Vocalion

78 rpm record label, issued in the United States (1921-April 1940), Canada (1921-1930), the United Kingdom (1919-1927, 1936-1954, and 1962-1968), Australia (1927-1931), and New Zealand. For CDs reissued by the current UK-based label operated by Dutton Laboratories, please see . For unofficial releases, please see . Note: The official color of the reddish-brown records is 'Red', as listed in catalogs during that time. The Vocalion label began in 1917 in the United States as Aeolian Vocalion. It became "Vocalion" when the "Aeolian" was dropped from the label's name in 1921. In Canada, Scythes Vocalion Co. Ltd. in Toronto was incorporated in April 1921 to both distribute and manufacture Vocalion discs in Canada. The new company's president, E. C. Scythes, had been distributing American-made Vocalion discs in Canada since 1917. The Canadian company was dissolved in February 1930. In the United Kingdom, Vocalion started in 1920 as a subsidiary of the American label, originally also called Aeolian Vocalion. Here, the original label name was used longer, until 1925. In November 1924, The Aeolian Company was acquired by The Brunswick-Balke-Collender Company. The new owner continued to produce Vocalion discs, but replaced their much-touted "red" (reddish-brown) shellac with the standard black shellac. At the same time, the British subsidiary was split off from its American mother. A new British company, the Vocalion Gramophone Co. Ltd., was established (later credited as Vocalion Records, Hayes, Middlesex) that continued to produce the Vocalion label (and the low-price Aco label) in the United Kingdom until 1927. The switch was accompanied by a change in label design. The background color became first green, then red, until it finally turned light blue. In the United States, Warner Bros. Pictures bought the American Brunswick label in April 1930. For a while, Warner Bros. managed the company themselves. In December 1931, however, they licensed the entire Brunswick and Vocalion (2) operation to the American Record Corporation (ARC). In 1936 and 1937, while under ARC ownership, the American Vocalion (2) label produced the only recordings of the influential blues artist Robert Johnson. In December 1938, ARC was acquired by the Columbia Broadcasting System (CBS), which discontinued production of Brunswick and Vocalion (2) in April 1940. Vocalion releases kept their Vocalion catalog numbers, but were now reissued on the Okeh label, which CBS had recently revived. CBS's discontinuance of the Vocalion brand voided the lease arrangement Warner Bros. had made with the American Record Corporation (ARC) back in 1931. As a result, Warner Bros. re-acquired all pre-1931 master recordings of Brunswick and Vocalion (2) and promptly sold them outright to Decca Records, Inc.. In contrast, all post-1931 Brunswick and Vocalion masters were retained by Columbia Broadcasting System (Columbia/CBS). In the UK, the Vocalion company was acquired in 1932 by Crystalate, but the label was not revived until 1936 with the Vocalion Swing Series and the Celebrity Record series. In 1937, The Decca Record Company Limited took over the British Vocalion label. Despite the change in ownership, the British label continued to use the same label logo until 1939. Later, the British Decca company used the Vocalion name between October 1951 and October 1954 for the 78 rpm Origins Of Jazz (2) series (V1001 to V1041). Some, if not all, of these titles appear to have originated with the pre-1934 US Brunswick and Vocalion catalogues now owned by Decca. In the United States, Decca Records, Inc. resurrected Vocalion as a budget label for back-catalog reissues in the late 1950s. It was active until 1973 when the parent label, Decca, was merged along with Kapp Records and Uni Records to create MCA Records. Some of the LPs on this label remained in print well after 1973 on either MCA or Coral. Coral was a former Decca subsidiary label that was reactivated as a budget reissue label (and then quickly renamed MCA Coral) soon after the consolidation of the MCA-owned labels. After the 78rpm era, between 1962 and 1968, the British Decca used the Vocalion brand once more as a budget label to continue the series originally issued as Vogue Records because the rights to the "Vogue Records" trademark had reverted to the French company Disques Vogue. Curiously, the company name "Vogue Records Limited" remained on the label right up until its demise in March 1968. In 1976, Decca revived the label one last time for a short run of LP's drawn from the pre-1934 U.S. Brunswick catalogue, which Decca owned outright. One "sampler" single was issued, coupling Duke Ellington & His Orchestra with Benny Goodman and The Boswell Sisters. NOTE: Do not confuse with the CD label (Vocalion), est. in the UK in 1997 for a new series of compact discs produced by Mike Dutton of Dutton Laboratories Ltd of Watford, England (also see Dutton Epoch).