Keynote Records was a

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 by record store owner Eric Bernay in 1940. The label's initial releases were folk and protest songs from the

Soviet Union The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

and the

Spanish Civil War The Spanish Civil War () was a military conflict fought from 1936 to 1939 between the Republican faction (Spanish Civil War), Republicans and the Nationalist faction (Spanish Civil War), Nationalists. Republicans were loyal to the Left-wing p ...

, and several

anti-war An anti-war movement is a social movement in opposition to one or more nations' decision to start or carry on an armed conflict. The term ''anti-war'' can also refer to pacifism, which is the opposition to all use of military force during conf ...

releases from American musicians followed. Ronald D. Cohen, "Keynote Records". In Frank W. Hoffmann and Howard Ferstler, ''Encyclopedia of Recorded Sound, Volume 1''. 2004, p. 571.
Google Books)
/ref> From 1943, the label released recordings in the

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 ...

idiom produced by Harry Lim. The music critic John S. Wilson in 1965 described the company's jazz output as "an unusually valid reflection of the jazz spirits of the times." An unwise investment in a factory to manufacture records in 1947 led to the company becoming bankrupt in 1948, and came under the control of

Mercury Records Mercury Records is an American record label owned by Universal Music Group. It had significant success as an independent operation in the 1940s and 1950s. Smash Records and Fontana Records were sub labels of Mercury. Mercury Records released ...

. The Keynote jazz sessions were comprehensively reissued in 1986 when Nippon Phonogram/ PolyGram released a 21 LP set with 115 previously unissued takes. Robert Palmer in ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

'' in October 1986 described it as "a much more substantial addition to the treasury of absolutely essential classic jazz performances than one could have expected or hoped for this late in the game." In 2013, a 11-CD set of Keynote jazz recordings was issued by the Spanish Fresh Sound label. Donald Clarke, writing about Lim's for Keynote, described him as knowing what he was doing and getting "good sound, with no gimmicks."

Roster

* The Almanac Singers * George Barnes *

Count Basie William James "Count" Basie (; August 21, 1904 – April 26, 1984) was an American jazz pianist, organist, bandleader, and composer. In 1935, he formed the Count Basie Orchestra, and in 1936 took them to Chicago for a long engagement and the ...

* Barney Bigard * Marc Blitzstein * Pete Brown * Cozy Cole * Corky Corcoran * Irving Fazola * Roy Eldridge * Bud Freeman * Paul Gonsalves * Johnny Guarnieri * Bill Harris * George Hartman * Ann Hathaway *

Coleman Hawkins Coleman Randolph Hawkins (November 21, 1904 – May 19, 1969), nicknamed "Hawk" and sometimes "Bean", was an American jazz tenor saxophonist.Yanow, Scot"Coleman Hawkins: Artist Biography" AllMusic. Retrieved December 27, 2013. One of the first ...

* Herbie Haymer * J.C. Heard * Neal Hefti * Earl Hines * Milt Hinton * Danny Hurd * Clyde Hurley * Chubby Jackson * Jonah Jones * Kansas City Seven * The Keynoters * Mannie Klein * Bernie Leighton * Al Menconi * Benny Morton * Ted Nash * Red Norvo * Paul Robeson * Earl Robinson *

Red Rodney Robert Roland Chudnick (September 27, 1927 – May 27, 1994), known professionally as Red Rodney, was an American jazz trumpeter. Biography Born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, he became a professional musician at 15, working in the mid-1940 ...

Harold Rome Harold Jacob "Hecky" Rome (May 27, 1908 – October 26, 1993) was an American composer, lyricist, and writer for musical theater. Biography Rome was born in Hartford, Connecticut and graduated from Hartford Public High School. Originally, he ch ...

* Arnold Ross * Babe Russin * Gene Sedric * Charlie Shavers * Willie Smith * Rex Stewart * Billy Taylor *Joe Thomas * Juan Tizol * Lennie Tristano *

Dinah Washington Dinah Washington (; born Ruth Lee Jones; August 29, 1924 – December 14, 1963) was an American singer and pianist, one of the most popular black female recording artists of the 1950s. Primarily a jazz vocalist, she performed and recorded in a ...

* George Wettling * Josh White *

Lester Young Lester Willis Young (August 27, 1909 – March 15, 1959), nicknamed "Pres" or "Prez", was an American jazz tenor saxophonist and occasional clarinetist. Coming to prominence while a member of Count Basie's orchestra, Young was one of the most i ...

References

External links

The Complete Keynote Collection
– 21-LP set issued 1986 (Japan) – Discogs page
Discography of Keynote's jazz recordings
– Jazz Disco
Keynote Records
on the Internet Archive'
Great 78 Project
* Defunct record labels of the United States American jazz record labels {{US-record-label-stub