Nordskog Records was a

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 ...

record company and label founded by Andrae Nordskog in 1921 in

Santa Monica, California Santa Monica (; Spanish language, Spanish: ''Santa Mónica'') is a city in Los Angeles County, California, Los Angeles County, situated along Santa Monica Bay on California's South Coast (California), South Coast. Santa Monica's 2020 United Sta ...

. The label's

recording studio A recording studio is a specialized facility for Sound recording and reproduction, recording and Audio mixing, mixing of instrumental or vocal musical performances, spoken words, and other sounds. They range in size from a small in-home proje ...

and factory were in Los Angeles. It issued 27 double-sided discs. It had no pressing plant, so it contracted with

Arto Records Arto Records was a record company and label that operated from 1920 to 1923. Arto was owned by the Standard Music Roll Company in Orange, New Jersey. The recording studio was located in New York City. Arto was one of the first labels to issue re ...

Orange, New Jersey The City of Orange (known simply as Orange) is a Township (New Jersey), township in Essex County, New Jersey, Essex County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. As of the 2020 United States census, the township's population was 34,447, an increase o ...

. Wax masters were shipped across country by railroad; many melted on the trip across the desert. By some accounts among the recordings lost were sessions by

Jelly Roll Morton Ferdinand Joseph LaMothe ( Lemott, later Morton; c. September 20, 1890 – July 10, 1941), known professionally as Jelly Roll Morton, was an American blues and jazz pianist, bandleader, and composer of Louisiana Creole descent. Morton was jazz ...

and

King Oliver Joseph Nathan "King" Oliver (December 19, 1881 – April 10, 1938) was an American jazz cornet player and bandleader. He was particularly recognized for his playing style and his pioneering use of mutes in jazz. Also a notable composer, he wro ...

. Among the records which survived were the only recordings of

Eva Tanguay Eva Tanguay (August 1, 1878 – January 11, 1947) was a Canadian singer and entertainer who billed herself as "the girl who made vaudeville famous". She was known as "The Queen of Vaudeville" during the height of her popularity from the early 1 ...

, early sides by

Abe Lyman Abe Lyman (born Abraham Simon; August 4, 1897 – October 23, 1957) was a bandleader from the 1920s to the 1940s. He made recordings, appeared in films and provided the music for numerous radio shows, including '' Your Hit Parade''. Biography Bo ...

's Orchestra,

Henry Halstead Henry Halstead (November 16, 1897 – March 19, 1984) was an American bandleader. His orchestra began in early 1922 and over the next twenty years had regular engagements at hotels in New York and California. Halstead had from 15 to 20 band mem ...

's Orchestra, and a number of recordings by

Kid Ory Edward "Kid" Ory (December 25, 1886 – January 23, 1973) was an American jazz composer, Trombone, trombonist and bandleader. One of the early users of the glissando technique, he helped establish it as a central element of Music of New Orle ...

's band. The Ory sides were the first recorded jazz by an

African American African Americans, also known as Black Americans and formerly also called Afro-Americans, are an Race and ethnicity in the United States, American racial and ethnic group that consists of Americans who have total or partial ancestry from an ...

band from New Orleans. In 1923, Arto filed for bankruptcy. Nordskog sued for the return of some 80 unissued masters, with mothers and stampers then in Arto's possession, but failed to regain anything. Nordskog went out of business. The labels proclaim Nordskog records to be "The Golden-Voiced Records".

References

External links

Kid Ory’s Legendary Nordskog/Sunshine Recordings by Floyd Levin
also includes some general information about the label and photos {{Authority control Record labels established in 1921 Record labels disestablished in 1923 American jazz record labels

See also

References

External links