Various Remembering Rhythm Records - The West Coast R&B Vocal Group Sound (CD)

(Rhythm Records) 26 rare tracks!
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Rhythm Records had a history of producing great San Francisco blues in the post war era. In 1957, Don Barksdale, a former NBA basketball star and prominent disc jockey for San Francisco Bay Area radio station KWBR, decided to start a record label. Rather than start from scratch, he bought the Rhythm Label from Bob Geddins. This marked the beginning of our Rhythm Records vocal group story.

Don Barksdale signed a couple of prominent blues artists, and brought together several fine Bay Area vocal groups. His first release, "A Few Little Words" by Sugar Pie (DeSantos) and Pee Wee (Parham), created enough local interest that the Mesner Brothers leased this single for their Aladdin label. A fine beginning for a new company, but a similar path taken by Bob Geddins. (Produce a great record, then lease it to another label with national marketing and distribution networks).

During the three years from 1957-1959, Barksdale issued 32 records on the RHYTHM, JODY, and VORTEX labels. Without a distribution network, his records were hand carried to a few local record stores, making RHYTHM RECORDS very hard to get even at the time of release.