Keynote Jazz Collection

Back in 1940, Keynote Recordings Inc. was a new, small and independent New York company with offices at 522 Fifth Ave., recently founded by Eric Bernay, the owner of a midtown Manhattan record store called The Music Room. Bernay was musically openminded and, looking for a place in the increasingly convulsed American record industry, he launched a catalog of varied music and performers. The nature of Keynote’s early releases stopped them reaching a broader market, but at the end of 1943 he took a decision that, for a while, helped move his business in the right direction: Keynote turned to jazz and for the following three and a half years built up a large 78 rpm record catalog of 10 and 12-inch albums which contributed greatly to documenting the jazz history of forties America.

Responsible for this impressive venture was an unlikely figure; a Javanese fan called Harry Lim. During this...

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Keynote Jazz Collection Box Sets

1 record