Lester Koenig

A good friend of jazz, Lester Koenig was the founder and mind of Modern Records. The business he were only available in 1951 was, alongside Pacific Jazz, among the best L.A.-centered jazz labels energetic during the awesome era. A lot of Contemporary’s produces became classics, including several units by Shorty Rogers, Shelly Manne, Artwork Pepper, Hampton Hawes, Chet Baker, the Lighthouse All-Stars, Benny Carter, Helen Humes, Phineas Newborn, and Sonny Rollins. Koenig held an open brain towards newer advancements, and in the past due ’50s released recordings by Cecil Taylor and Ornette Coleman (the latter’s 1st two times). Furthermore, his like for Dixieland led to the Good Period Jazz subsidiary, a label perhaps most obviously for the recordings from the Firehouse Five Plus Two, Child Ory, Lu Watters’ Yerba Buena Jazz Music group (earlier sessions that have been obtained), Bob Scobey, and Turk Murphy, amongst others. Although both brands became less mixed up in ’60s, Koenig helped keep carefully the names of Artwork Pepper and Hampton Hawes alive throughout their jail sentences by steadily releasing “fresh” recordings stockpiled from your ’50s. Within the ’70s, Koenig revived Modern, helped Artwork Pepper out during his return, and documented some newer classics before his loss of life. The Modern and Good Period Jazz brands live on because of the considerable reissue guidelines of Dream, which eventually obtained the firms, keeping Lester Koenig’s legacy quite relevant.