Alegre Records was a

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

record label "Big Three" music labels A record label or record company is a brand or trademark of Sound recording and reproduction, music recordings and music videos, or the company that owns it. Sometimes, a record label is also a Music publisher, ...

specialized in

latin music Latin music (Portuguese language, Portuguese and ) is a term used by the music industry as a catch-all category for various styles of music from Ibero-America, which encompasses Music of Latin America, Latin America, Music of Spain, Spain, Mu ...

. It was founded in 1956 by Al Santiago who owned a 1950s record store at 8522 Westchester Avenue in

The Bronx The Bronx ( ) is the northernmost of the five Boroughs of New York City, boroughs of New York City, coextensive with Bronx County, in the U.S. state of New York (state), New York. It shares a land border with Westchester County, New York, West ...

named ''Casalegre'' and co-founded by clothing businessman Ben Perlman. It specialized in

Latin music Latin music (Portuguese language, Portuguese and ) is a term used by the music industry as a catch-all category for various styles of music from Ibero-America, which encompasses Music of Latin America, Latin America, Music of Spain, Spain, Mu ...

and was significant for featuring artists such as Johnny Pacheco and

Tito Puente Ernest Anthony Puente Jr. (April 20, 1923 – May 31, 2000), commonly known as Tito Puente, was an American musician, songwriter, bandleader, timbalero, and record producer. He composed dance-oriented mambo and Latin jazz music. He was also k ...

and was the first to record a series of great Latin artists, from Johnny Pacheco,

Eddie Palmieri Eddie Palmieri (born December 15, 1936) is an American Grammy Award-winning pianist, bandleader, musician, and composer of Corsican and Puerto Rican ancestry. He is the founder of the bands La Perfecta, La Perfecta II, and Harlem River Drive. ...

, through Willie Colón. It has been called the "

Blue Note Blue Note Records is an American jazz record label now owned by Universal Music Group and operated under Capitol Music Group. Established in 1939 by German-Jewish emigrants Alfred Lion and Max Margulis, it derived its name from the blue no ...

" of Latin music.''Salsa Rising: New York Latin Music of the Sixties Generation''
pg.62
/ref> In 1960, Johnny Pacheco's first orchestra had signed with Alegre Records and their first album titled “Johnny Pacheco y Su Charanga” sold over 100,000 copies within the first year and was the biggest selling album in Latin music history up to that point. In 1961, Al Santiago created the ''Alegre All Stars'' (also spelled ''Alegre All-Stars''), remembering the well-known Cuban Jam Sessions ("Descargas Cubanas") in the 1950s on the Panart Records label. Johnny Pacheco got his friend, the trombonist Barry Rogers, to play with the Alegre All-Stars which featured a unique instrumentation of flute, tenor sax, and trombone. Fred Weinberg was Santiago's and the labels favorite sound engineer who also recorded many of the artists individually. In

1975 It was also declared the ''International Women's Year'' by the United Nations and the European Architectural Heritage Year by the Council of Europe. Events January * January 1 – Watergate scandal (United States): John N. Mitchell, H. R. ...

, Alegre Records was sold to Fania Records.

References

External links

The House that Al Built
- review of historical CD set at The Descarga Review. {{Authority control American record labels Record labels established in 1956 Record labels disestablished in 1975 Latin American music record labels Companies based in the Bronx Fania Records 1956 establishments in New York City 1975 disestablishments in New York (state)

See also

References

Further reading

External links