Editing Autograph Records

{{Short description|American record label}}
{{Infobox record label <!-- See Wikipedia:WikiProject_Music -->
| name        = Autograph Records
| image       = <!-- logo, such as "LABEL-LOGO.jpg" -->
| image_size  = <!-- size -->
| parent      = Marsh Laboratories
| founded     = 1920s
| founder     = [[Orlando R. Marsh]]
| fate        = <!-- explain the reason of the closing-->
| defunct     = <!-- year the label dissolved, such as {{end date|1990}} -->
| status      = Defunct
| distributor = <!-- distributors, separate with commas or <br /> -->
| genre       = [[Jazz]]
| country     = U.S.
| location    = [[Chicago, Illinois]]
}}

'''Autograph Records''' was an American [[record label]] in the 1920s owned by Marsh Laboratories of [[Chicago, Illinois]], which was owned by [[Orlando R. Marsh]], an electrical engineer.

Marsh made recordings by his own experimental methods. Autograph was the first U.S. record label to release recordings made electrically with [[microphone]]s, as opposed to the acoustical or mechanical method that was more commonly used.<ref name="tholmes2006">{{cite book|last=Holmes|first=Thom|title=The Routledge guide to music technology|year= 2006|publisher=CRC Press|page=97}}Columbia Graphophone marketed electrical 12-inch in early 20s.</ref> According to author Brian Rust, Marsh's first electrical records were made in 1924.<ref name="BRust">Rust, Brian. "Autograph, a glimpse into the past." ''Storyville'' 1972; 40: 124-126.</ref>

==Organ music==
It was reported in ''[[Time (magazine)|Time]]'' on April 28, 1923, that a device invented by Marsh was successfully used to make a recording of organ music, until then considered impossible. The article stated that [[Pietro Yon]] from New York City played his organ composition "Jesu Bambino" in Marsh's Chicago laboratory, and that the reproduction was described as excellent. The article went on to say that this accomplishment appeared to open a new area for the phonograph.<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20081222161739/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,880630,00.html "Music: Chicago". ''Time'', Apr. 28, 1923]</ref>

Brian Rust also reported that there was a note in the ''Talking Machine Journal'' for October 1924 indicating that "Orlando B. Marsh" had just moved to 78 East Jackson Boulevard.<ref name="BRust"/> Marsh Laboratories became established on the seventh floor of the [[Lyon & Healy]] Building. This location attracted customers. Lyon & Healy sold sheet music, records, and musical instruments.<ref name="Arsc37">Powell, James R., Jr., Randall G. Stehle, and Jonathan D. Powell. "Vintage microphones and the restoration of early Marsh Laboratories electrical 78-rpm recordings." ''ARSC Journal'' 2006; 37 (1): 36-47.</ref>

==Discs==
Autograph is best known for some of the fine [[jazz]] by artists in Chicago which was recorded on the label. The most famous of all are the duets by [[King Oliver]] and [[Jelly Roll Morton]]. Autograph's bestselling records, however, were the series of [[pipe organ]] solos by [[Jesse Crawford]]. Marsh's electrical process was the first to be able to capture an approximation of the range of the organ, but it lacked bass in the tone mix.<ref name="Arsc37"/><ref>[http://www.theatreorgans.com/southerncross/Radiogram/USAfiles.htm ''Sounds of American Organs'']</ref>

About the time that the Autograph records of Crawford were made, Jesse Crawford accepted an offer to be organist at the [[Paramount Theatre (New York City)|Paramount Theatre in New York City]]. Once there, the [[Victor Talking Machine Company|Victor]] became interested in having Crawford make recordings for them, first by the acoustical process. Later, Victor recorded Crawford by the [[Western Electric]]-licensed process first used by them in 1925.<ref name="Arsc37"/>

Milton Charles succeeded Jesse Crawford as organist at the [[Chicago Theatre]] and also as the organist used by Orlando Marsh. Charles was recorded by Marsh Laboratories at the [[Tivoli Theatre (Chicago)]] with releases on [[Paramount Records]]. The Paramount recordings were technically superior to those made at the Chicago Theatre.<ref name="Arsc37"/>

The last Autograph records seem to have been recorded in [[1926 in music|1926]].

Although no longer releasing sides under his own label, Marsh continued to make recordings in Chicago for other labels (including Paramount, [[Gennett Records|Gennett]], and [[Black Patti Records|Black Patti]]) through the end of the 1920s.

==Radio==
[[Amos 'n' Andy]] was the first radio program to be distributed by recorded syndication, and Marsh Laboratories played a role in this. Elizabeth McLeod indicated in an e-mail of December 27, 2002, that recordings by [[Freeman Gosden]] and [[Charles Correll]] were made in advance of the live airing of the Amos 'n' Andy radio shows on [[WMAQ (AM)]], Chicago, in the 1928–1929 period at Marsh Laboratories. These were pressed for distribution to other radio stations as 12" shellac 78 rpm discs. She indicated that a speed around 80 rpm was sometimes more accurate. On April 29, 1929, the recording contract went to Brunswick-Balke-Collender ([[Brunswick Corporation]]) and the audio quality of the discs improved substantially.<ref>McLeod, Elizabeth. A & A Recordings; December 27, 2002.</ref>

==References==
{{reflist}}

== See also ==
* [[List of record labels]]

{{Authority control}}

[[Category:Record labels established in 1921]]
[[Category:Record labels disestablished in 1926]]
[[Category:American jazz record labels]]