Editing Argo Records (section)

{{Short description|American record label}}
{{for|the British label|Argo Records (UK)}}

{{Infobox record label <!-- See Wikipedia:WikiProject_Music -->
| name        = Argo Records
| image       =
| image_size  =
| parent      = [[Chess Records]]
| founded     = {{start date|1955}}
| founder     = [[Leonard Chess]]<br />[[Phil Chess]]
| fate        = <!-- explain the reason of the closing-->
| defunct     = {{end date|1965}}
| status      = Inactive
| distributor =
| genre       = [[Jazz]], [[blues]]
| country     = U.S.
| location    = [[Chicago, Illinois|Chicago]], Illinois
}}
'''Argo Records''' was a [[record label]] in [[Chicago]] that was established in [[1955 in music|1955]] as a division of [[Chess Records]].<ref>Edwards, D & Callahan, M. [http://www.bsnpubs.com/chess/chesscheck.html The Chess Story], accessed September 12, 2012</ref><ref name="RCJE">{{Cite book| last = Cook| first = Richard| year = 2005| title = Richard Cook's Jazz Encyclopedia| publisher = Penguin Books| location = London| isbn = 0-141-00646-3| page = 17}}</ref>

Originally the label was called Marterry, but bandleader [[Ralph Marterie]] objected, and within a couple of months the imprint was renamed Argo.<ref name="bluestogold">Cohodas, Nadine (2000). ''Spinning Blues into Gold: The Chess Brothers and the Legendary Chess Records''. New York: St. Martins. {{cite web|url=http://www.bluestogold.com/index2.html |title=Archived copy |access-date=October 19, 2016 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170204194237/http://www.bluestogold.com/index2.html |archive-date=February 4, 2017 }}</ref>

Although Chess was a blues label, the Argo division began to record jazz in 1955 and over decades attracted some big names: [[Gene Ammons]], [[Kenny Burrell]], [[Barry Harris]], [[Illinois Jacquet]], [[Ahmad Jamal]], [[Ramsey Lewis]], [[James Moody (saxophonist)|James Moody]], [[Max Roach]], [[Red Rodney]], and [[Ira Sullivan]].<ref name="New Grove">{{cite book|last1=Gardner|first1=Mark|editor1-last=Kernfeld|editor1-first=Barry|title=The New Grove Dictionary of Jazz|date=2002|publisher=Grove's Dictionaries Inc.|location=New York|isbn=1-56159-284-6|page=65|volume=1|edition=2nd}}</ref>

Argo also recorded [[pop music|pop]], [[blues]], and [[Calypso music|calypso]]. Its first big hit was by [[Clarence "Frogman" Henry]], whose song "[[Ain't Got No Home (Clarence "Frogman" Henry song)|Ain't Got No Home]]" came out in 1956.<ref name="AMG">{{cite web |url={{AllMusic|class=artist|id=p86008/biography|pure_url=yes}} |title=Clarence "Frogman" Henry Biography by Bill Dahl |publisher=Allmusic.com |access-date=September 2, 2011}}</ref> By 1960, rhythm and blues performers on the label included [[Etta James]] and [[the Dells]].<ref>Edwards, D & Callahan, M. [http://www.bsnpubs.com/chess/argo4000.html Argo Album Discography, Part 2 (1961–1965): Pop/Blues/Folk Series], accessed September 12, 2012</ref>

Argo changed its name in 1965 to [[Cadet Records]] when the company discovered that an [[Argo Records (UK)|Argo Records]] already existed in the UK.<ref>Brack R. [https://books.google.com/books?id=HSkEAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA10 Chess 'Withdraws' Argo Name], ''Billboard'', October 9, 1965. pp. 8–10.</ref> As with its parent label and British Argo, the catalog is owned by [[Universal Music Group]]. Argo was one of several record labels to lose master recordings in the [[2008 Universal fire]].<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2019/06/11/magazine/universal-fire-master-recordings.html|title=The Day the Music Burned|last=Rosen|first=Jody|date=June 11, 2019|work=The New York Times|access-date=July 2, 2019|language=en-US|issn=0362-4331}}</ref>