King Records of Cincinnati

Gave as a gift to a buddy who is a music fan and from the Cincinnati area. He loved it !

very very pleased

This outstanding book tells the story of King Records very well. Syd Nathan created this music empire in 1943 and King became a major player in the development of rhythm & blues, country music, and bluegrass. Nathan had a strong sense of public taste and he defied the tradition of the day by marketing black oriented music to the general public. This book features many good pictures of the King studios and production facilities as well as virtually every major and minor artist who recorded for the label. The cover photo of mail room employees at work tells the story of an early success at integration in a city steeped in southern traditions. The well written descriptions of the photos provide a fine overview of King's history. If you are interested in the development of American music genres, you'll want this book in your collection.

GREAT IDEA FOR A TOPIC. VERY INFORMATIVE. TOO BAD NOT ENOUGH OF THIS TYPE OF BOOK. IT SHOULD HAVE HAD MORE COVERAGE ON R&B GROUPS. GET A RUN DOWN ON THE SAVOY LABEL OUT OF NEWARK,NEW JERSEY.

Don't expect an indepth biography of King Records. While this is a book from the "Images of America" series it's above all a book full of wonderfull pictures of the founder, Syd Nathan and recording King artists - from Harold Hawkins to James Brown - accompanied by some explainatory text. Because of the variety of pictures the book provides a nice and rather complete impression of the King Records. Some pictures - and you don't often see those - show the production line of King Records: the pressing plant, the work on the stamper, the packaging process etc. Very nice. You can read the book in a weekend but it's worth while the money. Like King Records, small but impressive.Willem Schwertmann