Paramount Records facts for kids
Quick facts for kids Paramount Records |
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1926 disc label
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| Founded | 1917 |
| Founder | Wisconsin Chair Company |
| Defunct | 1932 |
| Status | Inactive |
| Distributor(s) | Jazzology |
| Genre | Jazz, blues |
| Country of origin | U.S. |
| Location | Ozaukee County, Wisconsin |
Paramount Records was an American record label that became famous for its jazz and blues music. It released many important recordings in the 1920s and early 1930s. Some famous artists who recorded with Paramount include Ma Rainey, Tommy Johnson, and Blind Lemon Jefferson.
Contents
The Start of Paramount Records
Paramount Records began in 1917. It was created by United Phonographs, which was a smaller company owned by the Wisconsin Chair Company. This company made wooden cabinets for phonographs, which were early record players.
Making Records and Players
In 1915, the Wisconsin Chair Company started making its own phonographs. They called their new company the United Phonograph Corporation. These record players were sold under the "Vista" brand, but they didn't sell very well.
Then, in 1918, they started making their own records called Paramount. These records were made by another part of the company, the New York Recording Laboratories, Inc.. Even though it had "New York" in its name, this company was actually located in the same factory in Wisconsin!
Early Challenges
In its first few years, Paramount Records faced some difficulties. Their records weren't much different from others, and the sound quality was just average. As new ways of recording sound came out, Paramount's records sometimes had even worse sound quality. Because of these problems, Paramount Records started losing money. To try and earn more, they began making records for other companies at a low price.
Paramount's "Race Records"
Paramount Records got a special job making records for a company called Black Swan Records. Black Swan Records focused on music by and for African Americans. When Black Swan Records ran into trouble, Paramount bought them out. This led Paramount to start making its own records for African Americans.
Music for a Community
These special records became known as "race music" records. They were very important and helped Paramount earn a lot of money. It's believed that about one-fourth of all "race records" released between 1922 and 1932 were on the Paramount label. The company worked with people in nearby Chicago to find and record talented blues and jazz artists.
Paramount's "race record" series started in 1922 with vaudeville blues songs by Lucille Hegamin and Alberta Hunter. A big reason for their early success was their mail-order business. This meant people could order records directly from the company through the mail.
Finding Talent
Many of Paramount's "race music" recordings were organized by a talented African American businessman named J. Mayo Williams. People called him "Ink" Williams. He didn't have an official job title at Paramount, but he had a lot of freedom to bring African American artists to the recording studios. He also helped sell Paramount records to African American customers. At the time, Ink Williams didn't know that this "race market" was actually keeping the entire record label in business!
Even with great artists, problems with sound quality and records breaking easily continued. For example, when Blind Lemon Jefferson had big hits in 1926, his songs were quickly re-recorded at better studios.
In 1927, Ink Williams left Paramount and went to work for a competing company called Okeh. He even took Blind Lemon Jefferson with him for one recording! Later, in 1929, Paramount was building a new studio. So, they sent Charley Patton, who is often called the "Father of the Delta Blues," to record 14 famous songs at another studio in Indiana.
After Ink Williams left, his secretary, Aletha Dickerson, took over his work. She didn't even know he had quit! She kept working for Paramount and moved to their new main office. But in 1931, she left when the company cut her pay because they were having financial difficulties.
The End of an Era and New Beginnings
The Great Depression, a very tough economic time in the U.S., caused many record companies to close. Paramount stopped recording new music in 1932 and completely closed down in 1935.
Reissuing Classic Music
In 1948, a man named John Steiner bought Paramount Records. He started the label again to re-release important old recordings and make new jazz and blues music. In 1952, Steiner allowed a new jazz label called Riverside to re-release many of Paramount's blues and jazz songs. Riverside released music by artists like Jelly Roll Morton and King Oliver's Creole Jazz Band, which included a young Louis Armstrong. The Riverside label continued until 1964. Later, in 1970, another person named George H. Buck bought the rights to Paramount's old music.
Lost and Found Records
Like many record companies during the Great Depression, Paramount sold most of its original recordings as scrap metal. Some people even say that angry employees threw some of the company's records into the Milwaukee River when Paramount was closing! In 2006, a TV show called History Detectives looked for these records in the river but didn't find any. An author named Amanda Petrusich also searched the river for records for her book, but she didn't find any either.
When Riverside Records re-released the old songs, they used records from the collection of a famous music producer named John Hammond.
More recently, two record labels, Revenant Records and Jack White's Third Man Records, released two special collections of Paramount's remastered songs. These collections, called The Rise and Fall of Paramount Records, Volume One (1917–27) and The Rise and Fall of Paramount Records, Volume Two (1928–32), came with vinyl records, digital access on a USB drive, books about Paramount's history and artists, and old advertisements. They were packaged in cool wooden cases that looked like old phonograph carriers.
Images for kids
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Paramount Records ad from 1919
See also
In Spanish: Paramount Records para niños
