The story of King Records is going out around the country.
The record company that launched James Brown’s career and has a legitimate claim of producing the first rock ‘n’ roll records is the subject of a new documentary by Clifton filmmaker Yemi Oyediran.
“King of Them All: The Story of King Records” makes its national debut on PBS at 9 p.m. Oct. 10.
(Full disclosure: I was interviewed about Cincinnati history for the documentary, but the footage didn’t make the final cut.)
King Records, operating in an old ice factory at 1540 Brewster Ave. in Evanston, was an influential independent record label in the 1940s through ’60s.
King founder Syd Nathan, a Jewish shop owner selling used jukebox records, decided to start his own record company in 1943.
King started out recording country and western performers, such as Cowboy Copas and the Delmore Brothers, for what was then called “hillbilly music.” He expanded to Black musicians doing “race” records, basically R&B, including Otis Williams, Hank Ballard and Little Willie John.
Nathan hired the first Black record producer, Henry Glover, who worked with both Black and White musicians recording the same songs. That synthesis was the foundation for a new sound – rock ‘n’ roll.
PBS open to different stories about race
Oyediran and producer JP Leong, partners in the production company Afrochine, started working on the King Records film in 2016, when the country was having conversations about diversity.
They then answered an open call from PBS for documentaries from diverse perspectives, and “King of Them All” was accepted.
Oyediran spent his early years in Nigeria before moving to the U.S. in the late 1980s. He first heard the name Cincinnati in a news report about the Klan placing a cross on Fountain Square.
“Outside of Cincinnati, most of our references to Cincinnati were around race,” Oyediran said. “So, we wanted to find a story that went differently.”
They settled on King Records, a story of race, music, diversity, creativity – and Cincinnati.
Finding the Cincinnati sound
“I was really interested in trying to find the Cincinnati sound,” Oyediran told The Enquirer. “I’ve always been into the fact that you have so many cities in America that are really synonymous with particular sounds …
“The Cincinnati sound that I landed on ended up being the James Brown sound, the funk sound, which is trombone, saxophone and trumpet, as the horn section.”
Where did that Cincinnati sound come from?
“A lot of it, I think, goes back to the West End of Cincinnati,” Oyediran said. “From the 1880s on, you started having a serious population of Black talent in the West End. And that talent really started to get kind of a reputation … I’d really say a lot of the Cincinnati sound started there.
“And then when you start mixing in Appalachians that moved to the area after World War I decimated those populations, you end up now having this mixed sound that starts to develop.
“It’s reflective of what was happening in southern communities, but now you have a community that it’s not illegal for a Black and a White person to be in a room together. So now things can really start happening in more creative and interesting ways.”
The first rock ‘n’ roll records came from King
In the documentary, historians make a strong case for “Good Rockin’ Tonight” by Wynonie Harris, recorded at King in 1948, as the first rock ‘n’ roll record. The backbeat, the rhythm, the use of “rock” in the lyrics.
Does the claim of King’s place in rock music history hold any water outside of Cincinnati?
“With music nerds, yes. With the general American public, no,” Oyediran said. “Because the first time that most of the American public really heard about rock ‘n’ roll was in the mid-’50s with Sun (Records). They marketed towards teenagers. … In the ’40s, King didn’t. And that’s why they missed the boat on that.”
Cincinnati was considered for the location of the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. But no one in the city took up the cause, Oyediran said.
“Nobody was interested. Largely because I think nobody was aware of Cincinnati’s place in American musical history. Cincinnati really dropped the ball by not championing it, and that’s why people outside of Cincinnati aren’t really familiar (with it). And the people who were familiar are passing away.”
With King Records getting national attention, audiences can now hear for themselves.
‘ The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties ’
‘ Some details of this article were extracted from the following source www.cincinnati.com ’
