Onyx Records, Inc., was a small, independent United States record label based in Manhattan, New York, co-founded on July 15, 1971, by Joe Fields
History
Onyx flourished from its founding through 1978, re-issuing recordings, including those of
Art Tatum, Hot Lips Page,
Don Byas, and
Charlie Parker. Its initial releases were selections from the Jerry Newman Collection
(né Jerome Robert Newman; 1918–1970), who, in 1941, recorded live performances at clubs in Harlem while a student at Columbia University.
The name "Onyx" was the namesake of four jazz clubs – all named the
Onyx Club – all, at different times, on West 52nd Street in
Manhattan, but notably, the club that ran from 1942 to 1949 at the vanguard of
bebop. Onyx Records received acclaim from
Dan Morgenstern for its release of radio broadcast transcriptions from
KFTI Wichita featuring the
Jay McShann with
Charlie Parker.
Corporate background
Onyx Records was founded as a New York corporation on July 15, 1971, under the name of Avatar Productions, Inc. The name was changed to Onyx Records, Inc., in 1973. Onyx was owned equally by Joe Fields and Don Schlitten. Onyx was in the business of securing rights in "classic" jazz master recordings and manufacturing and distributing phono records derived from such master recordings.
Selected discography
Newman's collection
Newman,
while a student at Columbia in 1941, lugged his
acetate disc recording machine — a portable Wilcox-Gay Recordio "disc cutter" — to jazz clubs in
Harlem, including Minton's Playhouse on 118th Street and Clark Monroe’s Uptown House on 134th Street, both of which were incubators of jazz of the day. Newman's collection became the backbone for Onyx Recording, Inc.
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Art Tatum at Minton's in 1941, issued by Onyx after being declined by Columbia Records, on the LP record God Is In The House.
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Newman's recordings have been issued as unauthorized records, variously over the years, but none were done so with the permission or participation of the artists or their estates.
Re-release of broadcast transcriptions of KFBI radio, Wichita
The
Jay McShann recorded two
Studio recording – one on November 30, 1940, and one on December 2, 1940 — at the studio of
KFTI radio, Wichita, for broadcast transcriptions. The band members were:
- Charlie Parker (1920–1955) (alto sax),
- Buddy Anderson (1919–1997) (trumpet)
- Orville "Piggy" Minor (1917–1999) (trumpet)
- Bud Gould (né James Frederick Gould; 1917–2002) (trombone, violin)
- William James Scott ("Scotty", grew-up in Kansas City) (tenor sax) †
- Jay McShann (1916–2006) (piano)
- Gene Ramey (1913–1984) (double bass)
- Gus Johnson (1913–2000) (drums)
- Onyx ORI 221
- † Replaced for the second Studio recording by Bob Mabane (né Robert Lee Mcbane, Jr.; 1914–1991) (tenor sax)
Charlie Parker
A compilation album,
Charlie Parker – First Recordings! (ORI 221), which included the KFBI sessions of November 30, 1940, and December 2, 1940, plus an AFRS #582 broadcast from the
Savoy Ballroom on February 12, 1945 – released in 1974 – won a
Grammy Award for Best Performance by a Soloist in 1975. The 1945 session featured
Cootie Williams and his Orchestra:
- Cootie Williams, Money Johnson, Ermit V. Perry, George Treadwell (trumpets); Ed Burke, Bob Horton (trombones); Charlie Parker, Frank Powell (alto saxes); Lee Pope, Sam "The Man" Taylor (tenor saxes); Eddie de Verteuil (bari sax); Arnold Jarvis (piano); Leroy Kirkland (guitar); Carl Pruitt (double bass); Sylvester "Vess" Payne (drum kit); Tony Warren (vocalist)
Onyx principals
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Don Schlitten, president, was an RCA producer who, at the time, had been producing RCA Vintage Series
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Gentry McCreary, general manager
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Fields was also the sole shareholder of Blanchris, Inc., the parent company of Muse Records (co-founded by both Fields and Don Schlitten). Muse Records was primarily in the business of recording and distributing contemporary jazz records.
Selected artists
See also
Other labels with a similar name
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Onyx Records, an United States rockabilly label from the late 1950s, owned by Jerry Winston. The label was known for having recorded The Velours.
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Onyx International Records, a gospel label
Notes and references
Notes
Discography references
Inline citations
