Aristocrat Records, sometimes referred to The Aristocrat of Records, was founded in April 1947 by Charles and Evelyn Aron, together with their partners Fred and Mildred Brount and Art Spiegel. By September Leonard Chess had invested in the young record company. Over time, Leonard bought the others out, and by 1948, only he and Evelyn Aron ran the firm. By early 1950 Leonard and his brother Phil had become the sole owners, and in June of that year, they changed the company's name from Aristocrat to Chess Records. The Aristocrat brand was officially discontinued in January 1951.
In three years, Aristocrat released 183 songs, and recorded 18 more that were released under the new Chess label.
In August or September 1947 Muddy Waters made his first recordings for Aristocrat, which produced the single "Gypsy Woman" b/w "Little Anna Mae." Backing Waters were bassist Big Crawford and pianist Sunnyland Slim. After a second session in December 1947, Aristocrat released "I Can't Be Satified" b/w "Feel Like Goin' Home," which became a minor hit.
Famous quotes containing the words aristocrat and/or records:
“Eccentricity is not, as dull people would have us believe, a form of madness. It is often a kind of innocent pride, and the man of genius and the aristocrat are frequently regarded as eccentrics because genius and aristocrat are entirely unafraid of and uninfluenced by the opinions and vagaries of the crowd.”
—Dame Edith Sitwell (1887–1964)
“In America, the photographer is not simply the person who records the past, but the one who invents it.”
—Susan Sontag (b. 1933)