Contemporary Records

Contemporary Records is a 1951 by Lester Koenig founded in Los Angeles jazz label, especially the West Coast jazz devoted himself. Koenig laid emphasis on very good recording quality (1956 therefore he put the recording engineer Roy DuNann from a Capitol Records ). Among the published musicians included the " Lighthouse All Stars ", Sonny Rollins ( " Way out West " ), Ornette Coleman, the Curtis Counce Group ( with Harold Land, Jack Sheldon, Carl Perkins and Frank Butler), Art Pepper, Shelly Manne, Hampton Hawes, Barney Kessel, Leroy Vinnegar, Benny Golson, but also mainstream jazz musicians such as Benny Carter, Lionel Hampton, Ben Webster, Andre Previn. Mid-1960s it was quiet around the label, but they still published in the 1970s, such as those recorded by Art Pepper from the Village Vanguard. Died in 1977 the founder Lester Koenig. The label was bought in 1984 by Fantasy Records, which handles most of the new titles again brought out ( partly in Sub - Label Original Jazz Classics ).