Vocalion Records is an American record label, originally founded by the

Aeolian Company The Aeolian Company was a musical-instrument making firm whose products included player organs, pianos, sheet music, records and phonographs. Founded in 1887, it was at one point the world's largest such firm. During the mid 20th century, it surp ...

, a piano and organ manufacturer before being bought out by Brunswick in 1924.

History

The label was founded in 1916 by the

, a maker of pianos and organs, as Aeolian-Vocalion; the company also sold phonographs under the Vocalion name. "Aeolian" was later dropped from the label's name. In late 1924, the label was acquired by

Brunswick Records Brunswick Records is an American record label founded in 1916. History 1916–1929 Records under the Brunswick label were first produced by the Brunswick-Balke-Collender Company, a company based in Dubuque, Iowa which had been manufacturing ...

. During the 1920s, Vocalion also began the 1000 race series, records recorded by and marketed to

African American African Americans, also known as Black Americans and formerly also called Afro-Americans, are an Race and ethnicity in the United States, American racial and ethnic group that consists of Americans who have total or partial ancestry from an ...

s. Jim Jackson recorded "

Jim Jackson's Kansas City Blues "Jim Jackson's Kansas City Blues" is a 1927 song, written and recorded by the American blues musician Jim Jackson. He recorded it on October 10, 1927 for Vocalion Records, who released it as a two-part A-side and B-side single. It was Jackson's ...

" for Vocalion in 1927. It sold exceptionally well, and the song became a blues standard for musicians from Memphis and Mississippi. The label issued

Robert Johnson Robert Leroy Johnson (May 8, 1911August 16, 1938) was an American blues musician and songwriter. His singing, guitar playing and songwriting on his landmark 1936 and 1937 recordings have influenced later generations of musicians. Although his r ...

's "

Cross Road Blues "Cross Road Blues" (commonly known as "Crossroads") is a song written by the American blues artist Robert Johnson. He performed it solo with his vocal and acoustic slide guitar in the Delta blues style. The song has become part of the Rob ...

" Vocalion was one of the most popular labels in the late 1930s. However, Columbia Broadcasting System (

CBS CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS (an abbreviation of its original name, Columbia Broadcasting System), is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainme ...

) bought

American Record Corporation American Record Corporation (ARC), also referred to as American Record Company, American Recording Corporation, or ARC Records, was an American record company in operation from 1929 to 1938, and again from 1978 to 1982. Overview ARC was crea ...

(which operated the Vocalion label) in 1938, and in July 1940 they discontinued Vocalion, replacing it with the

Okeh OKeh Records () is an American record label founded by the Otto Heinemann Phonograph Corporation, a phonograph supplier established in 1916, which branched out into phonograph records in 1918. The name originally was spelled "OkeH" from the init ...

label. The City of London Phonograph & Gramophone Society

CLPGS The City of London Phonograph and Gramophone Society (CLPGS)In the United Kingdom, the term 'phonograph' is used for a player of cylinders, while a 'gramophone' plays disc records. In many other parts of the world the term 'phonograph' is used for ...

published a comprehensive database of British and Australian Vocalion records, including Broadcast, World Records and other labels used by the company in the 1920s and 1930s.

Mid-20th century resurrection

The name Vocalion was resurrected in the late 1950s by American

Decca Decca may refer to: Music * Decca Records or Decca Music Group, record label * Decca Gold, classical music record label owned by Universal Music Group * Decca Broadway, musical theater record label * Decca Studios, recording facility in West ...

as a budget label for back-catalog reissues. This incarnation of Vocalion ceased operations in 1973; however, its replacement as MCA's budget imprint,

Coral Records Coral Records was a subsidiary of Decca Records that was formed in 1949. Coral released music by Patsy Cline, Buddy Holly, the McGuire Sisters and Teresa Brewer. Coral issued jazz and swing music in the 1940s, but after Bob Thiele became head ...

, kept many Vocalion titles in print. In 1975, MCA reissued five albums on the Vocalion label.

References

External links

History of Brunswick and Vocalion

"Maybe it's obscure, but if it's good, we'll issue it."

Vocalion Records
on the Internet Archive'
Great 78 Project
{{Authority control Record labels established in 1916 Record labels disestablished in 1940 Re-established companies American jazz record labels Blues record labels 1916 establishments in the United States 1940 disestablishments in the United States Vertical cut record labels