A term applied between 1921 and 1942 to phonograph recordings made in the USA especially for black listeners. It was coined by Ralph Peer of Okeh, the first company to have a ‘Race Series’; he adapted the generic term ‘the Race’, which was employed at that time in the black press. Okeh commenced its 8000 series in 1921; other race series followed from Paramount (1922), Columbia (1923), Vocalion (1926) and Victor (1927). Many smaller companies had race series, and by 1927 some 500 race records were being issued each year. Sales declined with the Depression and many concerns closed. But in 1933 Victor’s Bluebird subsidiary commenced issuing race records to compete with the issues of the American Record Corporation labels, and the English Decca company started its successful American Decca 7000 race series in 1934.
Although instrumental jazz recordings were, and are, often loosely categorized in the race series proper as race records, vocal recordings predominated. Between 1921 and 1925 these were mainly by professional ‘classic’ blues singers and spiritual and gospel quartets. Self-accompanied blues singers became popular in 1926, and recordings by preachers sold well, but were less popular after 1930. By that time performances by ‘classic’ blues singers and vocal duets were also losing their popularity. After World War II the term ‘race records’ was dropped and Rhythm-and-blues used in its stead, until the latter assumed a more specific stylistic meaning. To collectors, ‘race record’ is applied generally to 78 r.p.m. discs intended for the African-American market; with their increasing rarity many such records are highly prized.
R.C. Foreman: Jazz and Race Records, 1920–1932: their Origins and their Significance for the Record Industry and Society (diss., U. of Illinois, 1968)
R.M.W. Dixon and J. Godrich: Recording the Blues (London, 1970)
P. Oliver: Songsters and Saints: Vocal Traditions on Race Records (Cambridge, 1984)
PAUL OLIVER