Candid Records - History

History

Although there are classic dates led by Clark Terry and Coleman Hawkins with Pee Wee Russell, it is mainly recordings of the emergent avant-garde and recordings celebrating the Civil Rights movement that stand out amongst the original Candid catalog. Recordings by Cecil Taylor and Steve Lacy belong to the first group, and those by Charles Mingus and Max Roach belong to the second, but there is not a strict differentiation. In particular, Roach's Freedom Now suite is a classic political statement.

The label had a brief existence in its New York incarnation, however, and recording ceased during 1961. The catalog passed into the hands of the popular singer Andy Williams, who reissued some of the catalog on his Barnaby label. In 1988, the British record producer, Alan Bates, purchased the catalog outright, and reissued all of it, as well as previously unissued material.

Since the revival of the label, it's jazz releases have grown to over 300 titles as Bates launched a new recording program, which continues to the present time, including albums by David Liebman, Toots Thielemans, Bob Dorough and others. Stacey Kent, the American expatriate singer based in London, was among those who have recorded for the revitalised label—which led to furthering her recording career with Blue Note/EMI; as are Clare Teal, who has since moved to Sony with the biggest ever recording-deal by a British jazz singer; and singer-pianist Jamie Cullum – whose debut album (funded by a student loan) was taken on by the label – and eventually saw him land a million pound record deal with Verve Records. Candid's current artist roster includes Mina Agossi(fr), Kyle Eastwood, Cormac Kenevey, Geoff Gascoyne, Robin McKelle(fr), The Blessing, Paul Jayasinha, and latest signing, the singer/pianist Joe Stilgoe.

Bates' wife, Nieves Pascua-Bates, further expanded the operations of Candid Records in the Asia-Pacific by setting up a subsidiary in the Philippines. The most notable recording artists of the fledgling Asian jazz label, Candid Records Philippines, are the Filipino-British singer-songwriter, Mishka Adams, who had since been migrated to the mainstream Candid U.K. label; the guitarist-composer, Johnny Alegre with his jazz group, AFFINITY (whose album was launched in London's PizzaExpress Jazz Club in 2005); and Mon David, who won the London International Jazz (Singers') Competition in 2006.