Biograph Records is a record label founded in 1967 by Arnold S. Caplin. It specialized in reissuing vintage American

ragtime Ragtime, also spelled rag-time or rag time, is a musical style that had its peak from the 1890s to 1910s. Its cardinal trait is its Syncopation, syncopated or "ragged" rhythm. Ragtime was popularized during the early 20th century by composers ...

jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana, in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Its roots are in blues, ragtime, European harmony, African rhythmic rituals, spirituals, h ...

, and

blues Blues is a music genre and musical form that originated among African Americans in the Deep South of the United States around the 1860s. Blues has incorporated spiritual (music), spirituals, work songs, field hollers, Ring shout, shouts, cha ...

music. Its catalog includes titles by

Bunny Berigan Roland Bernard "Bunny" Berigan (November 2, 1908 – June 2, 1942) was an American jazz trumpeter and bandleader who rose to fame during the swing era. His career and influence were shortened by alcoholism, and ended with his early demise at the ...

Bing Crosby Harry Lillis "Bing" Crosby Jr. (May 3, 1903 – October 14, 1977) was an American singer, comedian, entertainer and actor. The first multimedia star, he was one of the most popular and influential musical artists of the 20th century worldwi ...

, The California Ramblers,

Ruth Etting Ruth Etting (November 23, 1896 – September 24, 1978) was an American singer and actress during the 1920s and 1930s, who had over 60 hit recordings and worked in stage, radio, and film. Known as "America's sweetheart of song", her signature tu ...

Benny Goodman Benjamin David Goodman (May 30, 1909 – June 13, 1986) was an American clarinetist and bandleader, known as the "King of Swing". His orchestra did well commercially. From 1936 until the mid-1940s, Goodman led one of the most popular swing bi ...

Earl Hines Earl Kenneth Hines, also known as Earl "Fatha" Hines (December 28, 1903 – April 22, 1983), was an American jazz pianist and bandleader. He was one of the most influential figures in the development of jazz piano and, according to one source, " ...

, George Lewis, Ted Lewis, Jimmy O'Bryant, Jabbo Smith,

Jack Teagarden Weldon Leo "Jack" Teagarden (August 20, 1905 – January 15, 1964) was an United States, American jazz Trombone, trombonist and singer. He led both of his bands himself and was a sideman for Paul Whiteman's orchestra. From 1946 to 1951, he played ...

Ethel Waters Ethel Waters (October 31, 1896 – September 1, 1977) was an American singer and actress. Waters frequently performed jazz, swing, and pop music on the Broadway stage and in concerts. She began her career in the 1920s singing blues. Her no ...

, and Clarence Williams. The company's label are Melodeon, Center, Regal and Dawn. In 1970 Biograph bought from QRS Records the rights to release recordings made from

piano rolls A piano roll is a music storage medium used to operate a player piano, piano player or reproducing piano. Piano rolls, like other music rolls, are continuous rolls of paper with holes punched into them. These perforations represent note control d ...

. These included works by

Scott Joplin Scott Joplin (November 24, 1868 – April 1, 1917) was an American composer and pianist. Dubbed the "King of Ragtime", he composed more than 40 ragtime pieces, one ragtime ballet, and two operas. One of his first and most popular pieces, the ...

and

Fats Waller Thomas Wright "Fats" Waller (May 21, 1904 – December 15, 1943) was an American jazz pianist, organist, composer, and singer. His innovations in the Harlem stride style laid much of the basis for modern jazz piano. A widely popular star ...

. Biography also purchased the catalogs of

Melodeon Records Melodeon Records is a record label set up in 1964 by Richard K. Spottswood. Melodeon Records issued - among others - the first recordings after his 'rediscovery' of Skip James and the 1940 Library Of Congress Sessions of Blind Willie McTell. In 1 ...

and

Dawn Records Dawn Records was a subsidiary of Pye Records. Active from 1969 to 1975, it was established as Pye's 'underground and progressive' label rivalling the EMI and Phonogram equivalents, Harvest and Vertigo. The most successful act on the label ...

. In August 2002, Biograph was acquired by Retropolis Entertainment, which in 2003 was renamed

Shout! Factory Shout! Factory, LLC, doing business as Shout! Studios (formerly doing business as Shout! Factory, its current legal name), is an American home video and music distributor founded in 2002 as Retropolis Entertainment. Its video releases, issued i ...

by owners Richard Foos and Robert Emmer, two of the founders of the label. Between 2007 and 2008,

Collectables Records Collectables Records is an American reissue record label, founded in 1980 by Jerry Greene. Greene also formed the Lost Nite and Crimson record labels. History It maintains a catalogue of over 3,400 active titles on compact disc, with thousands ...

reissued forty compact discs' worth of Biograph recordings.

References

External links

Illustrated Biograph Records discography
Blues record labels American jazz record labels Reissue record labels Shout! Factory {{US-record-label-stub

See also

References

External links