Crescent Records was an American independent record label that produced jazz recordings from 1944 to 1946. It was founded by Nesuhi Ertegun to record a band that was assembled to perform on CBS Radio's 1944 variety series The Orson Welles Almanac. Only one group, Kid Ory's Creole Jazz Band, was released on the Crescent label, which was distributed by Hollywood's Jazz Man Record Shop. Although only eight discs were released, Crescent Records was involved in the international revival of traditional jazz in the 1940s.
The All Star Jazz Group, early 1944 (left to right): Ed Garland (bass), Buster Wilson (piano), Marili Morden (proprietor, Jazz Man Records), Jimmie Noone (clarinet), Mutt Carey (trumpet), Zutty Singleton (drums), Kid Ory (trombone), Bud Scott (guitar)
Crescent Records Number 1 by Kid Ory's Creole Jazz Band, recorded on August 3, 1944
Crescent Records Number 2 featured Blues for Jimmie (misspelled "Jimmy" on the label), recorded August 3, 1944
Nesuhi Ertegun was a Turkish-American record producer and executive of Atlantic Records and WEA International.
Nesuhi Ertegun
Nesuhi Ertegun (right) and his brother Ahmet Ertegun in the record room at the Turkish Embassy in Washington, D.C. (around 1940)
Ertegun's first credit on a record appeared in December 1942 on Jazz Man Records, a label he later purchased
Ertegun founded his first label, Crescent Records, with the express purpose of recording Kid Ory's Creole Jazz Band (August 1944)
