Keynote label

[Brad]

Interesting story particularly the part about Prince Charming aka Basie and Columbia. 

[Big Beat Steve]

1 hour ago, medjuck said:

I asked permission to repost this from the original poster. It's a pretty amazing discovery about Keynote (Unfortunately I think you have to copy the whole address to get to it.) 

 

https://www.facebook.com/SwingMan1937?__tn__=%2CdlC-R-R&eid=ARDztYX_YlJGyz4tdhdPFNDR-Joz1r8Pw2RYnSbHfY34dhNuWHDZEX6vFQAhcy4DAF3ND1spAL_JJ6fD&hc_ref=ARSkOZbYkXMinGr0BPo3wlpQR-0BnRf1T5mSckztoAR-I49pEL6Z1DELHS0L0_J1FY0

 

Here's a bit of it:  

Your link leads to the FB starting page of that feller. Not more. Seems like you have to be on FB to see the contents of the actual post. Too bad.

So ... No Go.

Edited May 2, 2019 by Big Beat Steve

[mjzee]

5 minutes ago, Big Beat Steve said:

Your link leads to the FB starting page of that feller. Not more. Seems like you have to be on FB to see the contents of the actual post. Too bad.

So ... No Go.

This is what was printed:

So I'm talking a little earlier to a dear friend and fellow record collector about a short stack of Lester Young 78's that he's currently got for sale. And one of them in the stack happens to be on the Mercury label.

Now, those in the know about these things (namely, for the most part, a large gathering of proud 78rpm record collectors, natural masochists that we are  ) know that Mercury Records, in the late 1940's, acquired the entire catalog of a small, independent label called "Keynote Recordings", which happened to have a big chunk of exceptional jazz.

Well, not only did Mercury acquire their complete catalog, but they also took a lot of Keynote's pressing back stock and simply pasted their own labels over them. The conversation reminded me that I happen to have one of those pasted-over back stock pressings - and it happens to be a pair of real doozies on a 12" 78 by the "Kansas City Seven" or, as the Mercury label lists, "Count Basie and his Kansas City Seven". And, the one I've got (originally Keynote 1303-B), you can actually peel back the Mercury label some to reveal the original Keynote label beneath! And it's only on one side - the original Keynote label remains on the flipside ("Destination K.C." by the Kansas City Seven).

It's kind of weird to look at that Mercury label listing Count Basie at the piano because the original Keynote labels list only a "Prince Charming" at the piano instead. No, that's really Basie, but Keynote had to list Basie under a pseudonym because, at the time these we're originally issued (mid-1944 - recorded March 22, 1944), Count Basie was under exclusive contract to Columbia Records and, as such, while he was free to record on different labels, he could not, in any way, appear listed under his own name. But, by the time Mercury got hold of Keynote's catalog and back stock of pressings, Count Basie was recording for Mercury, so he could be listed correctly (Mercury "released" these recordings around 1950).

Anyways, enough gabbage - enjoy a little collecting eccentricity below. Got both original KC Five/Seven 12" 78rpm Keynote pressings below.  :

[Brad]

Here are some of the photos from his post. 

[Big Beat Steve]

Thaks a lot, everybody. This is really appreciated. And an odd story indeed that fills a gap in the "post-Keynote" Keynote story.

 

As for the Mercury label being on one side only, I wonder if maybe the pasted-over Mercury label had already peeled off and got lost on the other side that now has "only" the Keynote label left?

[medjuck]

3 hours ago, Big Beat Steve said:

Thaks a lot, everybody. This is really appreciated. And an odd story indeed that fills a gap in the "post-Keynote" Keynote story.

 

As for the Mercury label being on one side only, I wonder if maybe the pasted-over Mercury label had already peeled off and got lost on the other side that now has "only" the Keynote label left?

I asked Mark Cederquistr and he replied:

 "I don't think so. There's an adhesive mark on side A (Keynote 1303-A), but that could've been from any number of things like a personal label w/the owner's name to the music shop it was sold at to a cataloging sticker and Lord knows what else. The original label is smooth enough without any damage to think that there might've been a Mercury label pasted to the other side.

In any case, what you see above is how I got it in 2001. If there was another Mercury label on side A, whoever removed it did the best label removal job I've ever seen."

[Big Beat Steve]

The reason I thought so was that through the years I have had two cases of records (vinyl, admittedly) where for some reason a label had been stuck on top of another one in whatever attempt at relabeling but I was able to lift it off without much effort and without any damage caused to the label underneath by the remainder of the "glue". Either the glue had become bone dry to become totally non-adhesive at all or the glueing had been insufficient in the first place.

At any rate, what would have been the point of relabeling a record for sale by the NEW owner/label if you "update" one side of the record only?