Brunswick Records is an American
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, ...
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 products ranging from pianos to sporting equipment since 1845. The company first began producing
phonograph
A phonograph, later called a gramophone, and since the 1940s a record player, or more recently a turntable, is a device for the mechanical and analogue reproduction of sound. The sound vibration Waveform, waveforms are recorded as correspond ...
s in 1916, then began marketing their own line of records as an afterthought. These first Brunswick records used the
vertical cut system like
Edison Disc Records, and were not sold in large numbers. They were recorded in the United States but sold only in Canada.
In January 1920, a new line of Brunswick Records was introduced in the U.S. and Canada that employed the lateral cut system which was becoming the default cut for
78 discs. Brunswick started its standard popular series at 2000 and ended up in 1940 at 8517. However, when the series reached 4999, they skipped over the previous allocated 5000s and continued at 6000. When they reached 6999, they continued at 7301 (because the early 7000s had been previously allocated as their Race series). The parent company marketed them extensively, and within a few years Brunswick became a competitor to America's "big three" record companies,
Edison Records
Edison Records was one of the early record labels that pioneered sound recording and reproduction, and was an important and successful company in the early recording industry.
The first phonograph cylinders were manufactured in 1888, followed by ...
,
Victor, and
.
The Brunswick line of home phonographs were commercially successful. Brunswick had a hit with their Ultona phonograph capable of playing
Edison Disc Records,
Pathé disc records, and standard lateral 78s. In late 1924, Brunswick acquired the
Vocalion Records label.
Audio fidelity of early-1920s, acoustically-recorded Brunswick discs is above average for the era. They were pressed into good quality
shellac
Shellac () is a resin secreted by the female Kerria lacca, lac bug on trees in the forests of India and Thailand. Chemically, it is mainly composed of aleuritic acid, jalaric acid, shellolic acid, and other natural waxes. It is processed and s ...
, although not as durable as that used by Victor. General music director
Walter B. Rogers and his colleague
Gus Haenschen lured significant classical and popular soloists into Brunswick's roster, including
Sigrid Onegin,
Marie Tiffany,
Michael Bohnen,
Mario Chamlee,
Richard Bonelli,
Giacomo Lauri-Volpi, and popular singers
Al Bernard,
Ernest Hare, and light-voiced
Nick Lucas. Significant Brunswick instrumentalists included pianists
Leopold Godowsky and
Josef Hofmann, and violinists
Bronislaw Huberman and
Max Rosen.
In the spring of 1925 Brunswick introduced its own version of electrical recording derived from the
Pallophotophone system, developed by
Charles A. Hoxie (and licensed from
General Electric
General Electric Company (GE) was an American Multinational corporation, multinational Conglomerate (company), conglomerate founded in 1892, incorporated in the New York (state), state of New York and headquartered in Boston.
Over the year ...
) using
photoelectric cells, which Brunswick called the "Light-Ray" process. These early electric discs have a harsh equalization which does not compare well to early electric Columbias and Victors, and the company's logbooks from 1925–27 show many recordings that were unissued for technical reasons having to do with the GE system's electronic and sonic inconsistencies. (Only Brunswick and Vocalion records pressed at their West Coast plant bore the name "Light-Ray Process" on the labels.)
Once Brunswick's engineers had tentative control of their new equipment, the company expanded its
popular music
Popular music is music with wide appeal that is typically distributed to large audiences through the music industry. These forms and styles can be enjoyed and performed by people with little or no musical training.Popular Music. (2015). ''Fun ...
recording activities, exploiting its roster of stars: the dance bands of
Bob Haring,
Isham Jones,
Ben Bernie,
Abe Lyman,
Earl Burtnett, and banjoist
Harry Reser and his various ensembles (especially the Six Jumping Jacks), and
Al Jolson (whose record labels proclaimed him "The World's Greatest Entertainer With Orchestra").
Then based in
Chicago
Chicago is the List of municipalities in Illinois, most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States. With a population of 2,746,388, as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of Unite ...
(although they maintained an office and studio in New York), many of the city's best orchestras and performers recorded for Brunswick. The label's
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 ...
roster included
Fletcher Henderson,
Duke Ellington
Edward Kennedy "Duke" Ellington (April 29, 1899 – May 24, 1974) was an American Jazz piano, jazz pianist, composer, and leader of his eponymous Big band, jazz orchestra from 1924 through the rest of his life.
Born and raised in Washington, D ...
(usually as the Jungle Band),
King Oliver,
Johnny Dodds,
Andy Kirk,
Roger Wolfe Kahn, and
Red Nichols. Brunswick initiated a 7000 race series (with the distinctive 'lightning bolt' label design, also used for their popular 100 hillbilly series) as well as the Vocalion 1000 race series. These
race records
Race records is a term for 78-rpm phonograph records marketed to African Americans between the 1920s and 1940s.Oliver, Paul. "Race record". Grove Music Online. Oxford Music Online. 13 Feb. 2015. They primarily contained race music, comprising var ...
series recorded hot jazz, urban and rural blues, and gospel. Brunswick also had a very successful business supplying radio with sponsored transcriptions of popular music, comedy and personalities.
In the early 1920s Brunswick also embarked on an ambitious domestic classical instrumental recording program which carried over into the electrical era, recording violinist
Bronislaw Huberman, pianists
Josef Hofmann and
Leopold Godowsky (both of whom made the majority of their American recordings for Brunswick), and the New York String Quartet. They moved into orchestral recording in 1922 with the renowned "Capitol Grand Orchestra" under
Erno Rapee from the
Capitol Theatre in New York (at a time when
Eugene Ormandy was the orchestra's concertmaster), then contracting with the
Minneapolis Symphony under
Henri Verbrugghen and the
Cleveland Orchestra under
Nikolai Sokoloff in 1924, the orchestra of the
Metropolitan Opera House (39th Street)
The Metropolitan Opera House, also known as the Old Metropolitan Opera House and Old Met, was an opera house located at 1411 Broadway in Manhattan, New York City. Opened in 1883 and demolished in 1967, it was the first home of the Metropo ...
under
Gennaro Papi, and in a tremendous steal from Victor, they put the
New York Philharmonic with conductors
Willem Mengelberg and
Arturo Toscanini
Arturo Toscanini (; ; March 25, 1867January 16, 1957) was an Italian conductor. He was one of the most acclaimed and influential musicians of the late 19th and early 20th century, renowned for his intensity, his perfectionism, his ear for orche ...
on their artists roster - but only briefly. The popular records, which used small performing groups, were difficult enough to make with the photoelectric cell process; symphony orchestra recording, however, further exacerbated the problems of the "Light-Ray" system. Few orchestral records were approved for issue and those that did appear on the market often combined excellent performances with execrable sound, which particularly displeased Toscanini (only two sides he conducted were ever released). Brunswick found it expedient and ultimately cheaper to contract with European companies (whose electrical recording systems surpassed Brunswick's). Among the recordings Brunswick imported and issued under their own label (through an agreement reached with
Polydor,
Deutsche Grammophon
Deutsche Grammophon (; DGG) is a German classical music record label that was the precursor of the corporation PolyGram. Headquartered in Berlin Friedrichshain, it is now part of Universal Music Group (UMG) since its merger with the UMG family of ...
's export branch) were historic performances conducted by
Hans Pfitzner and
Richard Strauss—the latter conducting critically acclaimed performances of his symphonic poems ''Don Juan'' and ''Till Eulenspiegel's Merry Pranks'', recorded in
Berlin
Berlin ( ; ) is the Capital of Germany, capital and largest city of Germany, by both area and List of cities in Germany by population, population. With 3.7 million inhabitants, it has the List of cities in the European Union by population withi ...
in 1929–30. Some of these recordings have been reissued on CD.
Brunswick itself switched to a conventional condenser microphone recording process (licensed through
Western Electric) in 1927, with better results. Prior to this, however, they had introduced the Brunswick Panatrope all-electric phonograph with electric amplification. This phonograph met with critical acclaim, and composer
Ottorino Respighi selected the Brunswick Panatrope to play a recording of
bird songs in his composition ''
The Pines of Rome''.
Jack Kapp became the record company executive of Brunswick in 1930.
1930–1944
In April 1930, Brunswick-Balke-Collender sold Brunswick Records to
Warner Bros., and the company's headquarters moved to New York.
[Barry Kernfeld ''The New Grove Dictionary of Jazz'', London & New York: Macmillan, 1988 994 p.164] Warner Bros. hoped to make their own soundtrack recordings for their sound-on-disc
Vitaphone
Vitaphone was a sound film system used for feature films and nearly 1,000 short subjects made by Warner Bros. and its sister studio First National Pictures, First National from 1926 to 1931. Vitaphone is the last major analog sound-on-disc sys ...
system. A number of interesting recordings were made by actors during this period, featuring songs from musical films. Actors who made recordings included
Noah Beery,
Charles King, and
J. Harold Murray. During this Warner Brothers period Brunswick signed
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 ...
,
who was to become their biggest recording star, as well as
the Mills Brothers,
Adelaide Hall,
the Boswell Sisters,
Cab Calloway, the
Casa Loma Orchestra and
Ozzie Nelson.
In November 1930, the new budget-line,
Melotone, debuted, entering a field of lower-priced electrical records, including Columbia's Clarion, Velvet Tone, Harmony and the labels of the Plaza Music Company, such as
Perfect,
Banner
A banner can be a flag or another piece of cloth bearing a symbol, logo, slogan or another message. A flag whose design is the same as the shield in a coat of arms (but usually in a square or rectangular shape) is called a banner of arms. Also, ...
, and
Romeo
Romeo Montague () is the male protagonist of William Shakespeare's tragedy ''Romeo and Juliet''. The son of Characters in Romeo and Juliet#Lord Montague, Lord Montague and his wife, Characters in Romeo and Juliet#Lady Montague, Lady Montague, he ...
. Melotone releases before the
ARC takeover of December 1931 are not duplicated on these labels. When Vitaphone was abandoned in favor of
sound-on-film
Sound-on-film is a class of sound film processes where the sound accompanying a picture is recorded on photographic film, usually, but not always, the same strip of film carrying the picture. Sound-on-film processes can either record an Analog s ...
systems—and record industry sales plummeted due to the
Great Depression
The Great Depression was a severe global economic downturn from 1929 to 1939. The period was characterized by high rates of unemployment and poverty, drastic reductions in industrial production and international trade, and widespread bank and ...
—Warner Bros. leased the Brunswick record operation to
Consolidated Film Industries, the parent company of the
American Record Corporation (ARC),
in December 1931. In 1932, the UK branch of Brunswick was acquired by British
Decca.
Between early 1932 and 1939, Brunswick was ARC's flagship label, selling for 75 cents, while all of the other ARC labels were selling for 35 cents. Best selling artists during that time were Bing Crosby, the Boswell Sisters, the Mills Brothers,
Duke Ellington
Edward Kennedy "Duke" Ellington (April 29, 1899 – May 24, 1974) was an American Jazz piano, jazz pianist, composer, and leader of his eponymous Big band, jazz orchestra from 1924 through the rest of his life.
Born and raised in Washington, D ...
, Cab Calloway,
Abe Lyman, Casa Loma Orchestra,
Leo Reisman,
Ben Bernie,
Red Norvo,
Teddy Wilson
Theodore Shaw Wilson (November 24, 1912 – July 31, 1986) was an American jazz pianist. Described by critic Scott Yanow as "the definitive Swing music, swing pianist", Wilson's piano style was gentle, elegant, and virtuosic. His style was high ...
, and
Anson Weeks. Many of these artists moved over to Decca in late 1934, causing Brunswick to reissue popular records by these artists on the ARC dime store labels as a means to compete with Decca's 35 cent price.
In 1939, the American Record Corp. was bought by the
Columbia Broadcasting System for $750,000, which discontinued the Brunswick label in 1940,
in favor of reviving the Columbia label (as well as reviving the
OKeh label, replacing Vocalion). This, along with the lower than agreed-upon sales/production numbers, violated the Warner lease agreement, resulting in the Brunswick trademark reverting to Warner. In 1941, Warner sold the Brunswick and Vocalion labels to American Decca (which Warner had a financial interest in), with all masters recorded prior to December 1931. Rights to recordings from late December 1931 on were retained by
CBS/Columbia.
In 1943, Decca revived the Brunswick label, mostly for reissues of recordings from earlier decades, particularly Bing Crosby's early hits of 1931 and jazz items from the 1920s. Since then, Decca and its successors have had ownership of the historic Brunswick Records archive from this time period.
1945–1956
After World War II, American Decca releases were issued in the United Kingdom on the Brunswick label until 1968 when the
MCA Records
MCA Records was an American record label owned by MCA Inc. established in 1972, though MCA had released recordings under that name in the UK from the 1960s. The label achieved success in the 1970s through the 1980s, often by acquiring other ...
label was introduced in the UK. During the war, British Decca sold its American branch. By 1952, Brunswick was put under the management of Decca's
Coral Records subsidiary. That same year, Brunswick resumed releasing new material, initially as
rhythm and blues
Rhythm and blues, frequently abbreviated as R&B or R'n'B, is a genre of popular music that originated within African American communities in the 1940s. The term was originally used by record companies to describe recordings marketed predomina ...
specialty label, adding
pop music
Pop music is a genre of popular music that originated in its modern form during the mid-1950s in the United States and the United Kingdom.S. Frith, W. Straw, and J. Street, eds, ''iarchive:cambridgecompani00frit, The Cambridge Companion to Pop ...
in 1957. Later in the 1950s, American Decca made Brunswick its leading
rock and roll
Rock and roll (often written as rock & roll, rock-n-roll, and rock 'n' roll) is a Genre (music), genre of popular music that evolved in the United States during the late 1940s and early 1950s. It Origins of rock and roll, originated from African ...
label, featuring artists such as
Buddy Holly & the Crickets, with releases having backup vocals (by The Picks or The Roses) and labeled under the group name without reference to Holly. Hit records by Buddy Holly were released during the same period of his career on the co-owned Coral Records. The records released on Coral by Holly normally were without backup vocals, with the exception of "Rave On" and "Early In The Morning". In 1957, Brunswick became a subsidiary label to Coral. A pre-
Four Seasons Nick Massi made his recording debut for Brunswick in 1959.
1957–1979/R&B
Starting in the latter part of the 1950s and continuing well into the 1970s, the label recorded mainly R&B/soul acts, such as the label's leading artist in the late 1950s and early/mid 1960s,
Jackie Wilson, and later on,
the Chi-Lites. Jackie Wilson's manager,
Nat Tarnopol, joined the label in 1957 as head of
A&R.
Brunswick became a separate company and a unit of Decca in 1960 with Tarnopol serving as executive vice-president. He acquired a 50% interest in Brunswick from Decca in 1964 and then the rest of Brunswick from Decca in 1969 to settle disputes with Decca management.
Nat Tarnopol worked with R&B singer Jackie Wilson.
Many of the recordings which established Brunswick as a major force in R&B and soul music in the mid-1960s and into the 1970s were supervised by producer
Carl Davis in Chicago.
He joined the label after helping to revive Jackie Wilson's recording career with his production on Wilson's 1966 hit, "Whispers". Wilson and Davis collaborated the following year for one of the label's biggest selling singles, "Higher And Higher", which sold over two million copies (No. 1 R&B, No. 5 pop).
The Chi-Lites recorded two No. 1 R&B hits in the 1970s for Brunswick, "Have You Seen Her" and "Oh Girl", both co-written and co-produced by lead singer, Eugene Record. "Oh Girl" also topped the
''Billboard'' Hot 100. Davis formed a sister label,
Dakar Records, in 1969, with Tyrone Davis (no relation) becoming its main artist and a major-selling R&B act. Dakar was first distributed by
Atlantic Records
Atlantic Recording Corporation (simply known as Atlantic Records) is an American record label founded in October 1947 by Ahmet Ertegun and Herb Abramson. Over the course of its first two decades, starting from the release of its first recor ...
for two years, but moved under Brunswick distribution from January 1972, after the company became independent from Decca.
Brunswick and Dakar artists included
the Chi-Lites,
Hamilton Bohannon, Tyrone Davis, Jackie Wilson, Barbara Acklin, Young-Holt Unlimited, Gene Chandler, the Artistics, Otis Leavill, the Lost Generation, Walter Jackson, Erma Franklin, Willie Henderson & the Soul, Maryann Farra & Satin soul, Strutt, Touch, Sunny Nash and
Little Richard
Richard Wayne Penniman (December 5, 1932 – May 9, 2020), known professionally as Little Richard, was an American singer, pianist, and songwriter. He was an influential figure in popular music and culture for seven decades. Described as the "Ar ...
. Main producers for the labels, along with Davis, were Eugene Record, Willie Henderson and later, Leo Graham, while staff arrangers during the Chicago years included
Sonny Sanders, Tony Moulton Quinton Joseph and Willie Henderson.
The Chi-Lites' "Oh Girl" was the label's only release from post-1957 to reach the top of the ''Billboard'' Hot 100, but Brunswick and Dakar managed to top the R&B chart a total of 10 times during the same period, six by Jackie Wilson and two each by Tyrone Davis and the Chi-Lites.
Legal problems caused Brunswick to become dormant after 1982, in which Tarnopol licensed Brunswick recordings from 1957 onwards to the special products unit of
. Brunswick had its last chart hits in 1982. Although Brunswick was eventually cleared of the charges, the situation, which had resulted in court action, left both the label and Tarnopol in financial difficulties. By then, Carl Davis and most of the artists had left the company. Tarnopol blamed his legal problems on a personal vendetta led by
Lew Wasserman, the head of Decca's parent corporation,
MCA Inc. Tarnopol died in 1987 at age 56.
Ownership
The Tarnopol family only claims ownership of Brunswick recordings since Tarnopol joined Brunswick in 1957.
[Lichtman, Irv]
"Brunswick digs into its vaults to release vintage R&B on CD"
''Billboard'', 8 June 1996, p.6 Decca's parent company,
Universal Music controls the Decca-era pre-Tarnopol Brunswick recordings (excluding the late 1931–1939 era, which is still controlled by Columbia Records' parent,
Sony Music Entertainment
Sony Music Entertainment (SME), commonly known as Sony Music, is an American multinational music company owned by Japanese conglomerate Sony Group Corporation. It is the recording division of Sony Music Group, with the other half being the ...
). The Decca-era Brunswick jazz catalogue is managed by the
Verve Music Group (which is also part of Universal).
"Universal Music Group Donates Over 200,000 Master Recordings to the Library of Congress"
News from the Library of Congress, January 10, 2011
The official Brunswick Records web site has a detailed history of the Tarnopol-era Brunswick Records. The label was revived in 1995 by Nat's children. and many of the Chicago soul recordings have been re-issued in recent years. Brunswick's catalog is distributed by AMPED Distribution (a division of Alliance Entertainment).
See also
* List of record labels
File:Alvinoreyguitarboogie.jpg
File:AmMusicBunk78.jpg
File:Bingola1011b.jpg
Lists of record labels cover record labels, brands or trademarks associated with marketing of music recordings and music videos. The lists are organized alphabetically, ...
References
External links
Official site
* ttp://www.capsnews.org/barrbru.htm History of Brunswick and Vocalion
Both Sides Now page on Brunswick's history and LP catalogue
Brunswick Records
on the Internet Archive'
Great 78 Project
Brunswick
in Discography of American Historical Recordings
{{Authority control
American jazz record labels
Soul music record labels
Vertical cut record labels
Record labels established in 1916
Record labels disestablished in 1940
Record labels established in 1943
Re-established companies