The Black Swan Record Label Collections

Black Swan Records was an American jazz and blues record label founded in 1921 in Harlem, New York. It was the first widely distributed label to be owned, operated, and marketed to African Americans.

Black Swan's parent company, Pace Phonograph Corporation, was founded in March 1921 by Harry Pace and was based in Harlem. The production company was formed after Pace's music publishing partnership with W. C. Handy, Pace & Handy, had dissolved. Black Swan, which sought to specialise in classical recordings, served as an investment opportunity for the Talented Tenth. "Luminaries like Jack Nail and James Weldon Johnson served on the Black Swan board of directors", and The Crisis, the journal then edited by W.E.B. Du Bois, and published by the NAACP invested its profits in the company. Bert Williams was an early investor in Pace Phonograph. Williams also promised to record for the company once his exclusive contract with Columbia Records ended, but he died before that could occur. Pace Phonograph Corporation was renamed Black Swan Phonograph Company in the fall of 1922. Both the record label and production company were named after 19th century opera star Elizabeth Greenfield, who was known as the Black Swan.

Former employees of Pace & Handy staffed the new company: Fletcher Henderson, who functioned as the recording manager, provided piano accompaniment for singers and led a small band for recording sessions. William Grant Still was named arranger and later musical director.Ads for Black Swan often ran in The Crisis. Black Swan recorded African American musicians, but as the label grew in popularity, Pace believed competing white-owned labels such as Columbia Records sought to "obstruct the progress and curtail the popularity of Black Swan Records". Although advertising for Black Swan Records claimed all its musicians and employees were African American, it sometimes used white musicians to back some of its singers. The production company declared bankruptcy in December 1923, and in March 1924 Paramount Records bought the Black Swan label.

The Chicago Defender reported the event by detailing important accomplishments of Black Swan in a short career span, including: pointed out to the major, all white-owned, record companies—the significant market demand for black artists; prompted several major companies to begin publishing music by these performers. In addition, the Defender credited Pace with showing the majors how to target black audiences and to advertise in black newspapers. Paramount discontinued the Black Swan label a short time later.

(Sourced from wikipedia)

More About the Recordings:

The Black Swan Sampler

A selection of songs from recording artists on the Black Swan Record Label.

Black Swans - First Recordings of Black Classical Music Performances

The recordings fall into three basic groups: Roland Hayes’ privately made Columbias; the 1919 Broome Specials (Broome having been the first black-owned record label); and the Black Swan operatic series of 1921–1922. Twenty of the twenty-five selections are reissued here for the first time.

'The Black Swans Collections are published and owned by 'Jazzology' and 'Paranassus.'

Official Site: Jazzology

Official Site: Parnassus

'Co-workers in the Kingdom of Culture: Black Swan Records & the Political Economy of African American Music'

Read the Journal Article by David Suisman

There are 2 featured collections on this page:

The Black Swan Sampler

Label: Black Swan Records

Release Date: 2011

(MP3 320kbps Googledrive Access)

18 Tracks

Black Swans -

First Recordings of Black Classical Music Performers

Label: Parnassus Records

Release Date: 2019

(MP3 192kbps Googledrive Access)

25 Tracks