Minit Records

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Minit Records was an independent label founded in New Orleans in 1960 that helped to change the New Orleans sound .

founding

The small Minit Records label was founded in December 1959 by Joe Banashak and Larry McKinley in New Orleans. Allen Toussaint , who acted as composer, piano accompanist, arranger and producer, took on the main artistic responsibility . He became the creative main character of the label. The first single on Minit was sung by blues singer Matthew Jacobs, who first released the title Bad Luck And Trouble / Early in The Morning (# 601) in December 1959 as “Boogie Jake” . It was an irresistible swamp - ("swamp") - blues with a lively piano rhythm and a "funky" guitar accompaniment. Good initial sales motivated Chess Records to license the song. The first three of the six singles on Minit went to the account of “Boogie Jake”, pressed on the famous orange label.

Sound

Thanks to Allen Toussaint's musical influence, most of the label's records developed an independent, synchronous and identifiable sound. It was lighter, more melodic and a little wistful. He often tended to strong syncopation, which shows an early approach to funky music that emerged later . Toussaint's performance can be compared to that of Dave Bartholomew at Imperial Records . Toussaint also plays piano on most of Minit's records . Unlike Imperial Records, however, the recording studios of Cosimo Matassa were not predominantly used, but other studios in New Orleans and Baton Rouge . This is where Minits first record by Boogie Jake was recorded.

First successes

Jessie Hill - Ooh Poo Pah Doo pt 2
Ernie K-Doe - Mother-In-Law

The first success for Minit was Jessie Hill's two-part Ooh Poo Pah Doo, Part 2 (# 607), produced by Allen Toussaint. The title made it to number three on the R&B charts and sold a total of 800,000 copies after its publication in May 1960. Ernie K-Doe's first single Make You Love Me (# 604) was still a flop, but his second track Hello My Lover (# 614) already sold over 100,000 copies. His great success was Mother-in-Law / Wanted $ 10,000 Reward (# 623), composed and produced by Toussaint , a humorous song published in April 1961 about the stereotypical problems with mothers-in-law who are apparently sent from Hell. The title alone was an enormous incentive to buy. The song with the muffled bass voice of Benny Spellman that repeats the title - not only brought Minit first number one in the rhythm & blues charts, but was a valuable crossover success that also made it into the pop hit parade up to Top position. The title recorded in Cosimo Matassa's famous recording studio with the very nasal pronunciation K-Does became the only million seller of the small label. Toussaint had composed the song during a recording session with the Harmonizing Four , but initially discarded it until K-Doe remembered his own current problems with his mother-in-law and picked up the song.

The Toussaint sound was also used by Aaron Neville , Irma Thomas and Benny Spellman, other talented artists on the label. Neville had a mean hit with Over You in September 1960 , Irma Thomas recorded six minor singles for Minit before it was transferred to the buyer when it was sold to Imperial Records in late 1963. The O'Jays also made their early mark on the Minit label for a short time with Working On Your Case / Hold On (# 32015) in February 1967.

Cooperation and sales

Minit faced the same problems most small independent record labels were going through. There was a lack of complex and systematic artist acquisition, its own record production, its own recording studios and a nationally organized sales network. This kept many potential hits on regional status. Therefore, in March 1961, a distribution contract was signed with Imperial Records, and shortly thereafter, Mother-In-Law by Ernie K-Doe also reached first place in the pop hit parade.

Toussaint's drafting into the army in January 1963 left a creative void at Minit Records that his replacement Eddie Bo could not fill . The record label lost its market position almost completely and was acquired by its previous distribution partner Imperial Records, which in turn was taken over by Liberty Records in 1964 . The Minit catalog is now part of the EMI Group . One of the last records with the Minit logo in the regular catalog (# 666) was the 1963 single Ruler Of My Heart / Hittin 'On Nothing by Irma Thomas . The Minit logo appeared until 1970, although it had long since lost its independence as an independent label due to its association with the EMI group.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Billboard Magazine, December 14, 1959 , p. 137.
  2. ↑ John Broven, South Louisiana: The Sound of the Cajun bayous , 2000, p 140
  3. ↑ John Broven, Rhythm And Blues In New Orleans , 1995, pp 148 et seq.
  4. ^ Where to Go in Louisiana When The Music Dies , New York Times, March 5, 2002.
  5. ↑ John Broven, Record Makers And Breakers: Voices of The Independent Rock & Roll Pioneers , 2009, p 530
  6. ↑ Jeff Hannusch, The Soul of New Orleans: A Legacy of Rhythm And Blues , 2001, p. 203