49 Mylan Nocton – Encyclopedia Entry: Gennett Records
Mylan Nocton is a second-year student majoring in History and Secondary Education. He comes from Centerville, Indiana and runs for the IUE Cross-Country/ Track teams. This paper is an encyclopedia entry and research project for his T-325 history course, an American history course on the civil rights movement. Professor Justina Licata notes, “In Mylan’s final encyclopedia entry, he examined the local and historic Gennett Records. Through his research, Mylan skillfully linked the record company’s history to the rise of jazz across the U.S.”
Encyclopedia Entry: Gennett Records
Gennett Records was an independent record label, a division of the Starr Piano Company out of Richmond, Indiana, started in 1917. It hosted some of the most influential jazz, blues, and folk artists of all time, including King Oliver, Louis Armstrong, Hoagy Carmichael, Jelly Roll Mortan, Bix Beiderbecke Blind Lemon Jefferson, Duke Ellington, Fatts Waller, and Charley Patton.
The Trayser Paino Company moved to Richmond in 1872, where the name changed to Chase Piano Co. in 1878, then to the James Starr & Co. in 1885, and finally to Starr Piano Co. in 1893. At the time, pianos were a symbol of affluence, and Starr provided some of the best, as they won gold medals for excellence at St. Louis World’s Fair in 1904, Tennessee Centennial exposition of 1907, the Alaska-Yukon-Pacific Exposition of 1909, and the Panama-Pacific Exposition of 1915. As time went on, and as pianos became less profitable, records were gaining in popularity. By 1917, Gennett Records was founded, recording through New York at the time, but later relying on the Richmond Studio.
The Richmond Studio became increasingly influential, as many of the jazz bands from Chicago took the train down to record including, in 1923, King Oliver’s Creole Jazz band, with Louis Armstong at second trumpet, who was recorded for the first time. Many artists, such as Gene Autry, Bix Beiderbecke, Hoagy Carmichael, and Charley Patton, and the last of Blind Lemon Jefferson, started their careers at Gennett.
Because Gennett would let just about anyone record, the company profited tremendously, but this practice created a hodgepodge of customers and producers. For example, though the Gennetts never officially associated with the terrorist organization, the KKK, which was very present in Indiana at the time, recorded in Richmond. Woodrow Wilson’s Secretary of State also traveled to Richmond to record one of his speeches. Through the 1920s, the record label was successful, but that came to a crashing halt during the Great Depression. In 1934, Gennett closed its recording division, though record pressing still occurred for Decca Records and Mercury Records, at least until 1945. Star Pianos continued until 1952, when, by that point ,the company was making refrigerator parts.
Not only did Gennett house records by some of the greatest of Jazz, Delta Blues, and country stars, they also fought a lawsuit with the big recording labels for patents. This debacle split all the recording business between Edison records and Victor Records, which had a monopoly over the industry. They sued Victor in 1920, and two years later won the case, with the help of other small labels, like Paramount. This case ensured the survival of small independent labels, even if that was for a ten-year span. Further, this case holds tremendous significance in music history because without it, small independents like Charley Patton would have never been known. Without these historical records, the Delta Blues and real creole jazz, (not New York jazz) would be lost. More competition from the small independent labels opened the floodgates to exposing young talent that could not have been found in such an influential time in music: the 1920 and early 30s. Early African American music would have been lost, with big labels having more freedom to choose artists with less competition.
This is significant to the music world because Richmond, Indiana is the haven for recorded Jazz, a large cultural piece of American and African American histories.
Bibliography
Nate Gibson, “Starr-Gennett Collection”, Indiana University Bloomington Libraires, No date, https://libraries.indiana.edu/starr-gennett.
Historic American Engineering Record, “Starr Piano Factory & Richmond Gas Company, G Street Bridge & Main Street Bridge, Richmond, Wayne County, IN” Library of Congress, documents compiled after 1968, https://www.loc.gov/pictures/search/?q=Photograph:%20in0160&fi=number&op=PHRASE&va=exact&co%20=hh&st=gallery&sg%20=%20true
Historic American Engineering Record, “Starr Piano Factory & Richmond Gas Company, G Street Bridge & Main Street Bridge, Richmond, Wayne County, IN” Library of Congress, documents compiled after 1968, https://www.loc.gov/pictures/collection/hh/item/in0160/.
Rick Kennedy, Jelly Roll, Bix, and Hoagy: Gennett Studios and the Birth of Recorded Jazz, (Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 2013).
Avery Gregurich, “The History of American Music, as Recorded in Richmond, Indiana” Belt Magazine, December, 2021. https://beltmag.com/the-history-of-american-music-as-recorded-in-richmond-indiana/