Okeh Records

Did You Know?

• The OKeh Laughing Record, recorded in Germany in 1920, sold an estimated one million copies in the U.S. in 1922.
• Louis Armstrong's Hot Five and Hot Seven recorded about three sessions per year between 1925 and 1928, producing hits like "Heebie Jeebies" and "West End Blues."

Early history

OKeh Records was founded by Otto Heinemann, a German-American who previously ran the American division of Odeon Records. In 1916, he started the Otto Heinemann Phonograph Corporation, built a recording studio and pressing plant in New York City, and launched the label two years later. The first records used vertical-cut grooves, but the company soon switched to the standard lateral-cut method. The parent company became the General Phonograph Corporation, and the label itself was renamed OKeh.

Ten-inch records cost 75 cents, while twelve-inch ones sold for $1.25. Frederick W. Hager, sometimes using the alias Milo Rega, handled musical direction. Like other labels, OKeh released popular songs, dance tunes, and vaudeville acts, but Heinemann also wanted to reach audiences ignored by bigger companies. He produced records in German, Czech, Polish, Swedish, and Yiddish for immigrant communities.

Some of these came from masters leased from European labels, while others were recorded in New York. Early releases included work by the New Orleans Jazz Band. In 1920, Perry Bradford convinced Fred Hager to record blues singer Mamie Smith. Those records sold well, leading OKeh to start a series of race records, directed by Clarence Williams in New York and Richard M. Jones in Chicago.

From 1921 to 1932, this series featured artists like Williams, Lonnie Johnson, King Oliver, and Louis Armstrong. Louis Armstrong’s Hot Five and Hot Seven held about three recording sessions each year from 1925 to 1928, producing hits such as “Heebie Jeebies,” “Cornet Chop Suey,” and “West End Blues.” After these successes, Armstrong’s records were also added to the label’s popular series, which was marketed to white audiences starting in 1928. As part of the Carl Lindström Company, OKeh’s recordings were distributed by other Lindström labels, including Parlophone in the United Kingdom.

Musicians earned little for studio sessions but could copyright the songs they recorded, hoping to collect royalties if other artists covered them.

The OKeh Laughing Record

The OKeh Laughing Record was recorded in Germany by Beka Records in 1920, by most accounts, and purchased by OKeh for U.S. release. It features what are likely opera singer Lucie Bernardo and Otto Rathke laughing for nearly three minutes, accompanied by cornetist Felix Silbers. The record became a best-seller in the U.S. in 1922, with estimated sales of around one million copies. OKeh later issued the "Second Laughing Record", "The OKeh Laughing Dance Record", and "The OKeh Crying Record". Other labels released similar records, and the original may have influenced the use of live audiences and laugh tracks in shows. It was issued in the UK as The Parlophone Laughing Record and featured in the 1955 Walter Lantz Productions/Universal Studios cartoon short Sh-h-h-h-h-h.

Race records and remote recording

In 1920, the General Phonograph Corporation used Mamie Smith’s hit “Crazy Blues” to open up a new audience, and the record sold so fast that stores couldn’t keep it in stock. Ads for Smith, including her picture and a list of her releases, ran in African-American newspapers like the Chicago Defender, the Atlanta Independent, and the New York Colored News, even though her records were in OKeh’s standard 4000 series. The label also built a strong following among Black listeners by recording artists such as Sara Martin, Eva Taylor, Shelton Brooks, Esther Bigeou, and Handy’s Orchestra.

OKeh created the 8000 series for race records. That series did so well that in 1923 the company began traveling with mobile recording gear to capture musicians where they actually performed, rather than only in New York or Chicago. Once or twice a year, crews made trips to New Orleans, Atlanta, San Antonio, St. Louis, Kansas City, and Detroit. The Atlanta studio also worked with what were then called “Hillbilly” (now country) acts.

One of the earliest was Fiddlin’ John Carson, who is thought to have cut the first country records there in June 1923—a two-sided disc featuring “The Little Old Log Cabin in the Lane” and “The Old Hen Cackled and the Rooster’s Going To Crow.”

1940–1970

OKeh Records saw its releases slow down after 1932, but the label managed to keep going until 1935. In 1940, Columbia lost the rights to the Vocalion name when it dropped the Brunswick label, so it revived OKeh as a replacement. A demonstration record with a new script logo announced the comeback. The label shut down again in 1946, only to be brought back in 1951.

In 1953, Columbia moved OKeh’s pop artists to the newly formed Epic Records, turning OKeh into an exclusive R&B label. Its music publishing arm was renamed April Music. Carl Davis took over as A&R manager in 1963, boosting sales for a couple of years, and Epic assumed management of OKeh in 1965. During its pop phase in the 1950s and 1960s, the label featured artists like Johnnie Ray and Little Joe & the Thrillers.

As soul music gained steam in the 1960s, OKeh signed Major Lance, who scored two big hits: "The Monkey Time" and "Um, Um, Um, Um, Um, Um." Fifties rocker Larry Williams found a home at OKeh in the 1960s, recording and producing funky soul with a band that included Johnny "Guitar" Watson. He was paired with Little Richard, who had been convinced to return to secular music. Williams produced two Little Richard albums for OKeh in 1966 and 1967, which put Little Richard back on the Billboard album chart for the first time in a decade and yielded the hit single "Poor Dog."

Williams also served as music director for Little Richard’s live shows at the OKeh Club in Los Angeles, and Little Richard’s bookings soared. Much of OKeh’s 1960s success relied on producer Carl Davis and songwriter Curtis Mayfield. After they left the label following disputes with Epic/OKeh head Len Levy, OKeh’s sales gradually declined, and Columbia quietly retired the label in 1970.