American Music Records is a United States-based record label specializing in traditional New Orleans jazz. A record label is a brand created by companies that specialize in manufacturing, distributing and promoting audio and video recordings, on various formats including compact discs, LPs, DVD-Audio, SACDs, and cassettes. ... For other article subjects named Jazz see jazz (disambiguation). ...

The label was founded by William Russell in 1944, who ran the label almost entirely by himself for most of his life (sometimes with the help of others on individual recording sessions). Russell started the label to issue the recordings of early jazz musicians like Bunk Johnson and George Lewis that he had made in New Orleans, Louisiana. 1944 was a leap year starting on Saturday (link will take you to calendar). ... Jazz is a musical art form characterized by blue notes, syncopation, swing, call and response, polyrhythms, and improvisation. ... Willie Gary Bunk Johnson ( 1879/1889–July 7, 1949) was a prominent early New Orleans jazz trumpet player in the early years of the 20th century who enjoyed a revived career in the 1940s. ... George Lewis (13 July 1900 - 31 December 1969) was a jazz clarinetist who achieved his greatest fame and influence in his later decades of life. ... City nickname: The Crescent City, The Big Easy, The City that Care Forgot Location of New Orleans Country   State     Parish United States   Louisiana     Orleans Parish Mayor C. Ray Nagin Area  - Land  - Water 350. ...

At first the label was based in Russell's home town of Canton, Missouri; Russell and the label moved to New Orleans at the start of the 1960s. Canton is a city located in Lewis County, Missouri. ... Events and trends The 1960s was a turbulent decade of change around the world. ...

In the 1970s many American Music recordings were reissued on LP by Storyville Records. Events and trends Although in the United States and in many other Western societies the 1970s are often seen as a period of transition between the turbulent 1960s and the more conservative 1980s and 1990s, many of the trends that are associated widely with the Sixties, from the Sexual Revolution... 33⅓ LP vinyl record album The vinyl record is a type of gramophone record, most popular from the 1950s to the 1990s, that was most commonly used for mass-produced recordings of music. ... Storyville Records is a Denmark based record label set up in 1950 by jazz fan Karl Knudsen. ...

Around 1990, Russell sold the label to George H. Buck, who added it to his GHB/Jazzology Records group and began issuing the recordings on compact disc. Russell was surprised when the first CD issue of his Bunk Johnson recordings quickly sold more copies than had all of the American Music gramophone records in the preceding decades. 1990 is a common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Jazzology Records is a United States based record label specializing in traditional jazz. ... Image of a recordable compact disc (pencil included for scale) A compact disc (or CD) is an optical disc used to store digital data, originally developed for storing digital audio. ... Manufacturers put records inside protective and decorative cardboard jackets and an inner paper sleeve to protect the grooves from dust and scratches. ...

In addition to Russell's recordings, Buck also reissues historic recordings of New Orleans jazz originally on other labels, including Icon Records, on the American Music label.

See also

• List of record labels