The Rise and Fall of Paramount Records

Authored by: 
Published on: October 27th, 2014

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Paramount advertisement for Ma Rainey's
Image from Third Man/Revenant

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Paramount advertisement for Blind Lemon Jefferson's 'Black Snake Moan'
Image from Third Man/Revenant

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Paramount advertisement for Blind Lemon Jefferson's ''Lectric Chair Blues'
Image from Third Man/Revenant

Paramount records was integral to the development of jazz and blues music in the United States. Founded in 1917 as a furniture store that included phonograph players in their furniture sales, Paramount quickly morphed into one of the most important record labels in American history. The Wisconsin-based business released records from many notable and highly influential artists including New Orleans jazz pioneers King Oliver, Louis Armstrong, and Jelly Roll Morton, plus scores of other now-huge names in the lexicon of traditional American music: Ma Rainey, Charley Patton, Blind Lemon Jefferson, Skip James, Son House... the list goes on.

Paramount is receiving new attention recently with the upcoming release of the second volume of "The Rise and Fall of Paramount Records" from modern torchbearers Jack White (Third Man Records) and the late John Fahey (Revenant Records). The second volume covers 1928-1932, the final years of Paramount's existence, while the first volume spans its boom decade of 1917-1927. Each are, by far, the most elaborate and in-depth box set I've ever seen-- and the price tag for this designation matches (nearly $500 each!).

Aside from the incredibly high quality music and multiple formats that are included with the box set, a big draw is the artwork-- a complete article on this amazing art, highly influential in its own right (recognize R. Crumb, anyone?) is available over at dangerousminds.net, where Ron Kretsch did a great job aggregating some of the advertisements released by Paramount in support of their so-called "race records" throughout the 1920s. I've added just a couple here but you can see additional and larger, more detailed versions at the link.

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