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70
70
DELMARK RECORDS
1953 - 2023
SEVENTY YEARS OF JAZZ & BLUES
GIVING THE FINEST TO THE MUSIC WORLD
Founder Bob Koester
(1932 - 2021)
SOLO BLUES
1st blues album released by Delmar Records
Big Joe Williams - "Pine Woods Blues" 1961
DE-602
A great Jazz aficionado, Bob Koester, born in Wichita (KS), began selling records by mail in St. Louis (MO) where he was studying business and cinematography (he wanted to become a film cameraman) at the city university. He was actively involved in the founding of the St. Louis Jazz Club, where he met Ron Fister and both opened a record store they called K & F Sales in a building that once housed a restaurant, later renaming it Blue Note Records Shop. Fister left the business and Koester founded Delmar Records in 1953 (since it was located on Delmar Boulevard in St. Louis). The first album the company recorded in 1953 was by the band called Windy City Six. Bob Koester was 21
2nd blues album released by Delmar Records
Specled Red - "The Dirty Dozens" 1962
DL-601
WHO HAS BEEN THERE?
All the way
FROM CHICAGO, IL
...Chess along with Delmark Records are the most decisive record companies in the history of modern blues. Founded by Bob Koester in 1953, Delmak Recordsit has just completed seventy uninterrupted years producing jazz and blues artists without a doubt all of them undisputed figures of roots music who starred in those seven decades. Delmark Records has always been at the forefront, leading the offensive to illuminate old legends and new generations at the same time, generating the most solid, diverse and genuine catalog in the phonographic blues history. From the first reference by Big Joe Williams to the recent album by Mike Wheeler and The Delmark All Stars, the record company's journey has revealed its willingness to emphasize the dignity of musicians and the immortality of their works. Without Delmark Records nothing would have been the same.
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