Melodisc Records

Melodisc Records
Founded 1949
Founder Emil Shalit
Status Defunct
Distributor(s) Decca
Genre Jazz, blues, folk, calypso, mento, ska, African, Indian
Country of origin UK

Melodisc Records was a record label founded by Emil E. Shalit in the late 1940s. It was one of the first independent record labels in the UK, and the parent company of the Blue Beat label.

History

The label was founded by Austrian-born American citizen Emil Edward Shalit (24 December 1909 – 23 April 1983). It is unclear whether Shalit set up Melodisc initially in New York, where he lived.[1] Melodisc began trading in London in August 1949,[2] and soon became established as one of the first—and, at the time, the largest—independent record labels in the UK.[1] Its offices were in Earlham Street, Covent Garden.[3]

The company was initially managed in London by Jack Chilkes, until a disagreement with Shalit led to his departure and legal action in late 1952.[2] According to Chilkes, Shalit had tricked him into believing that he owned the rights to material owned by other companies.[4] In the early 1950s Melodisc focused on licensing and releasing American jazz and folk records in the UK, and had a production and distribution arrangement with Decca Records. After Chilkes was replaced by Trinidadian Rupert Nurse, who became Melodisc's musical director,[5] the label also released rhythm and blues, and West Indian and African recordings including calypso and mento, so as to cater for the growing Afro-Caribbean community in Britain.[6] Early Melodisc releases in the UK included 78 rpm and later 45 rpm records, EPs and LPs, by Big Bill Broonzy, Louis Jordan, Josh White, Woody Guthrie, Lead Belly, and Charlie Parker, among others.[7][8][9]

From the early 1950s, Melodisc started recording musicians in London, particularly at the Esquire studios in Bedford Court Mansions in Covent Garden.[2][5] Early recordings were supervised by Denis Preston.[2] Among the musicians recorded were Jamaican-born jazz musician Joe Harriott, pianist Russ Henderson,[5] and the Trinidadians Lord Beginner and Lord Kitchener, whose song "Birth of Ghana" was recorded in London in late 1956. Melodisc was actively involved in exporting records from Britain to the emerging record-buying markets in West Africa and the Caribbean.[1]

From the mid to late 1950s it also sought out records produced in Jamaica, for distribution in Britain, making deals with producers such as Coxsone Dodd and Duke Reid.[10] Melodisc released Laurel Aitken's "Lonesome Lover" in the UK in 1960.[11] Following its success, Shalit employed Sigimund "Siggy" Jackson to set up a subsidiary label, Blue Beat, focusing on Jamaican blues and ska music.[10] For several years the label name became synonymous with Jamaican music in the UK, and became associated with the mod and later skinhead sub-cultures of the 1960s and early 1970s.[6][11]

In 1966, Melodisc set up a new sub-label, Fab Records, to release rocksteady music. The Melodisc label continued to release LPs through the 1960s and into the early 1970s. Artists included Prince Buster, Ambrose Campbell, Ginger Johnson, Ravi Shankar, and Lord Kitchener.[9]

Emil Shalit died in Slough, England, in 1983 at the age of 73.[12]

Discography

Singles

Jubilee 2501: "Does Jesus Care?" / "The Lord Will Make a Way Somehow"
Jubilee 2502: "Where Could I Go But to the Lord" / "God's Amazing Grace". The discography goes on to say, however, that the Jubilee records were never issued. They were issued on the Disc label instead after the purchase of the matrices by Mo Asch. (Cedric J. Hayes, Gospel Records, 1943–1969: A Black Music Discography (paperback), Robert Laughton)

OR :1206 "Over a bottle of wine" /"Undecided" -Tito Burns and his Sextet - 9 January 1952 (Melodisc). Leon Calvert (tp), Jimmy Chester (as,bs), Rex Morris (ts), Tito Burns (acc), Ronnie Price (p), Johnny Hawksworth (b), Derek Price (d), Terry Devon (vocal). "Adios"/"Just One Of Those Things"/"Over A Bottle Of Wine"/"Undecided".]

(Label states : 'In the new Asiko Rhythm & Sung in Creo/ Sung in Creo')

"In 1968, he was contracted for a tour of Europe for a period of four months, and Tunde created quite a sensation during his tour. Wherever he and his band played, the halls were packed to capacity. Melodisc Records was very anxious to record some of Tunde Nightingale's music before he returned to Nigeria, thereby giving a much wider audience a chance to hear him and to remind those who had attended concerts and dances of how much they had enjoyed him." [Album notes MLPAS12-142}

Produced for Butlins Holiday Camps 

 Melodisc SP2 Sele da Asa / Emi Wa Wa Lowo Re  - [Mel 172 / Mel 174]   Ambrose Adekoya Campbell, West African Rhythm Brothers     1951  10in  78rpm
        Jewish Series
5003   Aaron Lebedoff - Roumania Roumania ( 2 Parts )  [A300 / ]     (Banner Records )
5004   Moshie Oyster , Sam Madoff Orchestra -    Dus Keshniver Shtickele /Greena Bletter   [Mel A324/Mel A325]   (Banner Records )

EPs

 [Bunk Johnson Jazz Band , vocal : Sister Ernestine B Washington]

LPs

10"

12"

Sides 1/2 : I Was Standing In The Bottom ; Yes, I'm Going Down In Louisiana ; Ain't Going Down To The Well No More; Dick Ligger's Holler ; Liza Jane; Dog Latin Song; Leavin' Blues ;Go Down, Old Hannah ; The Blue Tailed Fly ;Nobody In This World Is Better Than Us;

  We're In The Same Boat, Brother ; Looky, Looky Yonder ;Jolly O' The Ransom; Leadbelly With Martha Ledbetter - Old Ship Of Zion ; Leadbelly With Martha Ledbetter	Bring Me A Little Water, Silvie	 ; Mistreatin' Mamma ;Black Betty ; Ain't Going Down To The Well No More /  I'm Going Back Down In Louisiana ; I Don't Know You, What Have I Done?; Rock Island Line ; Old Man, Will Your Dog Catch A Rabbit?	;Shorty George ;Stewball ; Bottle Up And Go;	You Know I Got To Do It	;Ain't It A Shame To Go Fishin' On Sunday ;I Ain't Gonna Drink No More;	 My Lindy Lou ;I'm Thinking Of A Friend	;Leadbelly With Martha Ledbetter	He Never Said A Mumbling Word ;I Don't Want No More Army Life ;Leadbelly With Martha Ledbetter-In The World	;I Want To Go Home .

Sides 3/4 '– "Midnight Special"; "Boll Weevil Blues"; "Careless Love"; "Easy Rider"; "Cry for me"; "I Ain't Gonna Drink No More"; ; "Birmingham Jail"; "Ol' Riley"; "Julia and Johnson"; "It's tight like that" /'Four, five and nine' ; "Good morning',babe "; "Jail House Blues "; ' Well , you know i had to do it"; "Irene"; "Story of the 25 cent dude"; "How come you do me like you do, do, do ?"; "Hello Central. Give me long distance phone"; "The Hesitation Blues"; "I'll be down on the last bread wagon". [UK release of the 1953 Folkways remastered recordings, originally made by Frederic Ramsey Jr in September 1948.]

Sides 1/ 2 :

'Sides 3/4  :'Spring Time in the Rockies' ; 'Chinatown'; 'Rock Island Line' ;'Backwater Blues';'Sweet Mary' ;'Irene' ;'Easy Mr. Tom'; 'In the evening when the sun goes down'; 'I'm alone because I love you '; 'House of the Rising Sun '; 'Mary, don't you weep and don't you moan' / 'Talk about Fannin' Street' ;' Fannin' Street' ;' Sugared Beer ' ; 'Didn't Ol' John cross the water' ; 'Nobody knows you when you're down and out' ; 'Bully of the Town' ; 'Sweet Jenny Lee ' ; ' Yellow Gal' ; 'He was the man ' ; 'We're in the same boat , brother' ; 'Leavin' Blues' .

[UK release of the 1953 Folkways remastered recordings, originally made by Frederic Ramsey Jr in September 1948.]

Kitch - King Of Calypso (First Course): "A Drink A Rum"; "Wife And Mother"; "Red Head"; "My Wife's Nightie"; "Kitch Take It Easy"; "Woman's Figure" //"Elsie's River"; "Muriel And the Bug"; "Is Trouble"; "Too Late Kitch"; "Jamaican Turkey"; "Carnival"

Joe Harriott -Alto saxophone , Coleridge Goode, -bass , Phil Seaman -drums , Pat Smythe - piano , Stu Hamer -trumpet . Recorded 20 June 1967

OR

http://snapcrackleandpops.blogspot.co.uk/2010/09/mystery-melodisc-afro-cuban-collection.html

References

  1. 1 2 3 Coester, Markus (26 April 2004). "'Ghana is the Name We Wish to Proclaim' - Two Popular Caribbean Voices and the Independence of Ghana". ntama: Journal of African Music and Popular Culture. Retrieved 6 September 2013.
  2. 1 2 3 4 Cowley, John (1990). Paul Oliver, ed. London is the Place: Caribbean Music in the Context of Empire 1900-60 (PDF). in Black Music In Britain: Essays on the Afro Asian Contribution to Popular Music. Open University Press. pp. 57–76.
  3. ↑ Balmforth, Alex. "1950's British TV and Radio: Melodisc musings........". Whirligig. Retrieved 6 September 2013.
  4. ↑ Oral history of jazz in Britain: Jack Chilkes. Retrieved 6 September 2013
  5. 1 2 3 Bradley, Lloyd (2013). Sounds Like London: 100 Years of Black Music in the Capital. Profile Books. ISBN 1847656501.
  6. 1 2 Borthwick, Stuart; Moy, Ron (2004). Popular Music Genres: An Introduction. Edinburgh University Press. ISBN 0748617450.
  7. ↑ "Melodisc 7"s". Tapir's Reggae Discography. Retrieved 6 September 2013.
  8. ↑ "Melodisc Albums". Tapir's Reggae Discography. Retrieved 6 September 2013.
  9. 1 2 "Melodisc". Discogs.com. Retrieved 6 September 2013.
  10. 1 2 Bradley, Lloyd (2001). Bass Culture: When Reggae Was King. Penguin UK. pp. 126–129. ISBN 0141928174.
  11. 1 2 Larkin, Colin (1998) The Virgin Encyclopedia of Reggae, Virgin Books, ISBN 0-7535-0242-9, pp. 31-32.
  12. ↑ England & Wales, Death Index, 1916-2007, Emil Edward Shalit. Retrieved 5 September 2013.
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