Paramount Records

Paramount Records was an American record label founded in 1918 by United Phonographs, a subsidiary of the Wisconsin Chair Company. Although the parent company was primarily associated with wooden phonograph cabinets and phonograph manufacture, its recording operation developed into one of the most important sources of African American blues and jazz recordings during the 1920s and early 1930s. The label initially issued general popular music and operated from facilities connected with the Wisconsin Chair Company in Port Washington and later Grafton, Wisconsin. Its early records were not distinguished by especially strong sound quality or consistent pressing quality, and the company accumulated debt during the early 1920s. To generate revenue, Paramount also pressed records for other labels on a contract basis. One important client was Black Swan Records, an African American-owned company that eventually failed. Paramount acquired elements of the Black Swan operation and increasingly concentrated on records marketed to Black audiences, then commonly described by the industry as “race records.” Paramount’s most consequential catalog was its 12000 series, launched in 1922 with recordings by singers including Lucille Hegamin and Alberta Hunter. The company used Chicago-based agents, offices, and studios to locate performers, arrange sessions, and reach customers. Its mail-order business was particularly important. J. Mayo “Ink” Williams, a Black music entrepreneur working with considerable practical autonomy despite lacking a formal Paramount executive title, helped recruit artists, organize recordings, and market the releases. His activities helped transform Paramount’s African American catalog into the company’s principal commercial asset. The label recorded or released work by major blues and jazz figures, including Ma Rainey, Blind Lemon Jefferson, Blind Blake, Tommy Johnson, and Charley Patton. Some Paramount recordings were technically imperfect, and certain performances were rerecorded in better-equipped facilities. Nevertheless, the label’s output preserved performances that became foundational to later understandings of country blues, vaudeville blues, and early jazz. Paramount is especially associated with the development and documentation of the Delta blues through its recordings of Charley Patton and other Mississippi-connected musicians. Paramount faced continuing organizational and financial difficulties. Williams left for Okeh in 1927, taking Blind Lemon Jefferson with him for a recording session. Williams’s former secretary, Aletha Dickerson, continued to work for Paramount and later moved to the company’s Grafton headquarters, leaving in 1931 after management reduced her wages. Paramount stopped recording in 1932, and the label closed in 1935 amid the economic pressures of the Great Depression. Much of Paramount’s master material was subsequently lost, destroyed, or sold as scrap. Stories that records or masters were discarded in the Milwaukee River have contributed to the label’s mythology, but later searches did not recover the presumed archive. Surviving 78-rpm discs are often scarce and may be in poor condition. The catalog has nevertheless remained influential through archival compilations and reissues. In the 2010s, Revenant Records and Third Man Records issued large remastered collections covering the label’s 1917–1927 and 1928–1932 periods, combining recordings with historical essays, artist information, advertising material, photographs, books, and physical memorabilia. Paramount Records is therefore remembered less as a continuously operating business than as a historically decisive archive of early recorded blues and jazz.

Paramount Records emerged from the Wisconsin Chair Company’s efforts to diversify from phonograph cabinets into complete phonograph products and recorded media. United Phonographs, the company’s subsidiary, established the Paramount label in 1918, with records beginning to appear in 1919. The recording operation was associated with the New York Recording Laboratories, despite that company’s Wisconsin location. Early advertising presented Paramount as having a New York laboratory, while production and pressing were carried out at Wisconsin Chair Company facilities in Port Washington and later Grafton. During its first years, Paramount competed in the general phonograph-record market with ordinary popular releases. Its records were often regarded as technically mediocre, and the company struggled financially. The move to electric recording did not immediately solve the label’s quality problems; some pressings were noisy or poorly reproduced, although surviving examples on better shellac can be valuable to collectors. By the early 1920s, Paramount was also pressing discs for outside companies at low prices in an effort to remain viable. A major change followed Paramount’s relationship with Black Swan Records. After Black Swan encountered financial difficulties, Paramount acquired the company’s assets or operations and began building a catalog aimed specifically at African American consumers. The resulting “race record” business became the label’s defining enterprise. Paramount introduced its major race-record series in 1922 with releases associated with Lucille Hegamin and Alberta Hunter. The company relied heavily on Chicago contacts to identify performers and arrange recording sessions, while a mail-order operation helped distribute records beyond local retail networks. J. Mayo Williams, known as “Ink” Williams, played a major role in this transformation. He recruited Black performers, helped organize sessions, and promoted records to African American audiences. Although he did not hold a clearly formalized executive position within Paramount, management gave him broad operational freedom. His work brought the label recordings by important blues and jazz artists, including Ma Rainey, Blind Lemon Jefferson, Blind Blake, and Tommy Johnson. Paramount’s catalog became especially important in the documentation of early blues, even though its technical limitations sometimes required alternate recording arrangements. Blind Lemon Jefferson’s 1926 hits, for example, were rerecorded at the better-equipped Marsh Laboratories, and both original and rerecorded versions have survived in different contexts. Williams departed for Okeh in 1927 and took Blind Lemon Jefferson there for a session. Aletha Dickerson, Williams’s secretary, continued the work after his departure and later moved to Paramount’s Grafton headquarters. She left in 1931 after management reduced her pay. In 1929, while Paramount was developing a new Grafton studio, Charley Patton was sent to Gennett Records’ facilities in Richmond, Indiana. The resulting session produced fourteen important sides and helped establish Patton’s lasting reputation as a central figure in Delta blues history. The Great Depression severely weakened Paramount and the wider record industry. The label stopped making new recordings in 1932 and shut down in 1935. Much of its master archive was reportedly sold for scrap, while other records may have been discarded. Accounts of Paramount materials being thrown into the Milwaukee River have never produced a recovered cache, despite later searches. The scarcity of surviving discs, combined with their uneven physical condition, has made Paramount’s catalog both difficult to preserve and central to record-collecting culture. Later reissue projects gave the label’s recordings a new life. Riverside Records used surviving discs from collector John Hammond’s collection for early reissues. Revenant Records and Third Man Records subsequently assembled two substantial archival volumes covering the label’s 1917–1927 and 1928–1932 output. These editions emphasized Paramount’s role in American music history by pairing remastered performances with documentation, photographs, advertising, artist information, and historical commentary. Paramount Records is now chiefly understood as a defunct but exceptionally influential catalog brand whose releases helped preserve and disseminate formative blues and jazz performances.

• 2013

  Large-scale Paramount reissue released

  [1]Paramount Recordsen.wikipedia.org

  Revenant and Third Man issued a major two-volume archival set spanning the label’s principal recording years.

• 1935

  Label closed

  [1]Paramount Recordsen.wikipedia.org

  Paramount shut down after its Depression-era financial difficulties.

• 1932

  Recording activity ended

  [1]Paramount Recordsen.wikipedia.org

  Paramount stopped recording amid the record-industry contraction caused by the Great Depression.

• 1929

  Charley Patton recorded major sides

  [1]Paramount Recordsen.wikipedia.org

  While Paramount developed a Grafton studio, Patton recorded fourteen notable sides at Gennett’s Richmond, Indiana, facility.

• 1927

  J. Mayo Williams moved to Okeh

  [1]Paramount Recordsen.wikipedia.org

  Williams left Paramount for competitor Okeh, taking Blind Lemon Jefferson there for a recording session.

• 1926

  Blind Lemon Jefferson recordings expanded Paramount’s blues catalog

  [1]Paramount Recordsen.wikipedia.org

  Jefferson’s Paramount successes included “Got the Blues” and “Long Lonesome Blues”; improved versions were later recorded at Marsh Laboratories.

• 1922

  Race-record series launched

  [1]Paramount Recordsen.wikipedia.org

  Paramount began its major African American-oriented series with releases associated with Lucille Hegamin and Alberta Hunter.

• 1919

  First Paramount records issued

  [1]Paramount Recordsen.wikipedia.org

  Records began appearing on the Paramount label, alongside releases on the shorter-lived Puritan label.

• 1918

  Paramount label established

  [1]Paramount Recordsen.wikipedia.org

  United Phonographs, a Wisconsin Chair Company subsidiary, established the Paramount record label.

Originally a general-market phonograph-record label, Paramount became historically significant through its strong focus on African American blues and jazz audiences and performers. Its reputation rests on the cultural importance of its catalog rather than on recording fidelity or long-term commercial stability.

• Blues and jazz record series · 1922

  Paramount 12000 series

  Paramount’s best-known catalog series, introduced in 1922 for recordings marketed to African American listeners. It included vaudeville blues, country blues, and jazz-related releases by performers such as Ma Rainey, Blind Lemon Jefferson, Blind Blake, and other major figures. The series became the label’s most commercially important and historically consequential output.

• Phonograph records · 1919

  Paramount 78-rpm records

  Shellac 78-rpm discs issued across Paramount’s general popular catalog and later blues and jazz program. Production quality varied considerably, but surviving examples document a wide range of early twentieth-century American music. Many copies are scarce, and some catalog numbers are known only from incomplete surviving evidence.

• Archival reissue collection

  The Rise and Fall of Paramount Records

  A two-volume archival presentation issued by Revenant Records and Third Man Records. The collection covers recordings from 1917–1927 and 1928–1932 and combines remastered audio with books, artist and recording information, period advertising, photographs, six vinyl LPs per volume, and digital access materials.

• 1932

  Cessation of recordingStrategy

  Background

  The Great Depression sharply reduced demand and weakened record companies across the United States.

  Action taken

  Paramount stopped recording new material.

  Aftermath

  The label closed three years later, and much of its master archive was reportedly lost or scrapped.

  Source

• 1927

  Reorganization after J. Mayo Williams’s departureStrategy

  Background

  Williams left Paramount for Okeh, taking Blind Lemon Jefferson there for a recording session.

  Action taken

  Paramount continued its African American catalog under existing staff, with Aletha Dickerson taking on important operational responsibilities.

  Aftermath

  The label continued releasing influential blues recordings, although its financial and organizational problems remained.

  Source

• 1922

  Shift toward African American-oriented recordingsStrategy

  Background

  Paramount was carrying debt and had struggled as a general-market label. Its relationship with Black Swan and access to Chicago-based talent created an opportunity in the growing African American record market.

  Action taken

  The company developed the 12000 series, used Black music specialists and agents, and expanded mail-order distribution for blues and jazz releases.

  Aftermath

  The race-record business became Paramount’s best-known and most lucrative activity and produced the catalog for which the label is remembered.

  Source

1. 1Paramount Recordsen.wikipedia.org
2. 2The Rise and Fall of Paramount Records: A Great Migration Story, 1917–1932lsupress.org
3. 3In A Few Fateful Years, One Record Label Blew Open The Bluesnpr.org
4. 4Paramount Records online discographysearch.library.wisc.edu