Riverside Records

US label which appears as "Riverside" only on most of the releases.
Label Code: LC 0325 / LC 00325

Launched on a shoestring budget in 1953 by traditional jazz enthusiasts Bill Grauer and Orrin Keepnews in order to reissue classic jazz and blues recordings from the 1920s by King Oliver, Jelly Roll Morton, Ma Rainey, Blind Lemon Jefferson and others. Riverside Records turned out to be one of the premier purveyors of modern jazz. With Keepnews producing the sessions (and writing the liner notes), Riverside soon brought such giants as Thelonious Monk, Bill Evans, Cannonball Adderley and Wes Montgomery to the forefront of American music.

It also distributed Wonderland Records (7), a children's music label created by Grauer, until selling it in 1962 to A.A. Records.

The New York-based company, which also recorded albums by Sonny Rollins, Abbey Lincoln, Art Blakey, Mongo Santamaria, John Lee Hooker, Jimmy Heath, Johnny Griffin, Charlie Byrd, and the Staple Singers among many, filed for bankruptcy on July 20th 1964, shortly after Grauer's death on December 15th 1963.

Orpheum Productions, Inc. ran operations from May 10th 1965 through August 1967 when ABC Records leased the catalog from Keepnews, who retained the rights to the Riverside name and master tapes. ABC Records reissued Riverside recordings sporadically from 1967 until 1971.

The Riverside catalog (including the JAZZLAND subsidiary and much of the Battle (2) catalog, which Riverside distributed prior to 1964) was acquired by Fantasy, Inc. in 1972.

It has been part of the Concord Music Group, Inc. since 2004 and distributed by Universal Music since early 2006.