Black Jazz Records

The short version

Black Jazz Records was founded in Oakland, California, by pianist Gene Russell and percussionist Dick Schory. It released its first four albums on August 1, 1971, and twenty albums by 1975. Every artist was African American. It was financed and distributed by Schory's Ovation Records.

Russell's idea was an alternative to traditional jazz, with a more political and spiritual tone, often with funk in it. Every album used the same look: white lettering on a black background.

Jean Carn, who sang on Doug Carn's Black Jazz albums, in Baltimore, August 2002. Photo by John Mathew Smith, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons.

Who to hear

• Doug Carn. His four albums were the label's biggest sellers. His wife Jean Carn sang on them. "Infant Eyes," "Adam's Apple" and "Spirit in a New Land" found a second audience in England and Japan in the early 1990s.
• Kellee Patterson. Her debut, Maiden Voyage (1973).
• Calvin Keys. His first album, Shawn-Neeq, was recorded in 1971 and reissued in 2012.
• Gene Russell. The founder's own piano trio music was on the first release.
• The Awakening. A larger group sound.

Where to start

Start with Doug Carn. NPR tells the story: Carn's demo was turned down by Blue Note, Impulse! and Columbia, and Russell released it as it was.

After 1975

Russell closed the label in 1975. The catalog went out of print, then returned on CD in the 1990s. Hip-hop artists sampled it. A full reissue effort by Real Gone Music was announced in 2020.

Sources

• NPR: Rediscovering the Social and Spiritual Legacy of Black Jazz Records
• Wikipedia: Black Jazz Records
• 43 North: Black Jazz Records

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