| Bethlehem Records | |
| Parent: | Verse Music Group (BMG Rights Management) |
| Founder: | Gus Wildi |
| Status: | Defunct |
| Genre: | Jazz |
| Country: | U.S. |
| Location: | New York City |
Bethlehem Records was an American jazz independent record label, founded by Gus Wildi in 1953.
Bethlehem is remembered for its jazz releases from the 1950s. Producers included Creed Taylor and Teddy Charles.[1] Bethlehem released the first albums recorded by singers Chris Connor (the dual releases Chris Connor Sings Lullabys for Lovers and Chris Connor Sings Lullabys of Birdland) in 1954, Nina Simone (Little Girl Blue) in 1958, and singer/actress Julie London. Julie London recorded four songs that were released on the EP Julie London, and they were later added to the compilation LP Bethlehem's Girlfriends in 1955, which also featured Chris Connor and Carmen McRae. Bethlehem recorded the debut album by Marilyn Moore and the album Somebody Loves Me by Jerri Winters, in addition to many modern jazz musicians including Howard McGhee, Herbie Nichols, Pat Moran McCoy, and Oscar Pettiford.
In 1958, Bethlehem began a distributing deal with King Records. In 1962, Bethlehem Records was sold and absorbed by King Records.[2] After Syd Nathan died in 1968, King was acquired by Starday Records and relaunched as Starday and King Records. It was purchased in 1970 by Lin Broadcasting and in 1972 by Tennessee Recording & Publishing, until acquired by Gusto Records in 1974. At that time, Bethlehem was purchased by the Cayre brothers' Salsoul Records, who initially intended to release its back catalog for inexpensive 8-track tapes in the 1970s. By 1993, the Bethlehem name was revived as Bethlehem Music Company, although Salsoul is often used as an imprint. The Verse Music Group obtained its licensing in 2010. In 2015 BMG acquired the catalog of Verse Music, including the Bethlehem label.[3]
During 2013–2014, Verse and Naxos reissued the 1950s catalogue on LP, CD, and digital download. This included music by Art Blakey, Chris Connor, Paula Castle, John Coltrane, Dexter Gordon, Nina Simone, Mel Tormé, and Zoot Sims.[4]
In 1956, Period Records sold its jazz LP catalog (10 disks) to Bethlehem. Production of all its jazz recordings was supervised by Leonard Feather. Several of the Period recordings had been previously released by Jazztone for mail-order club release.[5]
The BCP 1000 Series of 10 inch LP records commenced in September 1954 and ran until July 1955 when the label switched to 12 in LP releases.[6]
| Catalog | Artist | Album |
|---|---|---|
| BCP 1001 | Chris Connor Sings Lullabys of Birdland | |
| BCP 1002 | Chris Connor Sings Lullabys for Lovers | |
| BCP 1003 | Oscar Pettiford | |
| BCP 1004 | Great Scott | |
| BCP 1005 | Ruby Braff Swings | |
| BCP 1006 | Holiday with Hank | |
| BCP 1007 | Horn o' Plenty | |
| BCP 1008 | Aaron Sachs Sextet | |
| BCP 1009 | The Compositions of Bobby Scott: East Coast Jazz 1 | |
| BCP 1010 | East Coast Jazz/2 | |
| BCP 1011 | Peter the Great | |
| BCP 1012 | East Coast Jazz/3 | |
| BCP 1013 | I Only Have Eyes for Shu | |
| BCP 1014 | Jonah Jones | |
| BCP 1015 | Terry Pollard | |
| BCP 1016 | Sincerely, Conte | |
| BCP 1017 | Stan Levey Plays the Composition of Bill Holman, Bob Cooper and Jimmy Giuffre | |
| BCP 1018 | East Coast Jazz/4 | |
| BCP 1019 | Basically Duke | |
| BCP 1020 | East Coast Jazz/5 | |
| BCP 1021 | The Most Intimate | |
| BCP 1022 | Mariano | |
| BCP 1023 | Carmen McRae | |
| BCP 1024 | Sapphire | |
| BCP 1025 | Please, No More Shaggy Dog Stories! I'd Much Rather Listen to Herbie Harper | |
| BCP 1026 | Lou's Blue | |
| BCP 1027 | Down in the Depths on the 90th Floor | |
| BCP 1028 | Hence! Home, You Idle Creatures: Get You Home: and Lend an Ear to Max Bennett | |
| BCP 1029 | The Compositions of Bobby Scott: 2 | |
| BCP 1030 | The Songs of Bobby Troup | |
| BCP 1031 | The Australian Jazz Quartet | |
| BCP 1032 | Holiday in Braff | |
| BCP 1033 | , Bob Brookmeyer and Zoot Sims | Happy Minors |
| BCP 1034 | Ball at Bethlehem with Braff | |
| BCP 1035 | Dick Wetmore | |
| BCP 1036 |