the best major label for 60's soul and funk

[Geeselad]

Pete's Capitol mix helped to inspire this the theme for this topic, apologies if done before, but here we go. 

Which major from the 60's had the best/ most prolific black music output? personally Brunswick instantly springs to mind, simply because I probably have more on my shelves than any other label. Obviously the carl Davis connection and Jackie Wilson help in Brunswick's case, but I'm sure you'll come up with other artists and producers who assisted in the output of wonderful records from a particular major. Some Majors used subsidiary Race labels like MGM's  Verve, how did this effect the black music output of the parent label?

 

Edited March 9, 2017 by geeselad

[Robbk]

Columbia was pretty good, mostly because of Okeh, their R&B and Soul subsidiary.  But both Columbia and Epic also had both R&B and Soul on their labels, and their Date Records subsidiary had a lot of good Soul.

RCA had a lot of good R&B and Soul on it, including The Isley Brothers, Sam Cooke, Brook Benton, and later The Pied Piper artists.  Their Groove and Vik subsidiaries had a lot of good R&B, and Groove went on to have a fair amount of good Soul. 

Mercury, had a tremendous amount of great R&B and Soul on it, Wing and Emarcy had a lot of great R&B, and its later subsidiaries, Smash, Philips, Blue Rock and Fontana had a lot of great Soul.

Capitol and its subsidiaries, Tower and Uptown, had a lot of great Soul.

Decca didn't have much Soul, and neither did its subsidiary, Coral.  But, as stated above, its other subsidiary, Brunswick, made up for that.  Later, when Universal bought US Decca, and Uni and Revue were added, a lot of good Soul was produced.  Same after their purchase of Kapp Records.

MGM didn't really have much R&B or Soul, but its subsidiary Cub Records did, as did Verve, once they took it over.

Warner Brothers and its Reprise subsidiary didn't have much R&B or Soul on them.  But, its Soul subsidiary, Loma Records did.

United Artists always had a fair share of R&B and Soul, and added more with their purchases of liberty, which had already bought Imperial, Minit and Aladdin.

ABC always had some R&B, but had a great amount of Soul produced by Johnny Pate's crew in Chicago, and having its New York office purchase productions from all around USA.  They had loads of subsidiaries putting out R&B (APT), and Soul (Bluesway, Tangerine, Riverside, Battle, Impulse).

 

 

[The Yank]

Motown/ Gordy/ Tamla/ Soul/ V.I.P.  etc.

Atlantic/ Atco

Chess/ Checker/ Cadet / Argo 

[Geeselad]

5 minutes ago, RobbK said:

Columbia was pretty good, mostly because of Okeh, their R&B and Soul subsidiary.  But both Columbia and Epic also had both R&B and Soul on their labels, and their Date Records subsidiary had a lot of good Soul.

RCA had a lot of good R&B and Soul on it, including The Isley Brothers, Sam Cooke, Brook Benton, and later The Pied Piper artists.  Their Groove and Vik subsidiaries had a lot of good R&B, and Groove went on to have a fair amount of good Soul. 

Mercury, had a tremendous amount of great R&B and Soul on it, Wing and Emarcy had a lot of great R&B, and its later subsidiaries, Smash, Philips, Blue Rock and Fontana had a lot of great Soul.

Capitol and its subsidiaries, Tower and Uptown, had a lot of great Soul.

Decca didn't have much Soul, and neither did its subsidiary, Coral.  But, as stated above, its other subsidiary, Brunswick, made up for that.  Later, when Universal bought US Decca, and Uni and Revue were added, a lot of good Soul was produced.  Same after their purchase of Kapp Records.

MGM didn't really have much R&B or Soul, but its subsidiary Cub Records did, as did Verve, once they took it over.

Warner Brothers and its Reprise subsidiary didn't have much R&B or Soul on them.  But, its Soul subsidiary, Loma Records did.

United Artists always had a fair share of R&B and Soul, and added more with their purchases of liberty, which had already bought Imperial, Minit and Aladdin.

ABC always had some R&B, but had a great amount of Soul produced by Johnny Pate's crew in Chicago, and having its New York office purchase productions from all around USA.  They had loads of subsidiaries putting out R&B (APT), and Soul (Bluesway, Tangerine, Riverside, Battle, Impulse).

 

 

Top post man, very knowledgeable, didn't know Brunswick was a subsidiary of Decca and thought I heard Ray Charles owned Tangerine? at some point at least, or was it a sub run by him, in terms of a and r ect?   

[Geeselad]

Just now, the yank said:

Motown/ Gordy/ Tamla/ Soul/ V.I.P.  etc.

Atlantic/ Atco

Chess/ Checker/ Cadet / Argo 

not sure I'd class the checker and modtown set ups as majors, just reallybig and successful indies?

[Robbk]

5 hours ago, geeselad said:

Top post man, very knowledgeable, didn't know Brunswick was a subsidiary of Decca and thought I heard Ray Charles owned Tangerine? at some point at least, or was it a sub run by him, in terms of a and r ect?   

Tangerine was founded in 1962, based on Ray Charles' new contract agreement with them.  ABC-Paramount had some ownership participation due to their marketing and distribution of the label, but Charles owned most of it, and ran it as chief executive producer and A&R man.  To leave association with them, he dissolved Tangerine Records in 1973, and formed Crossover Records, with many of his Tangerine staff and contract artists rejoining him.