Liberty Records • Jazz in Hollywood Series (0)

 

A dozen single albums plus a first compendium as a presentation will star in the next OUTLET JAZZ series.

This time, the collection was the result of the association of two famous record labels from the 1950s: Liberty, again, and Nocturne Records.

Liberty Records was a record label founded in the United States by chairman Simon Waronker in 1955 with Alvin Bennett as president and Theodore Keep as chief engineer, while Nocturne Records, a label based in Hollywood concentrated on West Coast jazz, was a jazz record company and label founded in 1954 by drummer Roy Harte and bassist Harry Babasin.

Even before the first Liberty album came out, Simon Waronker was working to obtain sources for new records and this effort was finally realized in late May 1955. 

The news was reported in a small article in Billboard magazine in the June 4, 1955 issue under the title "Liberty Merger With Nocturne":

Indies Liberty and Nocturne Records this week completed a merger whereby the latter firm's catalog will henceforth be issued under the Liberty label.

Liberty, headed by 20th-Fox music director Si Waronker, Will release the Nocturne output under its "Jazz in Hollywood" series. Harry Babasin, former president of the jazz line, Will continue to supervise the repertoire function of the line.

Liberty created the prefix "LJH" for that purpose and the thirteen-disc collection was called the Liberty 6000 series. We will meet them in the next 13 posts...

◈◈◈