Modern Music Records was set up in Los Angeles in 1945 by the Bihari brothers, whose parents Edward Bihari and Esther Taub were Jewish immigrants from Hungary. The name of the company and label was changed to Modern Records in 1947. A number of subsidiary labels were added in subsequent years.
Jules Bihari, the oldest of the four, probably came up with the initial idea of forming a record company, as he worked repairing and installing juke-boxes in the Black areas of Los Angeles and was aware of the poor response of the major record companies to the demand for music of Black origin in these areas. Although the four brothers were not musicians, they had a good sense of what would sell; they also were shrewd businessmen. Saul, Joe and Jules shared the duties of President or Vice-President across all the labels, while Lester was involved in Sales and Promotion for a while, before leaving to set up his own label, Meteor Records in 1952. In addition, Joe and Jules were active in A&R, working alongside experienced producers and talent scouts that they hired. Three of their four sisters also worked for the company.
The whole venture may have sunk without trace, but for a stroke of luck! In 1945, Jules Bihari heard Hadda Brooks playing piano in a local music instruments store. Brooks was a classically-trained pianist, a graduate of Northwestern University, Chicago, who had been working as a rehearsal pianist at Willie Covan’s dance studio, whose most famous clients were Gene Kelly and Fred Astaire. She was playing her own Boogie-Woogie compositions. Jules Bihari offered her a recording deal, which soon led to the release of Modern’s first issue, “Just A Little Blusie” / “Swinging the Boogie”. Eleven more singles followed, the last two being released in 1950, after Brooks had left Modern, due to a dispute over royalties. They sold well, which gave Modern a solid start and also launched Brooks into a film and TV career.
Hadda Brooks, the “Queen of the Boogie-Woogie”
Photo: Screenshot from the trailer for the Columbia Pictures film “In A Lonely Place”, 1950, capture by Feydey Wikimedia Commons)
When the success of Hadda Brooks’ early releases put Modern Music on the map, the Bihari brothers were able to attract further artists in 1945, including Pearl Traylor, Jesse Perry, and Johnny Moore’s Three Blazers.
The brothers wanted to cater for the Black communities in Los Angeles and it is not surprising, therefore, to see them adding Jazz, Blues, and Gospel to their output, following the path established by the Race Records series in the twenties.
Their experiences in the jukebox trade served them well, as they also came up with a novel way of marketing their discs more widely. Jukebox operators around the country were sent discs to be placed in their machines but, in addition, they were asked to put the discs on sale in their establishments and in other stores around them. The brothers set up an independent network of jukebox operators, with clearly demarcated territories for them. As time went on, Modern opened its own pressing plant and a print shop to create the labels for the discs.
When the brothers discovered at the start of the fifties that some record companies had unissued recordings, they decided to purchase the masters. It was a quick way to increase their stock and it was cheaper than finding new artists and recording them at independent recording studios. Typical of the deals they did was the acquisition of thirty-two unissued recordings of Lightnin’ Hopkins and Lil’ Son Jackson from Gold Star Records in 1951.
The third innovation was to record new versions of hits from other labels, sung by lesser-known artists, which could then often be released at budget prices, under-cutting the originals.
The company’s first album releases came in 1950, a 10-inch series of compilations featuring a mixture of Boogie-Woogie, Blues, Jazz and popular ballads performed by Modern Music artists. The album covers were all given the same title, “A Collection of Popular Recordings”, with a volume number. Keeping up with the times, the brothers started a new album series in 1956, on 12-inch discs, featuring Jazz, Blues and a little Rock & Roll.
In 1958, the decision was taken to move singles to the new Kent imprint and to make the subsidiary Crown Records the main label for albums. From 1958 onwards, Modern releases became largely budget re-issues, with a brief resurrection in the mid-sixties, before the label was closed down in 1966.
Modern played its part in popularising music of Black origin, with a strong emphasis on Boogie-Woogie, Jazz, Blues and Gospel in its output. There are also clear examples of the emerging style that became Rhythm and Blues, taking elements from all four of these genres. In 1953, Oscar McLollie & his Honey Jumpers released “The Honey Jump”, in 1954 Marvin & Johnny added the Doo-Wop “Cherry Pie” with the Rock & Roll “Tick Tock” on the B-side. In 1955 Linda Peters (Thelma “Dolly” Cooper) recorded a Jazzy, Bluesy song “If I Had Listened”, written by Josea, that points the way to Memphis Soul. It was not released, but it is a clear indication of the feeling that Jazz vocalists were beginning to put into their performances.
Josea, the writer of Peters’ song, was the pseudonym of Joe Bihari. Three of the Bihari brothers were given writing credits on various songs recorded by Modern. Jules was credited as Taub, his mother’s maiden name, while Saul adopted the name Ling and Joe was registered as Josea. It is unlikely that they had anything to do with the compositions that bear their pseudonyms. Unfortunately, it was common practice for record companies executives to add their names alongside those of real authors or even to replace them completely.
Despite this, by 1955, Modern had attracted some big names. John Lee Hooker had arrived in 1948, Bobby Bland came in 1952, Etta James came in 1955, Shirley Gunter and Elmore James both added considerable firepower in 1956, and Jesse Belvin joined from Specialty during the same year. Belvin’s songs are Pop songs with an up-tempo beat, typical of the emerging R&B genre. Modern’s biggest R&B hits came in the mid-fifties with saxophonist Joe Houston’s instrumental “Blow, Joe, Blow” and Jesse Belvin’s ballad “Goodnight, My Love”.
The brothers also attracted some experienced back-room staff and talent scouts. In the early years of the company, Austin McCoy directed many of the recording sessions and played as a session musician too, before leaving to join Mercury in 1950. Ike Turner was employed to search for new Blues talent, bringing Bobby Bland, Rosco Gordon, Howlin’ Wolf and B. B. King to the Bihari brothers’ labels. Later in the fifties, Tony Hilder was an A&R man at the company. Probably the most significant decisions the brothers took in this regard were the hiring of producer and saxophonist Maxwell Davis and of Lester Sill.
A number of subsidiary labels were created by the Bihari brothers, with some complicated switches between them and Modern. The main ones are listed below.
RPM Records
Modern’s first subsidiary label was RPM, established in 1950. It released mainly Blues recordings, but also included some Pop artists on its roster.
There was a strong Memphis input into the early fifties releases on RPM thanks to Ike Turner’s scouting activities in the city. B. B. King, Bobby Bland, and John Alexander were all signed to RPM but recordings were often set up in Memphis by Ike Turner. He gathered a group of local musicians to play on the sessions, including Adolph “Billy” Duncan (saxophone), Earl Forest (drums), Willie Nix (vocals, guitar, drums), Junior Parker (vocals, harmonica) and Rosco Gordon (vocals, piano). King, Bland and Alexander all contributed to each other’s sessions too. The group picked up an appropriate name, the Beale Streeters, named after Beale Street, the centre of Memphis’ musical scene.
In 1953, Lester Bihari left Modern to set up his own label, Meteor Records, in the city of Memphis.
In 1957, the remaining Bihari brothers took the decision to stop releasing albums on the RPM and Modern labels, switching all new albums to Crown Records.
Flair Records
Flair Records was set up in 1953, releasing around eighty singles over the following two years. Its main artists were Blues singer Elmore James, Richard Berry, and Shirley Gunther.
Crown Records
Crown Records followed, in December 1953, as Modern’s budget label. The quality of the recordings and the packaging for them was often poor. Many of the Crown releases were re-issues of earlier recordings. The last Crown issue was in 1972.
Kent Records
Kent Records was set up in 1958 and issued mainly Blues singles up to 1972. The first Kent album was released in 1964. The main artists on the label were B. B. King, Lowell Fulson, Ike & Tina Turner, and Z. Z. Hill. Kent was established to replace the Modern label, which went out of use in 1957. When the Modern labels’ catalogues were sold to Ace Records UK in the 1990s, the London-based company resurrected the Kent name for its Soul re-releases.
Riviera Records
Riviera Records issued a large number of compilation albums during 1959 and 1960, covering a wide range of genres. The Bihari brothers seem to have taken the view that anything that might be popular was worth putting out.
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After the deaths of Saul, Lester and Jules Bihari, all the Modern labels back catalogues were licenced to Ace Records in the UK, who later purchased all the masters. In 2001, Ace issued a compilation of the label’s best recordings, entitled “The Modern Records Story: the Very Best of the Modern Labels”.
