[78-L] Paramount Record. other, trove in Chicago

[Mark Bardenwerper]

This may be old news to some of you, but it caught my attention.

While looking for Lou Breese material, I came across the the name John 
Steiner, who lived from 1908- 2000.  He was involved with the recording 
industry there for many years. His material is kept at the Special 
Collections Center at the University of Chicago.

Evidently he had a lot to do with the Wisconsin Chair Company later. 
There is a lot of material from his time there as well as what else he 
accumulated. It looks like an incredible resource for anyone researching 
jazz or blues history. I will give you just a taste of what I see.
.....................

"Steiner's interest in recording was prompted mostly through the people 
he knew, such as his next door neighbor Paul Edward Miller, a writer for 
Downbeat. In 1938, Steiner met Hugh Davis, an engineer, in a record shop 
on Melrose Place in Chicago. Davis worked for Seeburg, the jukebox 
company, and had access to equipment for pressing records. Around 1939, 
Steiner and Davis started recording music in the clubs. By 1943 they 
formed S/D Records and recorded musicians such as Squirrel Ashcraft, 
Cassino Simpson, Jimmy McPartland, and Bud Freeman.

Initially, they ran S/D Records from Steiner's basement but eventually 
moved to downtown Chicago. As part of the new business, Steiner also 
started a "record exchange" for collectors interested in rare jazz 
records. Their focus was on new artists as well as reissuing records 
from the 1920s and 1930s, many of them from Paramount Records. In 1945, 
Davis sold out to Steiner and created his own company called Technical 
Recording Service, though Steiner continued the S/D label for another 
ten years. After Davis' departure, Steiner moved the headquarters to the 
Uptown Playhouse Theater, where he worked as their promoter and also 
lived. Though a fire at the theater in 1946 destroyed most of S/D 
Records documentation and record stock, Steiner continued to organize 
recording sessions as well as release reissues.

Starting in 1943, John Steiner began leasing the rights to recordings 
from Paramount Records, owned by the Wisconsin Chair Company, and 
releasing them on the S/D label. He bought all the rights to Paramount 
Records in 1949, which also included the rights to Broadway, Puritan, 
QRS, Rialto, and others. Steiner continued to reissue early Paramount 
recordings not just in the United States but also Australia, Japan, 
England, and Italy. In addition to his reissues, Steiner leased 
Paramount records to many producers and companies, including Frank 
Driggs (Biograph Records label from Columbia Records), George Buck 
(G.H.B. Records), Bill Grauer Productions (Riverside Records), Orrin 
Keepnews (Milestone Records), and Decca Records. Steiner also managed 
New York Recording Laboratories in 1946 and became owner in 1948.

During his time in Chicago, Steiner worked with many musicians and often 
hosted them at his apartment on Ashland and later at his renovated house 
on Greenview (formerly the Kosciuszko Public Bath) for social events and 
recording sessions. Some of these artists include Little Brother 
Montgomery, Lil Armstrong, Baby Dodds, and Austin High Gang Members 
Jimmy McPartland and Bud Freeman. He recorded some of these musicians 
for the Paramount Records label and over time he also interviewed many 
of them."



Go here.

http://www.lib.uchicago.edu/e/scrc/findingaids/view.php?eadid=ICU.SPCL.STEINERJ&q=Motion%20pictures

Amazing, and just down the road from me. Guess where I am going next 
time I get to Chicago?

-- 
Mark L. Bardenwerper, Sr. #:?)
Technology, thoughtfully, responsibly.
Visit me at http://citroen.cappyfabrics.com