Circle Records

Circle Records
Circle Records
Parent company	Jazzology
Founded	1946
Founder	Rudi Blesh; Harriet Janis
Genre	Jazz
Country of origin	U.S.
Location	New Orleans
Official website	www.jazzology.com

Circle Records is a jazz record label founded in 1946 by Rudi Blesh and Harriet Janis.^[1]

History

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.

Circle was bought in the mid-1960s by George H. Buck, Jr. The Circle catalog is now under the control of the George H. Buck Jr. Jazz Foundation. Some of the original Circle recordings have been reissued on compact disc through other labels controlled by the George H. Buck Jr. Jazz Foundation, including American Music, Southland,^{[nb 1]} and Jazzology.^{[nb 2]}

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.

Catalog No.	Artist	Title	Personnel	Notes
J-1001	Baby Dodds Trio	"Wolverine Blues / Drum Improvisation No. 1"^[4]^[5]	Clarinet– Albert Nicholas Piano – Don Ewell Drums – Baby Dodds	Later included on Circle album S-17
C-1	Chippie Hill	"Chippie Hill And The Blues: Now Appearing At The Village Vanguard"	Trumpet – Lee Collins Piano – Lovie Austin, J.H. Shayne Bass – John Lindsay Drums – Baby Dodds	Two 78 RPM records. Reissued on Riverside Records RLP 1059
S-1	Original Zenith Brass Band	"Marching Jazz"^[6]^{[nb 3]}	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	Cover art by Charles Alston. Three 78 RPM records. Reissued on Riverside Records RLP 1058
S-2	Montana Taylor	"Barrel House Blues"	Piano – Montana Taylor	Three 78 RPM records.
S-3	Dan Burley	"South Side Shake"^[8]	Guitar – Brownie McGhee, Globe Trotter McGhee Piano – Dan Burley Bass – Pops Foster	Three 78 RPM records.
S-8	Tony Parenti's Ragtimers	"The Ragtime Band"^[9]	Cornet – Wild Bill Davison Trombone – Jimmy Archey Clarinet – Tony Parenti Piano – Ralph Sutton Banjo – Danny Barker Tuba – Cy St. Clair Drums – Baby Dodds	Three 78 RPM records. Reissued on Riverside Records RLP 12-205
S-9	Wild Bill Davison	"Wild Bill Davison Showcase"^[10]	Cornet – Wild Bill Davison Trombone – Jimmy Archey Clarinet, Bassoon – Garvin Bushell Piano, Celeste – Ralph Sutton Bass – Sid Weiss Drums – Morey Feld	Three 78 RPM records. Reissued on Circle Records LP L-405
S-15	The All Star Stompers	"This Is Jazz, Vol. 3"^[11]	Cornet – Wild Bill Davison Trombone – Jimmy Archey Clarinet – Edmond Hall, Albert Nicholas Piano – Ralph Sutton, James P. Johnson Guitar – Danny Barker Bass – Pops Foster Drums – Baby Dodds	Three 78 RPM records. Material recorded for Rudi Blesh's radio show “This Is Jazz”
S-20	Ralph Sutton	"St. Louis Piano"	Piano – Ralph Sutton	Two 78 RPM records.
S-21	Tony Parenti's Ragpickers	"Tony Parenti's Ragpickers"^[12]	Clarinet – Tony Parenti Piano – Ralph Sutton Drums – George Wettling	Three 78 RPM records. Reissued on Riverside Records RLP 12-205
L-51-100	Paul Hindemith	Four Compositions By Paul Hindemith		Released on LP. Part of the Composer's Workshop series.
L-51-101	Henry Cowell	The Piano Music Of Henry Cowell		Released on LP. Part of the Composer's Workshop series.
Vol. I to Vol. XII	Jelly Roll Morton	"The Saga Of Mr. Jelly Lord"	Piano, Vocals – Jelly Roll Morton	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]

Notes

^ 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

^ ^a ^b ^c Erlewine, Michael; Bogdanov, Vladimir; Woodstra, Chris; Yanow, Scott (1998). AllMusic Guide to Jazz (3rd ed.). San Francisco: Miller Freeman Books. ISBN 0-87930-530-4.
^ "Circle Blues Session". Jazzology. Retrieved February 27, 2018.
^ "Tony Parenti's Ragtimers-Ragtime Jubilee". Jazzology. Retrieved February 27, 2018.
^ "Numerical Listing of Circle 78rpm issues (1946 - 1952)". The Online Discographical Project. Retrieved February 27, 2018.
^ "Baby Dodds Trio". Red Hot Jazz. Retrieved February 27, 2018.
^ Blesh, Rudi. Marching Jazz (Media notes). Circle Records.
^ Bunk Plays the Blues and Spirituals (Media notes). American Music.
^ Blesh, Rudi. South Side Shake (Media notes). Circle Records.
^ Aurthur, Bob. The Ragtime Band (Media notes). Circle Records.
^ Frazier, George. Wild Bill Davison Showcase (Media notes). Circle Records.
^ Aurthur, Bob. This Is Jazz, Vol. 3 (Media notes). Circle Records.
^ Janis, Harriet. Tony Parenti's Ragpickers (Media notes). Circle Records.
^ Williams, Martin T. Jazz Changes, p. 127, at Google Books
^ "Circle Records". Jazzology. Retrieved February 27, 2018.