In New York, Blesh and Janis heard jazz drummer Warren "Baby" Dodds playing inventive solos with Bunk Johnson's band. Blesh said he hated drum solos until he saw Dodds. To record Dodds and others, they started Circle Records. The name was given by fellow audience member Marcel Duchamp.
Circle recorded traditional jazz of the time, and its releases included Chippie Hill, George Lewis, and broadcasts of Blesh's This is Jazz radio show. The label was the first to release Jelly Roll Morton's Library of Congress recordings. Blesh and Janis continued the label until 1952.[1] Circle Records also released modern classical music by artists including Henry Cowell and Paul Hindemith.
This Circle Records is not to be confused with the German record label of the same name.[1]
Selected label discography: 1946–1952
The first record issued by Circle Records was by the Baby Dodds Trio. Many of their subsequent releases were albums of from two to four 10", 78 RPM shellac records, issued in a binder. Many of the albums included cover art by Jimmy Ernst or Charles Alston.
Trumpet – Kid Howard, Peter Bocage Trombone – Jim Robinson Clarinet – George Lewis Baritone Horn – Harrison Barnes Mellophone – Isidore Barbarin Tuba – Joe Howard Bass Drum – Lawrence Marrero Snare Drum – Baby Dodds
The Library of Congress recordings, released as a series of albums with three or four 78 RPM red vinyl records. Reissued by Circle as L 14001 to L 14012; and by Riverside as RLP 9001 to RLP 9012.[13]
Circle Records today
Circle Records was reactivated and is used by the George H. Buck Jr. Jazz Foundation to release swing music. The reactivated Circle label put out recordings from the Lang-Worth and World transcriptions.[14]
^Material from Circle Records album S-3 by Dan Burley has been reissued on Southland SCD-9.[2]
^Material from Circle Records album S-8 has been reissued on Jazzology JCD-21.[3]
^Several members of the Original Zenith Brass Band, including Jim Robinson, George Lewis, and Baby Dodds, had previously recorded as members of a brass band led by Bunk Johnson for Bill Russell's American Music label.[7]
References
^ abcErlewine, Michael; Bogdanov, Vladimir; Woodstra, Chris; Yanow, Scott (1998). AllMusic Guide to Jazz (3rd ed.). San Francisco: Miller Freeman Books. ISBN0-87930-530-4.