Gennett (pronounced with a soft G) was a United States based record label which flourished in the 1920s. Gennett Records logo, from early 1920s paper sleeve This is a copyrighted and/or trademarked logo. ... The letter G is the seventh letter in the Latin alphabet. ... To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article or section may require cleanup. ... ...

Gennett records was founded in Richmond, Indiana by the Starr Piano Company, and released its first records in October of 1917. Earlier, the company had produced recordings under the Starr Records label. The early issues were vertical cut in the gramophone record grooves, but they switched to the more usual lateral cut method in April of 1919. Richmond, Indiana is a city in eastern Indiana, which borders Ohio. ... 1917 (MCMXVII) was a common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar (see link for calendar) or a common year starting on Tuesday of the 13-day slower Julian calendar. ... Categories: Record labels | Music stubs ... The Beatles Magical Mystery Tour (1967) as a 33 â…“ LP vinyl record A gramophone record (also phonograph record, or simply record) is an analogue sound recording medium consisting of a flat disc with an inscribed modulated spiral groove. ... 1919 (MCMXIX) was a common year starting on Wednesday (see link for calendar). ...

The Starr Piano Company also produced Gennett brand home phonographs, but these did not seem to have been sold in great numbers outside of the area around Indiana. Edison cylinder phonograph ca. ... Official language(s) English Capital Indianapolis Largest city Indianapolis Area  Ranked 38th  - Total 36,418 sq mi (94,321 km²)  - Width 140 miles (225 km)  - Length 270 miles (435 km)  - % water 1. ...

Gennett set up recording studios in New York City and later, in 1921, set up a second studio on the grounds of the piano factory in Richmond, Indiana under the supervision of E. O. Wickenmeyer. The sides recorded in New York are generally of about typical audio fidelity for a minor label of the time, and some masters were leased from other New York area firms. The sides recorded in Richmond are decidedly below average in audio fidelity, and sometimes have a crude sound and show problems of inconsistent speed of the turntable while the master was being recorded, problems which the major labels had solved some 20 years earlier. Nickname: Big Apple Location in the state of New York Coordinates: Country United States State New York Boroughs Bronx (The Bronx) New York (Manhattan) Queens (Queens) Kings (Brooklyn) Richmond (Staten Island) Mayor Michael Bloomberg (R) Area    - City 1,214. ... Richmond, Indiana is a city in eastern Indiana, which borders Ohio. ...

Gennett is best remembered for the wealth of early jazz talent recorded on the label, including sessions by Jelly Roll Morton, Bix Beiderbecke, The New Orleans Rhythm Kings, "King" Joe Oliver's band with young Louis Armstrong, Hoagy Carmichael, The Original New Orleans Jazz Band, Thomas A. Dorsey, and many others. Gennett also recorded early blues artists such as Blind Lemon Jefferson, Charlie Patton, and Big Bill Broonzy, and early "hillbilly" or country music performers such as Vernon Dalhart, Ernest Stoneman, and Gene Autry. Many early religious recordings were made by Homer Rodeheaver, early shape note singers and others. Jazz is an original American musical art form originating around the start of the 20th century in New Orleans, rooted in Western music technique and theory and marked by the profound cultural contributions of African Americans. ... Ferdinand Jelly Roll Morton (October 20, 1890 – July 10, 1941) was an American virtuoso pianist, a bandleader, and a composer who some call the first true composer of Jazz music. ... Bix Beiderbecke (March 10, 1903 – August 6, 1931) was a notable jazz cornet player. ... The New Orleans Rhythm Kings were one of the most influential jazz bands of the early/mid 1920s. ... Joe King Oliver, (December 19, 1885 – April 8, 1938) was a bandleader and jazz musician. ... Louis Daniel Armstrong (August 4, 1901[1] – July 6, 1971) (also known by the nicknames Satchmo for satchel-mouth and Pops) was an American jazz musician. ... Hoagland Howard Hoagy Carmichael (November 22, 1899 – December 27, 1981) was an American composer, pianist, singer, actor, and bandleader. ... Thomas Andrew Dorsey (July 1, 1899 - January 23, 1993) is known as the Father of Gospel Music, and is best known today for his composition Take My Hand, Precious Lord. As formulated by Dorsey, gospel music combines Christian praise with the rhythms of jazz and the blues. ... Blues music redirects here. ... Blind Lemon Jefferson (September 1893–December 1929) was an influential blues singer and guitarist from Texas. ... Charley Patton Charlie Patton (May 1, 1891 - April 28, 1934) is best known as an American Delta blues musician. ... Big Bill Broonzy (1893 or 1898-1958) was a prolific United States composer, recorder and performer of blues songs. ... Hillbilly is a term referring to people who dwell in remote, rural, mountainous areas. ... country music, see Country music (disambiguation) In popular music, country music, also called country and western music or country-western, is an amalgam of popular musical forms developed in the Southern United States, with roots in traditional folk music, Celtic music, blues, gospel music, and old-time music that began... Vernon Dalhart (6 April 1883 - 15 September 1948) was a popular United States singer and songwriter of the early decades of the 20th century. ... This article needs to be wikified. ... Gene Autry. ... Homer Alvan Rodeheaver (October 4, 1880 – December 18, 1955) was an American evangelistic music director, music publisher, composer of gospel songs, and pioneer in the recording of sacred music. ... Shape notes are a system of music notation designed to facilitate choral singing. ...

Gennett issued a few early electrically recorded masters recorded in the Autograph studios of Chicago in 1925. These recordings were exceptionally crude, and like many other Autograph issues are easily mistaken for acoustic masters by the casual listener. Gennett began serious electrical recording in March of 1926, using a process licensed for General Electric. This process whas found by to be unsatisfactory, for although the quality of the recordings taken by the General Electric precess was quite good, there were many customer complaints about the wear characteristics of the electric process records. The composition of the Gennett biscuit (record material) was of insufficent hardness to withstand the increased wear that resulted when the new recordings with their greatly increased frequency range were played on obsolete phonographs with mica diaphragm reproducers. The company discontinued recording by this process in August of 1926, and did not return to electric recording until February of 1927, after signing a new agreement to license the RCA Photophone recording process. At this time the company also introduced an improved record biscuit which was adequate to the demands imposed by the electric recording process. The improved records were identified by a newly designed black label touting the "New Electrobeam" process.

The Gennett Company was hit severely by the Great Depression in 1930, and massively cut back on record recording and production until it was halted all together in 1934. At this time the only product Gennett Records produced under its own name was a series of recorded sound effects for use by radio stations. In 1935 the Starr Piano Company sold some Gennett masters, and the Gennett and Champion trademarks to to Decca Records. Jack Kapp of Decca was primarily interested in some jazz, blues and old time music items in the Gennett catalog which he thought would add depth to the selections offered by the newly organized Decca company. Kapp also attempted to revive the Gennett and Champion labels between 1935 and 1937 as specilaits in bargain pressings of Race and Old-time music with but little success. The Starr record plant soldiered on under the supervision of Harry Gennett through the remainder of the decade by offering contract pressing services. For a time the Starr piano Company was the principle manufacturer of Decca records, but much of this business dried up after Decca purchased its own pressing plant in 1938 (the Newaygo, MI plant that formerly pressed Brunswick and Vocalion records). in the years remaining before the War Gennett did contract pressing for a number of New York based Jazz and Folk music labels, including Joe Davis, Keynote and Asch. With the declaration of war in December of 1941 War Industries Board declared chellac a rationed commoditiy, and newly organized record labels were foprced to purchase their shellac allocations from existing companies. Joe Davis purchased the Gennett shellac allocation, some of which he used for his own labels, and some of which he sold to the newly organised capitol records. Harry Gennett intended to use the funds from the sale of his shellac rration to modernise this pressing plant after Victory, butthere is no incdication that he did so, Gennett sold increasingly small numbers of special purpose records (mostly sound effects, skating rink, and church tower chimes) until 1947 or 1948, and the business then seemed to just fade away The Great Depression redirects here. ... 1930 (MCMXXX) was a common year starting on Wednesday (link is to a full 1930 calendar). ... 1934 (MCMXXXIV) was a common year starting on Monday (link will take you to calendar). ... Sound effects or audio effects are artificially created or enhanced sounds, or sound processes used to emphasize artistic or other content of movies, video games, music, or other media. ... 1935 (MCMXXXV) was a common year starting on Tuesday (link will take you to calendar). ... It has been suggested that Decca Music Group be merged into this article or section. ...

The gennett company produced the Gennett, Starr, Champion, Superior, and Van Speaking lanels, and also produced some Supertone, Silvertone, and Challenge records under contract. the firm pressed most Autograph, Rainbow, Hitch, KKK, Our Song, and Vaughn records under contract.

See also

• List of record labels

The following is a partial list of record labels, both past and present. ...

Further reading

• "Jelly Roll, Bix, and Hoagy - Gennett Studios and the Birth of Recorded Jazz" by Rick Kennedy, Indiana University Press, 1994

External link

• Site of the Starr Gennett Foundation