Leonard Allen, a former police officer and tailor, founded the first successful black-owned record company in 1951. Based in Chicago, United Records, and its subsidiary States Records, recorded blues, jazz, Doo Wop, gospel, and R&B. Memphis Slim added guitarist Matt Murphy and experienced his most fertile period at United. Della Reese recorded her first tracks on the label in 1953 with members of the Duke Ellington Orchestra. And the jazz tenor Jimmy Forrest scored a national hit for United with "Night Train."

By the end of the 1950s, United failed to generate enough hits to pay the bills. Allen shut down the label and returned to this tailor shop. Delmark Records purchased the United/States masters in the 1975 and has recently begun to reissue the catalog on CD.

A compilation release from the United catalog, The United Records Story (Delmark 775), makes clear that the lack of hits was not due to the quality of the music. On the compilation, Memphis Slim rambles through his signature blues, "Memphis Slim U.S.A.," and vows to the woman that rejected him, "I'll make the highway my home and my Cadillac will be my bed." In "Cut that Out," Junior Wells plays his harmonica with such a sharp edge that somebody might get hurt. The Louisiana born Morris Pejoe starts a party with "Let's Get High," a jump blues number with zydeco influences. The most unforgettable contribution comes from the little known Alfred Harris, whose near epic "My Life Blues" boils down a life of failure into three minutes of 12 bar blues.

Tab Smith, a swinging alto player who bypassed bop in favor of R&B, recorded prolifically for United and had a major hit with "Because of You." The compilation includes his "Crazy Walk," an easy flowing melodic number that makes you wish changing styles in jazz hadn't forced him into early retirement. The baritone Leo Parker recorded with everyone from Coleman Hawkins to Dexter Gordon, before succumbing to drugs at the age of 36. After hearing his muscular "Cool Leo," you'll understand why so many big guns wanted Parker as a sideman. Jimmy Forrest offers up a version of "Sophisticated Lady" that as elegant as you could ask for.

The twenty-two tracks on The United Records Story will whet your appetite to explore some of the nearly thirty CDs from the United/States catalog that Delmark has reissued. The most recent releases are Tab Smith's Crazy Walk (Delmark 555), a collection of rare and unreleased tracks, Yes Indeed!: Women Vocalists on United (Delmark 554), which includes Della Reese's earliest recordings, and a Doo Wop collection, The Five C's and Other Great Group (Delmark 776).

Also posted at A Frolic of My Own.