Van Dyke Records
Van Dyke Records was a budget American record label which operated in 1929 and 1930.<ref name=sutton>Template:Cite book</ref> Van Dyke was a subsidiary of Grey Gull Records of Boston, Massachusetts and releases duplicated material found on the parent label.<ref name=sutton /> Despite claims of quality found on the label, the record was cheaply manufactured, and marketed to record dealers as a budget record with a high profit margin for the dealer.<ref name=sutton /><ref name=rrbc /> Accordingly the playing surface is noisy, and the recordings are often over-modulated.<ref name=rust />
Other than jazz by Clarence Williams and Cliff Jackson,<ref name=rust /> most Van Dyke records were dance band numbers by Grey Gull's house band,<ref name=rust /> which included Mike Mosiello, Andy Sannella, and Charles Magnante.
The text on the label of Van Dyke 78 discs proclaimed "Each Record a Masterpiece".<ref name=sutton /><ref name=rrbc /> An unusual feature of the Van Dyke label was that the four-digit matrix number was split between two lines on the left side.<ref name=rrbc>Template:Cite magazine</ref> Initially the Van Dyke catalog number mirrored the Grey Gull catalog number, with an added "7" or "8" appended to the beginning.<ref name=sutton /> By its second year of existence the couplings no longer matched the parent company, and there was no relation between Van Dyke's numbering (now divided into several separate numbering blocks) and Grey Gull's.<ref name=sutton /> Nonetheless, all material continued to originate from Grey Gull.<ref name=sutton /> There was some effort made to obscure the origins of Van Dyke.<ref name=rrbc />
When Grey Gull ceased operations in 1930, Van Dyke records also were no longer produced.<ref name=sutton /> However, substantial quantities of the product were exported to England over the next few years, by an unknown distributor.<ref name=sutton/><ref name=rust>Template:Cite book</ref>
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External linksEdit
- Van Dyke Records on the Internet Archive's Great 78 Project