Billie Holiday's hit " Strange Fruit".
History
Commodore Records was founded in the spring of 1938 by Mi ...
and Time Records (an earlier Bob Shad label) in addition to some new jazz recordings, then soundtracks, before branching into psychedelic rock around 1966.
[Edwards, D., Callahan, Eyries, P., Watts, R. & Neely, T]
Discography of the Mainstream Label (Preview)
accessed October 18, 2014
300 series (12" LPs)
The Mainstream 300 Series commenced in 1971 as the label focussed more on funk/soul and jazz artists (as well as reissuing jazz LP's originally released on Time Records) before the label folded around 1976.
References
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American record labels
Jazz record labels
Reissue record labels