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EARLY PHONOGRAPH RECORDS RECORDED BY AFRICA-AMERICANS AND INTENDED PRIMARILY FOR AFRICAN-AMERICAN BUYERS. WHITE RECORD COMPANIES ORIGINALLY REFUSED TO SIGN BLACK ARTISTS, BUT IN 1920, COMPOSER PERRY BRADFORD MANAGED TO CONVINCE FRED HAGAR OF OKEH RECORDS TO RECORD BLUES SINGER MAMIE SMITH DOING POP SONGS WITH WHITE MUSICIANS. THE RECORD, THAT THING CALLED LOVE, WAS A HIT. A FEW MONTHS LATER, SMITH, THIS TIME BACKED BY A BLACK GROUP CALLED THE JAZZ HOUNDS, RECORDED CRAZY BLUES, WHICH SOLD 75,000 RECORDS ITS FIRST MONTH AND PROVED THE COMMERCIAL APPEAL OF SO-CALLED RACE MUSIC. THE YEARS 1927-1930 WERE A PEAK PERIOD FOR RACE RECORDS, WITH GOSPEL AND BLUES RECORDS BEING RELEASED AT A RATE OF 10 PER WEEK. PARAMOUNT, COLUMBIA/OKEH, VOCALION/BRUNSWICK, GENNETT AND VICTOR, THE FIVE LEADING COMPANIES IN THE FIELD, COMMISSIONED TALENT SCOUTS THROUGHOUT THE SOUTH TO LOOK FOR NEW SINGERS. AT FIRST, RACE MUSIC WAS RECORDED ONLY IN NORTHERN STUDIOS, BUT IN 1923, THE FIRST FIELD RECORDING WAS MADE. THOUGH RECORDING IN THE FIELD, AND PARTICULARLY IN THE SEGREGATED SOUTH HAD ITS PROBLEMS, TEMPORARY STUDIOS USING PORTABLE EQUIPMENT WERE SET UP IN HOTELS ROOMS, SCHOOLS AND HIRED HALLS. SINCE MICROPHONES THEN IN WERE SENSITIVE TO HEAT, THEY WERE KEPT IN ICE TO PREVENT CRACKLING SOUNDS. ENGINEERS WERE OFTEN FORCED TO PUT PILLOWS UNDER THE FEET OF COUNTRY MUSICIANS WHO WERE USED TO STOMPING THEIR FEET WHEN THEY PLAYED. SCORES OF OBSCURE MUSICIANS GOT ONCE-IN-A LIFETIME CHANCES TO RECORD AND SOME OF THEM WENT ON TO STARDOM. HOWEVER, THE RECORD INDUSTRY WAS DEVASTATED BY THE GREAT DEPRESSION; SALES IN 1932 WERE ONLY $6 MILLION AS COMPARED TO $104 MILLION IN 1927. THE RACE RECORD MARKET WAS ESPECIALLY HAD HIT. AND FIELD RECORDING BECAME A THING OF THE PAST AS COMPANIES STUCK TO KNOWN STARS. SOME AFRICAN-AMERICANS DID CONTINUE TO RECORD, AMONG THEM BESSIE SMITH, WHOSE RECORD SALES ARE CREDITED WITH KEEPING COLUMBIA RECORDS FROM BANKRUPTCY.
Posted By: barbara robinson
Saturday, June 16th 2012 at 11:28PM
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