Contemporary Records
Contemporary Records is a jazz label founded in 1951 by Lester Koenig in Los Angeles , which is particularly dedicated to West Coast jazz . Koenig set great store by very good recording quality (which is why he hired recording engineer Roy DuNann from Capitol Records in 1956 ). Released musicians included the Lighthouse All Stars, Sonny Rollins ( Way Out West (1957) and Sonny Rollins and the Contemporary Leaders , 1958), Ornette Coleman , the Curtis Counce Group (with Harold Land , Jack Sheldon , Carl Perkins and Frank Butler ), Art Pepper , Shelly Manne , Hampton Hawes , Barney Kessel , Leroy Vinnegar , Benny Golson , but also musicians of mainstream jazz such as Benny Carter , Lionel Hampton , Ben Webster and André Previn . In the mid-1960s, the label became quieter; but still in the 1970s, z. B. Recordings of Art Pepper from the Village Vanguard . In 1977 the founder Lester Koenig died. The label was bought in 1984 by Fantasy Records , which re-released most of the tracks re-edited (partly under the Original Jazz Classics sub-label ).