Delmark Records

Delmark Records is an American Jazz and Blues record label. Based in Chicago since 1958 it originated in St Louis Missouri in 1953 when owner Robert "Bob" Koester released a recording by the Windy City Six, a traditional jazz group in 1953, under the 'Delmar' imprint.

History

Born in 1932 in Wichita, Kansas to a family of German descent, Bob Koester began collecting records in high school. Initially a jazz fan, Koester's taste for the blues grew out of the intricate relationship these musics shared in the 1940s and 50s.

Moving from Wichita to St Louis Missouri to attend college Koester began his career as a record trader out of his dormitory room. Joining a local Jazz Club gave Koester his first taste of live jazz - seeing Bob Graf and Clark Terry perform. Soon enough he had made acquaintance with a fellow Jazz Club member Ron Fister with who Koester would open his first record shop - K & F Sales. Shortly after opening in an old restaurant storefront they changed the name to the Blue Note Record Shop.

About a year after this joint venture Fister and Koester decided to part ways, with Koester moving to a new location on the corner of Delmar and Oliver streets in St Louis. Taking the name from the street his shop was on Koester (then only 21 years old) recorded a local jazz group the Windy City Six in 1953. Shortly thereafter Koester searched out and found local talent in bluesmen such as Speckled Red, Big Joe Williams and J.D. Short.

After a period in St Louis Koester decided to move to Chicago and in August of 1958 uprooted his little shop and headed north. Initially trying out a space on Wabsah Ave Koester soon bought out longtime record store Seymour's Jazz Mart. Renaming the storefront the Jazz Record Mart Delmark Records found its new home in the basement of the record shop.

By 1963 Koester had moved the shop to a location at 7 West Grand. During this period in Chicago Delmark would release historic albums by both Blues and Jazz artists then on the Chicago scene. Releasing albums by traditional jazz artists like George Lewis, the Dixie Stompers, Albert Nichols and Barney Bigard alongside Bop and Post bop artists like Jimmy Forrest, Bud Powell, Donald Byrd and Ira Sullivan.

Throughout the 60s and 70s Delmark would record groundbreaking blues artists, particularly documenting the "West Side" electric blues sound found in Chicago. Artists like Junior Wells, Buddy Guy, J.B. Hutto, Robert Nighthawk, Luther Allison, Magic Sam, Jimmy Dawkins and dozens more would record for Delmark. In addition to the electric blues sound Delmark would also release records by legends of the folk country blues being brought up from the south. Big Joe Williams, Sleepy John Estes, Arthur Crudup, Yank Rachell and the blues piano of Roosevelt Sykes would establish Delmark's far reaching historic documentation.

In 1966 Chuck Nessa, then manager of the Jazz Record Mart, convinced Koester to release albums by musicians associated with the AACM. The first record was Roscoe Mitchell’s Sound (1966) which received a 5 star review in Downbeat and is considered a ground breaking and historical piece of avant-garde jazz. This was followed by a string of releases on Delmark that highlighted the new music being played in Chicago by artists associated with the AACM including Muhal Richard Abrams' Levels and Degrees of Light (1968), Kalaparusha Maurice McIntyre's Humility in the Light of the Creator (1969) and Anthony Braxton's For Alto (1969) (the first solo sax record ever recorded). Additionally Delmark released two of the earliest Sun Ra albums, Sun Song and Sound of Joy, in 1967 and 68 respectively.

Throughout the 60s and 70s Delmark continued to release both ground breaking and historically important jazz and blues albums. Records by Sonny Stitt, the Art Ensemble Of Chicago, Malachi Thompson and Coleman Hawkins coming out at the same time as distinguished blues artists like Jimmy Johnson, Otis Rush, and Little Walter. Through the 1980s and 90s Delmark continued to release an astounding array of Chicago based Jazz and Blues. Always giving room for the full range of jazz and blues music. From Trad and Bop to avant-garde jazz and from country folk to electric and jump blues Delmark's catalog covers over 350 albums and spans the recorded history of Jazz and Blues making it a seminal label in 20th century American music.

Today Delmark it still a thriving force on the Chicago creative music scene. Releasing records by jazz artists Rob Mazurek, Nicole Mitchell, Ken Vandermark, Fred Anderson, Josh Berman, Keefe Jackson, Roy Campbell, Jeff Parker, Ethnic Heritage Ensemble and blues artists like Shirley Johnson, Zora Young, Little Arthur Duncan, Byther Smith, Jimmy Burns and many more.

Discography

Traditional Jazz

Modern Jazz

See also

• List of record labels

External links

• Delmark Records homepage
• Delmark history