Gearbox Records Ltd. is an independent

music studio A recording studio is a specialized facility for recording and mixing of instrumental or vocal musical performances, spoken words, and other sounds. They range in size from a small in-home project studio large enough to record a single sin ...

and

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 2009 and based in London and Tokyo. Gearbox emphasizes

vinyl records A phonograph record (also known as a gramophone record, especially in British English) or a vinyl record (for later varieties only) is an analog sound storage medium in the form of a flat disc with an inscribed, modulated spiral groove. The g ...

. They started out by releasing previously unreleased archival jazz recordings from their reel-to-reel tape library, and now publish mostly alternative

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 ...

, folk, and

electronic music Electronic music broadly is a group of music genres that employ electronic musical instruments, circuitry-based music technology and software, or general-purpose electronics (such as personal computers) in its creation. It includes both music ...

. Many of their releases are all-analog.

History

Gearbox was founded by Darrel Sheinman;

Hugh Padgham Hugh Charles Padgham (born 15 February 1955) is an English record producer and audio engineer. He has won four Grammy Awards, for Producer of the Year and Album of the Year for 1985, Record of the Year for 1990, and Engineer of the Year for 199 ...

is one of its owners. Adam Sieff was head of sales and marketing.

Work

They have released music by Sarathy Korwar, Rick Laird and

Yusef Lateef Yusef Abdul Lateef (born William Emanuel Huddleston; October 9, 1920 – December 23, 2013) was an American jazz multi-instrumentalist, composer, and prominent figure among the Ahmadiyya Community in the United States. Although Lateef's main i ...

Charles Tolliver Charles Tolliver (born March 6, 1942) is an American jazz trumpeter, composer, and co-founder of Strata East Records. Biography Tolliver was born in Jacksonville, Florida, in 1942 and moved with his family to New York City when he was 10. Durin ...

Amber Rubarth Amber Rubarth is an American singer-songwriter. She has toured extensively throughout Europe, North America, Japan, South Korea and South Africa . Winner of the NPR Mountain Stage New Song Contest, her eighth album, ‘Wildflowers in the Grave ...

, Mark Murphy, Simon Spillett,

Chihei Hatakeyama is an electronic music artist from Tokyo, Japan. He grew up in the suburbs of Fujisawa. He released his first full-length album, ''Minima Moralia'' on Kranky in 2006. He is the owner of the record label White Paddy Mountain which he launched ...

, Dwight Trible,

Butcher Brown Butcher Brown is a jazz quintet founded in 2009 and based in Richmond, Virginia. Their members are Marcus Tenney (trumpet and saxophone), Morgan Burrs (guitar), Corey Fonville (percussion), Andrew Randazzo (bass), and DJ Harrison (keyboards). ...

, Theon Cross,

Thelonious Monk Thelonious Sphere Monk ( October 10, 1917 – February 17, 1982) was an American Jazz piano, jazz pianist and composer. He had a unique improvisational style and made numerous contributions to the Jazz standard, standard jazz repertoire, includ ...

Don Cherry Donald Stewart Cherry (born February 5, 1934) is a Canadian former ice hockey player, coach, and television commentator. He played one game in the National Hockey League (NHL) with the Boston Bruins. After concluding a playing career in the A ...

Nico Christa Päffgen (; 16 October 1938 – 18 July 1988), known by her stage name Nico, was a German singer, songwriter, actress, and model. Nico had roles in several films, including Federico Fellini's '' La Dolce Vita'' (1960) and Andy Warhol's ...

, Binker and Moses,

Abdullah Ibrahim Abdullah Ibrahim (born Adolph Johannes Brand on 9 October 1934), previously known as Dollar Brand, is a South African pianist and composer. His music reflects many of the musical influences of his childhood in the multicultural port areas of Cap ...

, and

Buddy Rich Bernard "Buddy" Rich (September 30, 1917 – April 2, 1987) was an American jazz drummer, songwriter, conductor, and bandleader. He is considered one of the most influential drummers of all time. Rich was born and raised in Brooklyn, New York, ...

(posthumously). Their recording of

Ana Silvera Ana Silvera is an English singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist and composer. Silvera's solo music can be characterized as folk in style, but draws on diverse genres including jazz, pop and contemporary classical. As a composer, she has been ...

's ''Oracles'' with

Bill Laurance Bill Laurance (born 2 April 1981) is an English composer, producer, and multi-instrumental musician. Laurance is a member of jazz fusion and funk band Snarky Puppy, as well as founder and CEO of London-based record label Flint Music. Biogr ...

Jasper Høiby Jasper Høiby (born 10 May 1977) is a Danish jazz bass player known for his virtuosity and high-energy eloquence. Career Høiby started to play the double bass in Denmark before he moved to the UK in 2001 to study at the Royal Academy of Musi ...

Josephine Stephenson Josephine Stephenson (born 1990) is a French-British composer, arranger, singer and instrumentalist who works across a variety of musical genres. Early life and education Stephenson learned cello and piano as a child, and as a teenager attend ...

was listed by

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in Manchester in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'' and changed its name in 1959, followed by a move to London. Along with its sister paper, ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardi ...

as a Critic's Pick. They have re-released recordings from the defunct

PRT Records PYE or Pye Records is an independent British record label. It was first established in 1955 and played a major role in shaping rock 'n' roll and pop music history. The Pye name was dropped in 1980 due to trademark issues, after which it produced ...

/ Rak Records. They also market the Gearbox Automatic Mkii turntable.

References

External links

Official web site

Bandcamp

Tour of Gearbox Records
{{coord missing, London Recording studios in London British record labels Recording studios in Japan Japanese record labels