1916 – 1925
Vocalion
The organ builder's label, vertical then lateral
The Aeolian Company · New York
The house
Vocalion was started by the Aeolian Company, a maker of pianos, player pianos and pipe organs, and its first records were vertical-cut like Edison's and Pathé's. When the lateral-cut patents were broken in court, Vocalion switched, and its red-shellac issues of the early 1920s are handsome objects.
The label recorded a strong dance band and blues catalogue, and its race series ran in parallel with OKeh's and Paramount's.
Brunswick bought Vocalion in 1925, and it later passed with the rest of that catalogue to Warner Brothers and the American Record Corporation.
What it sounds like
The vertical-cut issues need the right stylus and reward it. The red-shellac laterals are quiet for their date and often better pressed than the majors' equivalents.
On the shelf
Pulling sleeves…