Candid Records
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Candid Records | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Parent company | Candid Records |
| Founded | 1960 |
| Founder | Archie Bleyer |
| Distributing label | Proper Music Distribution (In the U.K.) City Hall Records (In the U.S.) |
| Genre | jazz |
| Country of origin | U.K. |
| Official website | Official website of Candid Records |
Candid Records was founded as a subsidiary of Archie Bleyer's Cadence label in New York City in 1960. The jazz writer and civil rights activist, Nat Hentoff, worked as the label's A&R director, aiming to create a representative catalog of the jazz of the day.
Although there are classic dates led by Clark Terry and Coleman Hawkins with Pee Wee Russell, it is mainly recordings of the emergent avant-garde and recordings celebrating the Civil Rights movement that stand out amongst the classic Candid catalog. Recordings by Cecil Taylor and Steve Lacy belong to the first group, and those by Charles Mingus and Max Roach belong to the second, but there is not a strict differentiation. In particular, Roach's We Insist! Freedom Now suite is a classic political statement.
The label lasted only briefly in its New York incarnation, however, and recording ceased during 1961. The catalog passed into the hands of the popular singer Andy Williams, who reissued some of the catalog on his Barnaby label. In 1988, the British record producer, Alan Bates, purchased the catalog outright, and reissued it all, as well as items which had previously not been released. Candid’s jazz catalogue is now an impressive collection of over 300 titles including those by David Liebman, Toots Thielemans, Bob Dorough and others. Bates also launched a new recording program, which continues to the present time. Stacey Kent, the American expatriate singer based in London, was among those who recorded for the revitalised label -- which led to furthering her recording career with Blue Note/EMI; as are Clare Teal, who had since moved to Sony with the biggest ever recording-deal by a British jazz singer; and singer-pianist Jamie Cullum – whose debut album (funded by a student loan) was taken on by the label – and eventually saw him land a million pound record deal with Verve Records. Candid’s current artist roster includes Mina Agossi, Kyle Eastwood, Cormac Kenevey, Geoff Gascoyne, Robin McKelle, The Blessing, Paul Jayasinha and many more.
Bates' wife, Nieves Pascua-Bates, is further expanding the operations of Candid Records, particularly in the Asia-Pacific, by setting up a subsidiary in the Philippines. The most notable recording artists of the fledgling Asian jazz label, Candid Records Philippines, are the Filipino-British singer-songwriter, Mishka Adams, who had since been migrated to the mainstream Candid U.K. label; the guitarist-composer, Johnny Alegre with his jazz supergroup, AFFINITY (whose album was launched in London's famed PizzaExpress Jazz Club in 2005); and Mon David, who won the prestigious London International Jazz (Singers') Competition in 2006.
