Meritt Records

Meritt Records was a short-lived American independent record label and record company active in Kansas City from 1925 to 1929. It was established by Winston Holmes, a local music-store owner who combined retailing with recording and production. Rather than operating as a large commercial label with broad distribution, Meritt functioned as a highly localized enterprise: Holmes recorded performers in his own studio, manufactured phonograph records, and sold them through his store. This limited business model made the label closely connected to Kansas City's local musical and religious communities. The label's surviving output is small. Holmes produced approximately 20 double-sided, acoustically recorded records during the middle and later years of the 1920s. The recordings document a range of local and regional performance traditions, especially jazz and blues, while also including gospel music and sermons. The catalog therefore reflects both the entertainment market and the religious recording culture of the period. Its artists included locally based performers whose work is also important to the history of Kansas City jazz and blues, among them Lena Kimbrough, Sylvester and Lena Kimbrough, Reverend J. C. Burnett, Reverend H. C. Gatewood, and George E. Lee and his Novelty Singing Orchestra. Among the documented releases are the 1926 pairing of Lena Kimbrough's “City of the Dead” with “Cabbage Head Blues” by Sylvester and Lena Kimbrough, as well as religious selections by Reverend J. C. Burnett and Reverend H. C. Gatewood. In 1927, the label issued George E. Lee and his Novelty Singing Orchestra's “Down Home Syncopated Blues” backed with “Meritt Stomp.” The latter release is notable for its ensemble personnel, which included musicians such as Jesse Stone and Julia Lee, figures associated with the broader Kansas City musical scene. Meritt Records did not develop into a continuing national label and ceased operations in 1929. Its historical importance rests less on commercial scale than on the recordings' documentary value. The label provides evidence of how local entrepreneurs, musicians, religious speakers, and retail businesses participated in the early American phonograph-record industry. Its records also preserve performances that might otherwise have been absent from the historical record, particularly locally produced African American jazz, blues, and religious material. Because the catalog was small and distribution was confined to Holmes's store, surviving releases are associated with specialist discographical and archival interest rather than with a continuing consumer brand.

Meritt Records emerged in Kansas City in 1925 during a period when the American phonograph-record business was expanding beyond the largest national companies. Its founder, Winston Holmes, owned a music store and used that existing retail base to support a small recording operation. The label's business model was unusually local: recordings were made in Holmes's studio and sold only through his store, rather than being distributed through a national network of dealers. Holmes produced roughly 20 double-sided records between the middle and latter part of the 1920s. The records were acoustically recorded, meaning that performances were captured through the pre-electric recording technology still used by many small labels during the period. The repertoire was centered on locally based jazz and blues performers, but the catalog also extended to gospel music and sermons. This combination suggests that Meritt served several overlapping audiences in Kansas City, including listeners interested in secular entertainment and church-oriented spoken or musical material. The documented discography begins with 1926 releases. Record 2201 paired Lena Kimbrough's “City of the Dead” with “Cabbage Head Blues,” performed by Sylvester and Lena Kimbrough. Other releases from the same year featured Reverend J. C. Burnett, including “I've Even Heard of Thee” and “The Downfall of Nebuchadnezzar,” and Reverend H. C. Gatewood's “The Well of Salvation.” These titles show the breadth of the catalog and the label's interest in recording religious speakers as well as singers and instrumental groups. In 1927, Meritt issued record 2206, featuring George E. Lee and His Novelty Singing Orchestra. The release paired “Down Home Syncopated Blues” with “Meritt Stomp.” The listed ensemble included George E. Lee on tenor saxophone, vocals, and direction; Sam Utterbach on trumpet; Thurston Maupins on trombone; Clarence Taylor on soprano and alto saxophones; Jesse Stone on piano; George Rousseau on banjo; Clint Weaver on bass saxophone; Abe Price on drums; and Julia Lee on vocals. The personnel illustrate the label's connection to the active Kansas City jazz community and give the surviving records significance as documentation of regional musicianship. Meritt Records remained a small operation and lasted only from 1925 through 1929. There is no indication that it became part of a larger corporate record group or achieved a broad commercial distribution system. Its closure marked the end of a local label whose output was limited in quantity but diverse in subject matter. Today, the company is chiefly remembered through discographical references and surviving recordings. Its importance lies in preserving local jazz, blues, gospel, and sermon performances and in demonstrating how independent entrepreneurs could create and circulate records outside the dominant national recording companies of the 1920s.

• 1929

  Label ceases operations

  [1]Meritt Records (1925)en.wikipedia.org

  Meritt Records ended its activity after approximately four years and about 20 double-sided acoustic records.

• 1927

  George E. Lee and His Novelty Singing Orchestra release

  [1]Meritt Records (1925)en.wikipedia.org

  Record 2206 paired “Down Home Syncopated Blues” with “Meritt Stomp,” documenting a substantial Kansas City ensemble and several notable local musicians.

• 1926

  First documented releases

  [1]Meritt Records (1925)en.wikipedia.org

  The catalog included secular blues and jazz-related material by the Kimbrough performers and religious recordings by Reverend J. C. Burnett and Reverend H. C. Gatewood.

• 1925

  Meritt Records founded in Kansas City

  [1]Meritt Records (1925)en.wikipedia.org

  Music-store owner Winston Holmes established the label and operated it alongside his retail business.

A locally focused Kansas City recording label combining music-store retail, in-house studio production, and direct sales of regional jazz, blues, gospel, and sermon recordings.

• Record label catalog · 1925

  Meritt Records phonograph records

  A small catalog of double-sided, acoustically recorded phonograph records made in Winston Holmes's Kansas City studio and sold through his music store. The repertoire covered locally based jazz and blues performers, gospel music, and sermons. Documented catalog numbers include 2201, 2203, 2204, and 2206.

1. 1Meritt Records (1925)en.wikipedia.org