Paramount Records

Paramount Records was an American record label whose 1920s and 1930s releases included influential blues and jazz recordings, especially by Black artists.

Ma Rainey: An American blues singer whose classic recordings helped establish the blues recording industry. Her Paramount sides, including recordings made with Louis Armstrong, became central examples of classic blues.
Wisconsin Chair Company: A furniture manufacturer based in Port Washington, Wisconsin, that entered the phonograph-record business. It created the Paramount label as an extension of its manufacturing and mail-order operations.
Gennett Records: An American record label operated by the Starr Piano Company, known for early jazz and blues recordings. Like Paramount, Gennett recorded influential regional performers outside the largest record-company centers.
Great Migration: The movement of millions of African Americans from the rural South to cities in the North and West during the twentieth century. Migration helped carry blues traditions and records into urban markets where Paramount found listeners.
Blind Lemon Jefferson: An influential Texas blues singer and guitarist whose recordings helped popularize country blues. His Paramount releases were among the label’s best-known and most commercially successful blues records.
Emil E. Berliner: A German-American inventor who developed the gramophone and the flat disc record system. The disc-record format he helped establish made Paramount’s catalog business possible.
Race record charts: US music-industry charts that tracked records marketed to African American consumers. They show how Paramount releases competed in a market organized around specialized distribution.
Blues revival: A renewed public interest in blues music, especially among younger audiences, beginning in the mid-twentieth century. Revival-era collectors and performers brought overlooked Paramount artists back into circulation.
Charley Patton: A Mississippi Delta blues musician known for forceful vocals and rhythmic guitar playing. Paramount recorded Patton, whose sides became foundational documents of Delta blues.
Race records: A historical US record-industry category for recordings marketed primarily to African American audiences. Paramount built much of its blues business by selling records through this market.

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