What was a race record in the context of 1920s blues and jazz?
Race records were 78-rpm phonograph records marketed to African Americans between the 1920s and 1940s. They primarily contained race music, comprising various African-American musical genres, including blues, jazz, and gospel music, and also comedy.
Who invented race records?
race records, sound recordings of the early 20th century that were made exclusively by and for African Americans. The term is sometimes said to have been coined by Ralph S. Peer, who was then working for OKeh Records.
What was the first record company to produce race records?
It was not until 1922 that record companies became convinced that African American musicians would be popular with the consumer market. Mamie Smith encouraged the production of the first race records with her early blues recordings with Okeh Records.
Why was music classified by race in the 1920s?
In one respect, they were indicative of segregation in the 1920s. Race records were separated from the recordings of white musicians, records solely because of the race of the artists. On the other hand, the terms represented an emerging awareness by the recording industry of African-American audiences.
What were race and hillbilly records?
Virtually all of these firms adopted in their catalogs, and marketing, the category of “race records” to designate music of African-Americans and “hillbilly” or “old time” music to describe music of rural whites.
When was race first invented?
The concept of race emerged in the mid-17th century as a means for justifying the enslavement of Africans in colonial America, Conklin said, and scientists eventually devised theories to uphold the system of forced labor.
What was the first black record label?
Black Swan Records
How The First Black-Owned Record Label, Black Swan, Was Obscured By History Decades before Motown, Black Swan Records was the world’s first major Black-owned record label.
Which group recorded the first jazz record in 1917?
The Original Dixieland Jass Band
The Original Dixieland Jass Band (ODJB) was a Dixieland jazz band that made the first jazz recordings in early 1917. Their “Livery Stable Blues” became the first jazz record ever issued. The group composed and recorded many jazz standards, the most famous being “Tiger Rag”.
How did jazz break down racial barriers?
Through more than the first half of the 20th century, in fact, jazz provided a rare, virtually underground passageway through which many young white musicians and white fans passed on their way to discovering the richness and shared common humanity of black culture.
Is jazz part of black culture?
The improvisational style of the latter is very much influenced by the former, and is a unique feature of jazz music. Furthermore, jazz is considered an integral part of African American culture.
