The Vocalion record label was founded in 1916 by the Aeolian Company which was a manufacturer of piano's and organs. It was a natural progression for them - much as Brunswick (a cabinet and furniture company) also transitioned toward making phonographs with their own record label.
It was commonplace at the time for a record label to produce both records and phonographs. Sadly, I do not have a Vocalion phonograph; they are not very common.
There are two features about this record label that really intrigue me: first, the label itself is intricate and elegant, with impressive script lettering and a fancy engraved background. Second is the record, which is brown instead of the traditional black. There is no reason why records need to be black. The historical theory is that carbon black powder was added to the shellac mix during the manufacturing process to strengthen it, with shellac itself being rather brittle. Why are Vocalion records brown? I have no idea, which is why it's a neat feature.
Vocalion was one of the first labels to make a point of focusing on and highlighting black musicians. One of the results was that the 1920's songs were largely jazz and blues in nature.
I've played Vamp Me previously - a recording for it can be found here:
I'm thinking of playing the flip side to this song on my Three Tune Tuesday livestream on Tuesday. Come check it out!
Tuesday, 12:00pm (noon) EST
https://blindskeleton.one/radio/
Previous Record Labels:
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(c) Victor Wiebe
About Me
Sometimes photographer. Wannabe author. Game designer. Nerd.
General all around problem-solver and creative type.
Blind Skeleton
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