Oblivion Records
Encyclopedia
Oblivion Records was an American independent record label that focused on under recorded blues and jazz musicians. The company was based in Huntington, New York
and New York City
and a post office box (Box X) in Roslyn Heights, New York
from 1972–1976.
scholar Tom Pomposello
, and college student and amateur recording engineer Fred Seibert
, when Pomposello was musing about the best way to record and release his music. Seibert incorrectly suggested a major label was a thing of the past and the way of the future was that Pomposello should record himself. The two quickly formed a partnership.
Seibert hosted a Columbia University
, WKCR-FM radio show, and had recorded Pomposello for his accompanying legendary country blues
artist Mississippi Fred McDowell
at The Gaslight Cafe
in November 1971. They agreed that the tapes were a commercial offering that could be used to launch the label. Pomposello suggested the tongue-in-cheek name Oblivion, cadged from an obscure Leo Kottke
album, mistakenly believing the name to be a satire.
Along with third partner Dick Pennington, who provided the initial financing, Oblivion released its maiden album, Mississippi Fred McDowell
: “Live in New York
” in the spring of 1972.
1972 also saw the release of the label’s only 45rpm single, “Johnny Woods: Mississippi Harmonica” from Fred McDowell’s sometime musical partner, harmonica
player Johnny Woods
.
Seibert’s interest was jazz, and by the end of 1972 the first jazz session was recorded, pointing the company towards the future. Marc Copland
(then known as Marc Cohen) was a former Columbia student and mainstream jazz alto saxophone player who came to WKCR with a trio and his saxophone plugged into an Echoplex
and amplifier. Seibert heard kinship with Miles Davis
’, Tony Williams', and John McLaughlin
's electronic experiments, and with the addition of guitarist John Abercrombie
recorded one of the earliest “electronic jazz” records, soon to be known as jazz fusion
. The album (five stars from Down Beat Magazine was named “Friends” (Copland felt it was a collective effort), with a cover by a Columbia University
based "outsider" Sam Steinberg (artist)
, it was Oblivion’s third release.
Pomposello’s blues
scholarship was increasing and one area of particular interest was the state of the form in the immediate New York City
metropolitan area, Oblivion’s home territory. Never a deep hotbed of traditional blues (Chicago, Illinois was the Northern U.S. center of the music), nevertheless New York had a reliable output over the postwar years by such artists as Elmore James
, Wilbert Harrison
, and Buster Brown
. When guitarist & vocalist Charles Walker visited WKCR, Pomposello made it his mission to record him over a year’s time with various configurations of a dozen local players. ‘’Blues from the Apple
’’ came out in 1974 and fittingly credited to “Charles Walker & the New York City Blues Band.”
Joe Lee Wilson
is a mainstream jazz vocalist who was making his name in Manhattan’s loft scene of the 1970s. He recorded a highly buzzed session at WKCR in 1972, which Oblivion launched as ‘’Livin’ High Off Nickels and Dimes’’, a New York jazz radio sensation in the autumn of 1974.
, to folk
and R&B, utilizing nine musicians recorded over two years.
With only two reliably commercial records, Fred McDowell
’s ‘’Live in New York
’’ and Joe Lee Wilson
’s ‘’Livin’ High Off Nickels and Dimes’’, Oblivion found it could no longer be sustained off the passions of its founders, the saga of many independent labels with inadequate capitalization. The company ceased operations in 1976.
Huntington, New York
The Town of Huntington is one of ten towns in Suffolk County, New York, USA. Founded in 1653, it is located on the north shore of Long Island in northwestern Suffolk County, with Long Island Sound to its north and Nassau County adjacent to the west. Huntington is part of the New York metropolitan...
and New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
and a post office box (Box X) in Roslyn Heights, New York
Roslyn Heights, New York
Roslyn Heights is a hamlet in Nassau County, New York, United States. It is considered part of the Greater Roslyn area, which is anchored by the Village of Roslyn...
from 1972–1976.
History
The company was formed based on a casual conversation between Long Island, New York record store owner, musician, and bluesBlues
Blues is the name given to both a musical form and a music genre that originated in African-American communities of primarily the "Deep South" of the United States at the end of the 19th century from spirituals, work songs, field hollers, shouts and chants, and rhymed simple narrative ballads...
scholar Tom Pomposello
Tom Pomposello
Tom Pomposello was an American roots musician, notably playing and recording with country blues musician Mississippi Fred McDowell, who also worked as a cable television and advertising producer for clients like Nickelodeon, Nick-at-Nite, and MTV...
, and college student and amateur recording engineer Fred Seibert
Fred Seibert
Frederick "Fred" Seibert is a television and film producer and entertainment entrepreneur who owns Frederator Studios, and who has held leading positions with MTV Networks, Hanna-Barbera, and Next New Networks; he owns Frederator Studios...
, when Pomposello was musing about the best way to record and release his music. Seibert incorrectly suggested a major label was a thing of the past and the way of the future was that Pomposello should record himself. The two quickly formed a partnership.
Seibert hosted a Columbia University
Columbia University
Columbia University in the City of New York is a private, Ivy League university in Manhattan, New York City. Columbia is the oldest institution of higher learning in the state of New York, the fifth oldest in the United States, and one of the country's nine Colonial Colleges founded before the...
, WKCR-FM radio show, and had recorded Pomposello for his accompanying legendary country blues
Country blues
Country blues is a general term that refers to all the acoustic, mainly guitar-driven forms of the blues. It often incorporated elements of rural gospel, ragtime, hillbilly, and dixieland jazz...
artist Mississippi Fred McDowell
Mississippi Fred McDowell
Fred McDowell known by his stage name; Mississippi Fred McDowell, was an American Hill country blues singer and guitar player.-Career:...
at The Gaslight Cafe
The Gaslight Cafe
The Gaslight Cafe was an American coffee house located in the basement of 116 MacDougal Street in the Greenwich Village neighborhood of the Manhattan borough of New York City, New York...
in November 1971. They agreed that the tapes were a commercial offering that could be used to launch the label. Pomposello suggested the tongue-in-cheek name Oblivion, cadged from an obscure Leo Kottke
Leo Kottke
Leo Kottke is an acoustic guitarist. He is widely known for his innovative fingerpicking style, which draws on influences from blues, jazz, and folk music, and his syncopated, polyphonic melodies...
album, mistakenly believing the name to be a satire.
Along with third partner Dick Pennington, who provided the initial financing, Oblivion released its maiden album, Mississippi Fred McDowell
Mississippi Fred McDowell
Fred McDowell known by his stage name; Mississippi Fred McDowell, was an American Hill country blues singer and guitar player.-Career:...
: “Live in New York
Live In New York
Live in New York may refer to:*Live in New York City, by John Lennon*Hot Swing Trio: Live in New York, by Mark O'Connor's Hot Swing Trio*Live in New York , 2002...
” in the spring of 1972.
1972 also saw the release of the label’s only 45rpm single, “Johnny Woods: Mississippi Harmonica” from Fred McDowell’s sometime musical partner, harmonica
Harmonica
The harmonica, also called harp, French harp, blues harp, and mouth organ, is a free reed wind instrument used primarily in blues and American folk music, jazz, country, and rock and roll. It is played by blowing air into it or drawing air out by placing lips over individual holes or multiple holes...
player Johnny Woods
Johnny Woods
Johnny Woods was an American blues singer and harmonica player in the North Mississippi style.Woods was born in a small Mississippi town called Looxahoma, just west of Mississippi Highway 35. His harmonica playing first gained notoriety in the 1960s as a duet partner with fellow blues revival...
.
Seibert’s interest was jazz, and by the end of 1972 the first jazz session was recorded, pointing the company towards the future. Marc Copland
Marc Copland
Marc Copland is an American jazz pianist and composer.Copland became part of the jazz scene in Philadelphia in the early 1960s as a saxophonist, and later moved to New York where he experimented with electric alto saxophone...
(then known as Marc Cohen) was a former Columbia student and mainstream jazz alto saxophone player who came to WKCR with a trio and his saxophone plugged into an Echoplex
Echoplex
The Echoplex is a tape delay effect, first made in 1959. Designed by Mike Battle, the Echoplex set a standard for the effect in the 1960s and was used by some of the most notable guitar players of the era; original Echoplexes are highly sought after....
and amplifier. Seibert heard kinship with Miles Davis
Miles Davis
Miles Dewey Davis III was an American jazz musician, trumpeter, bandleader, and composer. Widely considered one of the most influential musicians of the 20th century, Miles Davis was, with his musical groups, at the forefront of several major developments in jazz music, including bebop, cool jazz,...
’, Tony Williams', and John McLaughlin
John McLaughlin (musician)
John McLaughlin , also known as Mahavishnu John McLaughlin, is an English guitarist, bandleader and composer...
's electronic experiments, and with the addition of guitarist John Abercrombie
John Abercrombie (guitarist)
John Abercrombie is an American jazz guitarist, whose work often explores jazz fusion and post bop. Abercrombie has played with Billy Cobham, Jack DeJohnette, Michael Brecker and Randy Brecker...
recorded one of the earliest “electronic jazz” records, soon to be known as jazz fusion
Jazz fusion
Jazz fusion is a musical fusion genre that developed from mixing funk and R&B rhythms and the amplification and electronic effects of rock, complex time signatures derived from non-Western music and extended, typically instrumental compositions with a jazz approach to lengthy group improvisations,...
. The album (five stars from Down Beat Magazine was named “Friends” (Copland felt it was a collective effort), with a cover by a Columbia University
Columbia University
Columbia University in the City of New York is a private, Ivy League university in Manhattan, New York City. Columbia is the oldest institution of higher learning in the state of New York, the fifth oldest in the United States, and one of the country's nine Colonial Colleges founded before the...
based "outsider" Sam Steinberg (artist)
Sam Steinberg (artist)
Sam Steinberg was an American outsider art painter from The Bronx, New York, called the "unofficial artist-in-residence" at Columbia University by Peter Frank...
, it was Oblivion’s third release.
Pomposello’s blues
Blues
Blues is the name given to both a musical form and a music genre that originated in African-American communities of primarily the "Deep South" of the United States at the end of the 19th century from spirituals, work songs, field hollers, shouts and chants, and rhymed simple narrative ballads...
scholarship was increasing and one area of particular interest was the state of the form in the immediate New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
metropolitan area, Oblivion’s home territory. Never a deep hotbed of traditional blues (Chicago, Illinois was the Northern U.S. center of the music), nevertheless New York had a reliable output over the postwar years by such artists as Elmore James
Elmore James
Elmore James was an American blues guitarist, singer, songwriter and band leader. He was known as "the King of the Slide Guitar" and had a unique guitar style, noted for his use of loud amplification and his stirring voice.-Biography:James was born Elmore Brooks in the old Richland community in...
, Wilbert Harrison
Wilbert Harrison
Wilbert Harrison was an American rhythm and blues singer, pianist, guitarist and harmonica player.Born in Charlotte, North Carolina, United States, Harrison had a Billboard #1 record in 1959 with the song "Kansas City". The song was written in 1952 and was one of the first credited collaborations...
, and Buster Brown
Buster Brown
Buster Brown was a comic strip character created in 1902 by Richard Felton Outcault who was known for his association with the Brown Shoe Company. This mischievous young boy was loosely based on a boy near Outcault's home in Flushing, New York...
. When guitarist & vocalist Charles Walker visited WKCR, Pomposello made it his mission to record him over a year’s time with various configurations of a dozen local players. ‘’Blues from the Apple
Blues from the Apple
Blues from the Apple, released in 1974 by Oblivion Records, is the only album under the leadership of guitarist and vocalist Charles Walker. Featured players include New York City based musicians Lee Roy Little , Bill Dicey , 'Foxy' Ann Yancey , Larry Johnson , Tom Pomposello , Bobby King , and Ola...
’’ came out in 1974 and fittingly credited to “Charles Walker & the New York City Blues Band.”
Joe Lee Wilson
Joe Lee Wilson
Joe Lee Wilson was an American gospel-influenced jazz singer, originally from Bristow, Oklahoma. His voice is best recognized from several Archie Shepp albums recorded for Impulse! Records.-Biography:...
is a mainstream jazz vocalist who was making his name in Manhattan’s loft scene of the 1970s. He recorded a highly buzzed session at WKCR in 1972, which Oblivion launched as ‘’Livin’ High Off Nickels and Dimes’’, a New York jazz radio sensation in the autumn of 1974.
End of the company
Oblivion’s last album had been its inspiration. ‘’Honest Tom Pomposello’’ was an album of true Americana, spanning from the expected bluesBlues
Blues is the name given to both a musical form and a music genre that originated in African-American communities of primarily the "Deep South" of the United States at the end of the 19th century from spirituals, work songs, field hollers, shouts and chants, and rhymed simple narrative ballads...
, to folk
Folk music
Folk music is an English term encompassing both traditional folk music and contemporary folk music. The term originated in the 19th century. Traditional folk music has been defined in several ways: as music transmitted by mouth, as music of the lower classes, and as music with unknown composers....
and R&B, utilizing nine musicians recorded over two years.
With only two reliably commercial records, Fred McDowell
Fred McDowell
Fred McDowell known by his stage name; Mississippi Fred McDowell, was an American Hill country blues singer and guitar player.-Career:...
’s ‘’Live in New York
Live In New York
Live in New York may refer to:*Live in New York City, by John Lennon*Hot Swing Trio: Live in New York, by Mark O'Connor's Hot Swing Trio*Live in New York , 2002...
’’ and Joe Lee Wilson
Joe Lee Wilson
Joe Lee Wilson was an American gospel-influenced jazz singer, originally from Bristow, Oklahoma. His voice is best recognized from several Archie Shepp albums recorded for Impulse! Records.-Biography:...
’s ‘’Livin’ High Off Nickels and Dimes’’, Oblivion found it could no longer be sustained off the passions of its founders, the saga of many independent labels with inadequate capitalization. The company ceased operations in 1976.