Spivey Records was a specialist blues

record label A record label, or record company, is a brand or trademark of music recordings and music videos, or the company that owns it. Sometimes, a record label is also a publishing company that manages such brands and trademarks, coordinates the prod ...

founded by blues singer

Victoria Spivey Victoria Regina Spivey (October 15, 1906 – October 3, 1976), sometimes known as Queen Victoria, was an American blues singer and songwriter. During a recording career that spanned 40 years, from 1926 to the mid-1960s, she worked with Louis A ...

and jazz historian Len Kunstadt in 1961. Spivey Records released a series of blues and jazz albums between 1961 and 1985.

History of Spivey Records

The label recorded a wide variety of blues musicians who were friends of Spivey and Kunstadt, including

Muddy Waters McKinley Morganfield (April 4, 1913 April 30, 1983), known professionally as Muddy Waters, was an American blues singer and musician who was an important figure in the post- war blues scene, and is often cited as the "father of modern Chicag ...

Otis Spann Otis Spann (March 21, 1924 or 1930April 24, 1970) was an American blues musician, whom many consider to be the leading postwar Chicago blues pianist. Early life Sources differ over Spann's early years. Some state that he was born in Jackson, Mis ...

Big Joe Williams Joseph Lee "Big Joe" Williams (October 16, 1903 – December 17, 1982) was an American Delta blues guitarist, singer and songwriter, notable for the distinctive sound of his nine-string guitar. Performing over five decades, he recorded the s ...

, Lonnie Johnson,

Memphis Slim John Len Chatman (September 3, 1915 – February 24, 1988), known professionally as Memphis Slim, was an American blues pianist, singer, and composer. He led a series of bands that, reflecting the popular appeal of jump blues, included saxoph ...

, and Louis Armstrong. Kunstadt had a rough and ready approach to recording; he was known to walk through the session and shout "More mistakes!" On March 2, 1962,

Bob Dylan Bob Dylan (legally Robert Dylan, born Robert Allen Zimmerman, May 24, 1941) is an American singer-songwriter. Often regarded as one of the greatest songwriters of all time, Dylan has been a major figure in popular culture during a career sp ...

contributed harmonica and backing vocals to a recording session featuring

. These tracks appeared on Spivey LP 1004, ''Three Kings And The Queen''. However, this was not Dylan's first recording session. He had already recorded his debut album ''

'' for

Columbia Records Columbia Records is an American record label owned by Sony Music, Sony Music Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Corporation of America, the North American division of Japanese Conglomerate (company), conglomerate Sony. It was founded on Janua ...

, which was released on March 19, 1962. In recognition of her entrepreneurial achievements with Spivey Records, Spivey was awarded the " BMI Commendation of Excellence" in 1970. Victoria Spivey died in 1976. The label became dormant after the death of Len Kunstadt in 1996. In 2007, Len Kunstadt's niece, Lisa Weiner, announced the revival of the label on the Spivey Records website. It was announced that audio engineer Doug Pomeroy had remastered the original tapes recorded between 1961 and 1986, and that Spivey LP1001 through Spivey LP1016 would be reissued on CD in 2008. Queries on the notice board of Spivey Records website indicate that as of October 2011, no reissued CDs are currently available.

Albums released by Spivey Records

*''Buddy Tate Invites You "To Dig" A Basket Of Blues'' (1962) (Spivey LP 1001) Buddy Tate Band;

Hannah Sylvester Hannah Sylvester (January 19, 1903 – October 15, 1973) was an American blues singer who performed in the classic female blues style, which was popular during the 1920s. She was billed as "Harlem's Mae West".Harris 1994, p. 492. Biography Syl ...

; Lucille Hegamin; Victoria Spivey *''Victoria Spivey And Her Blues'' (1962) (Spivey LP 1002) Victoria Spivey *''Chicago Blues: A Bonanza All Star Blues LP'' (1962) (Spivey LP 1003) Big Willie Dixon; Sunnyland Slim; John Henry Barbee; Homesick James; St Louis Jimmy; Washboard Sam; Cocoa (Aka "Koko") Taylor; Evans Spencer *''Three Kings And The Queen'' (1962) (Spivey LP 1004)

Roosevelt Sykes Roosevelt Sykes (January 31, 1906July 17, 1983) was an American blues musician, also known as "the Honeydripper". Career Sykes was born the son of a musician in Elmar, Arkansas. "Just a little old sawmill town", Sykes said of his birthplace. The ...

; Lonnie Johnson;

(with Bob Dylan); Victoria Spivey *''Missippi Mr Shortstuff'' (1964) (Spivey LP 1005) Big Joe Williams *''The Queen And Her Knights'' (1965) (Spivey LP 1006) Victoria Spivey;

;

Little Brother Montgomery Eurreal Wilford "Little Brother" Montgomery (April 18, 1906 – September 6, 1985) was an American jazz, boogie-woogie and blues pianist and singer. Largely self-taught, Montgomery was an important blues pianist with an original style. He was ...

; Lonnie Johnson *''Louis Metcalf At The Ali Baba'' (1966) (Spivey LP 1007) Louis Metcalf; Sonny White; Jerome Patterson; Al Matthews; Struttin' Sam; Victoria Spivey *''The Bluesmen Of The Muddy Waters Chicago Blues Band'' (1966) (Spivey LP 1008)

; George Smith; Luther Johnson;

Sammy Lawhorn Sammy David Lawhorn (July 12, 1935 – April 29, 1990) was an American Chicago blues guitarist, best known as a member of Muddy Waters's band. He also accompanied many other blues musicians, including Otis Spann, Willie Cobbs, Eddie Boyd, ...

; Francis Clay *''Encore For The Chicago Blues'' (1968) (Spivey LP 1009) Muddy Waters Bluesmen; Harvey Hill;

Koko Taylor Koko Taylor (born Cora Anna Walton, September 28, 1928 – June 3, 2009) was an American singer whose style encompassed Chicago blues, electric blues, rhythm and blues and soul blues. Sometimes called "The Queen of the Blues", she was known ...

; Memphis Slim; Babe Stovall; Big Joe Williams; Oliver Brown; J. B. Lenoir; Washboard Sam's Band; Victoria Spivey; Willie Dixon; John Hammond; John Henry Barbee;

Viola Wells Viola Gertrude Wells Evans (December 14, 1902, Newark, New Jersey – December 22, 1984, Belleville, New Jersey), better known by her stage names Viola Wells or Miss Rhapsody, was an American jazz, blues, and religious singer. The book ''Swing Ci ...

; Homesick James; Roosevelt Sykes *''The Bluesmen Of The Muddy Waters Blues Band, Volume 2'' (1968) (Spivey LP 1010)

; Lucille Spann; Luther Johnson;

; Little Sonny Wimberley; S.P. Leary; Paul Oscher; Pee Wee Madison; Willie Smith *''Victoria Spivey Presents The All Star Blues World Of Spivey Records In Stereo'' (1970) (Spivey LP 1011)

; John Hammond; Victoria Spivey; Smokey Hogg; Washboard Doc; Smokey Hogg; Willie Dixon; Sunnyland Slim; Marie Dixon; Johnny Shines *''Spivey's Blues Parade'' (1970) (Spivey LP 1012) Spivey's Blues Paraders: Bill Dicey, John Hammond, Bob Malenky, Roosevelt Sykes & Washboard Doc: Benny Jefferson; Pat Blackman;

Sugar Blue Sugar Blue (born James Joshua "Jimmie" Whiting, December 16, 1949, Harlem, New York City) is an American blues harmonica player. He is probably best known for playing on the Rolling Stones' single " Miss You", and in partnering Louisiana Red. ...

& His Harmonica; Sippie Wallace; Billie Mitchell;

Walter "Shakey" Horton Walter Horton (April 6, 1921 – December 8, 1981), known as Big Walter (Horton) or Walter 'Shakey' Horton, was an American blues harmonica player. A quiet, unassuming, shy man, he is remembered as one of the premier harmonica players in the hi ...

, Sunnyland Slim & Johnny Shines; Victoria Spivey, Lonnie Johnson, Little Brother Montgomery & Sonny Greer; Carolina Rose; Sonny Boy Williamson; Nita Washington; Washboard Bill; Little Sonny Parker; Delsey Maccay, Horton & Sunnyland Slim; Papa Comb & His Ukulele Mama; Lonnie Johnson *''The Everlasting Blues vs. Otis Spann'' (1969) (Spivey LP 1013)

;

Johnny Young Johnny Young (born Johnny Benjamin de Jong; 12 March 1947) is a Dutch Australian singer, composer, record producer, disc jockey, television producer and host. Originally from Rotterdam, The Netherlands, his family settled in Perth in the early ...

; Luther Johnson; Peter Malick; S.P. Leary *''Three Kings And The Queen, Volume Two'' (1970) (Spivey LP 1014)

; Lonnie Johnson;

;

and

;

; Roosevelt Sykes and John Hammond; Victoria Spivey and Bob Dylan. *''Spivey's Blues Cavalcade'' (1970) (Spivey LP 1015) Bill Dicey's High Street Blues Band; Larry Johnson; Brooklyn Blues Busters; Danny Russo; Washboard Bill; Ted Stilles; Homesick James; Mark Ross & John Brenner; John Hammond; Johnny Shines, Big Walter Horton and Sunshine Slim;

Bukka White Booker T. Washington "Bukka" White (November 12, 1906 February 26, 1977) was an American Delta blues guitarist and singer. Biography White was born south of Houston, Mississippi. He was a first cousin of B.B. King's mother (White's mother an ...

; Bill Dicey and

; Ralph Rush; Harvey Hill; Ted Stilles; Louisiana Red;

. *''The All Star Blues World Of Maestro Willie Dixon and his Chicago Blues Band'' (1973) (Spivey LP 1016) Willie Dixon Band; Buster Benton; Lafayette Leake; Larry Johnson;

Carey Bell Carey Bell Harrington (November 14, 1936 – May 6, 2007) was an American blues musician who played harmonica in the Chicago blues style. Bell played harmonica and bass guitar for other blues musicians from the late 1950s to the early 1970s bef ...

; Larry Johnson; Victoria Spivey. *''I'm Gonna Sit Right Down And Write Myself A Letter'' (1978) (Spivey LP 1020)

Big Joe Turner Joseph Vernon "Big Joe" Turner Jr. (May 18, 1911 – November 24, 1985) was an American singer from Kansas City, Missouri. According to songwriter Doc Pomus, "Rock and roll would have never happened without him." His greatest fame was due t ...

Lloyd Glenn, Brenda Bell, Robert Ross, Bill Dicey, Washboard Doc *''New York Really Has The Blues'' Victoria Spivey, Paul Oscher, Sugar Blue, Washboard Doc, Charles "Honeyboy" Otis, Smokey Hogg, The Dicey Ross Band featuring Bill Dicey and Robert Ross *''What Is The Blues'' (1977) (Spivey LP 1022) Eunice Davis and the Spivey Low-Down Blues Privacy Invaders with Bill Dicey, Robert Ross, Jonathan Dreschler, Georges Morales, Andy Story, Washboard Doc *''Victoria Spivey and her Danny Boy'' (1977) (Spivey LP 1023) Victoria Spivey with Danny Russo plus Lefty Dizz and Larry Johnson

Notes

References

External links

Spivey Records
— Official Spivey Records website
Victoria Spivey Archives, including papers of Spivey Records, 1960-1976
Emory University Manuscript, Archives, and Rare Book Library.

Stefan Wirz

{{Authority control American record labels Blues record labels Folk record labels Reissue record labels

History of Spivey Records

Albums released by Spivey Records

See also

Notes

References

External links