The independent labels were, like the early black-music disc jockeys, a crucial component of r&b’s development. In both cases, sometimes the key figures were white, sometimes black, but always colorful, often to the point of being legendary. Most of these labels were run by large families. A look at a few of them appears below:
Modern/Kent/ RPM/Crown – This group of labels was started in 1945 by the enterprising Bihari family, which moved to California from Oklahoma. Various family members ran everything from a jukebox business to a Japanese restaurant. Once they started Modern and its subsidiaries, Jules, Lester, Florette, Roz, Maxine, Saul and Joe, some of whom were still in school, assumed the various roles needed to get the enterprise off the ground. They had quick success with a singer pianist named Hadda Brooks, as well as John Lee Hooker and Smokey Hogg. The Biharis hired a teenager from Clarksdale, Mississippi named Ike Turner to scout for them, which resulted in chart successes by B.B. King, Howlin’ Wolf and Jackie Brenston (with material recorded at Sun studio in Memphis). King stayed with the label until the early sixties. Johnny Otis brought Etta James to Kent in 1953.
Aladdin – Eddie and Leo Mesner founded this label in 1945 as well. The evolution of its product over the years is a microcosm of r&b’s development. Nat “King” Cole, Jay McShann and Lester Young were among its first artists. By the end of the forties, Aladdin was having most of its chart success with Amos Milburn, a Texas piano pounder and specialist in drinking songs. In the early fifties, Johnny Otis bought the Mesners a string of Los Angeles doo-wop groups. The label had a hand in the development of New Orleans r&b by signing Shirley & Lee.
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