Black Patti Records

Black Patti Records was a short-lived American record label established in Chicago, Illinois, in 1927 by Mayo Williams, a producer and executive associated with Paramount Records. Williams had built his reputation through Paramount’s race-record business, which marketed recordings by Black musicians primarily to Black audiences. He left Paramount to establish his own label, but Black Patti began with limited physical resources: Williams had office space in Chicago but did not have his own recording or pressing equipment. The label therefore relied on Gennett Records of Richmond, Indiana, for record pressing. The label’s name referred to Matilda Sissieretta Joyner Jones, the prominent Black American opera singer who was known as “Black Patti.” The nickname alluded to the Italian opera star Adelina Patti and reflected a period practice of using comparisons with European classical celebrities to frame the achievements of Black performers. Black Patti Records used a peacock emblem that later acquired a separate afterlife in the collector and reissue-record market. During its brief existence, the label issued 55 records. Its catalogue was broader than a single genre: it included jazz, blues, sermons, spirituals, and vaudeville skits. Most, though not all, of the performers were Black entertainers. Willie Hightower is among the musicians identified with recordings for the label. This mixture of secular music, religious material, spoken-word performance, and comedy illustrates the varied programming found in the late-1920s race-record market, where labels served specialized audiences while experimenting with different forms of commercial entertainment. Black Patti Records lasted approximately seven months and was closed by Williams before the end of 1927. Its short operating period limited its commercial and institutional impact compared with longer-lived labels, but the surviving catalogue has historical value as evidence of Black-oriented recording activity in the United States during the 1920s. The label is also remembered for its visual identity: in the 1960s, record collector and reissue producer Nick Perls reused the Black Patti peacock logo for his Belzona and Yazoo labels. That later reuse connected the defunct label’s imagery with the revival and reissue culture surrounding early jazz and blues recordings, without making Black Patti Records itself an active part of those later companies.

Black Patti Records emerged in Chicago in 1927 during the expansion of the American race-record industry. Its founder, Mayo Williams, had previously worked at Paramount Records, where he was successful in producing and promoting recordings by Black musicians for Black consumers. His experience at Paramount provided a basis for creating an independent operation, but the new label did not begin with a complete manufacturing infrastructure. Williams possessed a Chicago office but lacked recording and pressing equipment, so the label’s records were pressed by Gennett Records in Richmond, Indiana. The label was named after Matilda Sissieretta Joyner Jones, the Black American opera singer popularly called “Black Patti.” The nickname compared Jones with Adelina Patti, an Italian opera singer, and the label’s name drew on the public recognition associated with Jones’s stage identity. Black Patti’s peacock logo became an important part of the label’s visual identity, although the image later circulated beyond the original company when Nick Perls reused it in the 1960s for his Belzona and Yazoo reissue labels. Black Patti’s catalogue reflected the range of material that could be marketed through the race-record trade. It included jazz and blues as well as sermons, spirituals, and vaudeville skits. Although the catalogue featured many Black entertainers, the available historical account notes that not every recording was by a Black performer. Willie Hightower is one of the musicians associated with the label. The combination of musical, religious, spoken, and comic recordings suggests an attempt to address multiple segments of its intended audience rather than build the label around one narrowly defined genre. The enterprise was extremely brief. Black Patti Records produced 55 records and operated for about seven months. Williams closed the label before the end of 1927. No later corporate continuation is identified in the reference material. Despite its limited lifespan, the label remains relevant to the history of African American recording, independent record production, and the commercial circulation of jazz, blues, religious speech, and variety entertainment in the United States during the late 1920s. Its subsequent recognition was aided in part by the preservation and reuse of its peacock design in later specialist reissue-label activity.

1. 1960Peacock logo reused by later reissue labels

   In the 1960s, Nick Perls used the Black Patti peacock logo for his Belzona and Yazoo labels.

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2. 1927Black Patti Records founded in Chicago

   Mayo Williams established Black Patti Records after his work producing race records at Paramount Records.

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3. 1927Manufacturing arranged through Gennett Records

   Because the new label did not have its own recording and pressing equipment, its records were pressed by Gennett Records in Richmond, Indiana.

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4. 1927Label closed after approximately seven months

   Black Patti issued 55 records and was closed by Williams before the end of 1927.

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A Chicago-based 1920s independent label serving the race-record market through a mixed catalogue of Black music, religious recordings, spoken performances, and vaudeville material.

• Jazz recordingsRecorded music1927

  Jazz was one of the principal musical categories represented in Black Patti Records’ short catalogue. These releases formed part of the label’s participation in the 1920s race-record market and helped document the period’s Black-oriented commercial recording activity.

• Blues recordingsRecorded music1927

  The label issued blues material alongside its jazz, religious, and variety releases. The blues records belonged to a broader catalogue aimed at circulating performances by Black entertainers through the United States record market.

• Sermons and spiritualsReligious recordings1927

  Black Patti’s catalogue included sermons and spirituals, extending beyond secular popular music. These recordings demonstrate the label’s use of religious programming as part of its commercial offering to audiences served by the race-record trade.

• Vaudeville skitsSpoken and comedy recordings1927

  Vaudeville skits represented the label’s variety-entertainment output. Their inclusion placed comic and performance-oriented material alongside music and sermons in a compact catalogue of 55 records.

1. Black Patti Records