Muse Records
From The Art and Popular Culture Encyclopedia
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Muse Records was an American record label which released jazz and blues music.
Muse was founded in the early 1970s by Joe Fields, who had previously worked as an executive for Prestige Records in the 1960s. Muse also had a sister label, Onyx Records, which operated until 1978, when Fields and collaborator Don Schlitten ended their professional relationship.
From 1972 until its sale in 1996 to 32 Jazz (a label owned by producer Joel Dorn and musician/lawyer Robert Miller), Muse issued modern jazz recordings. Artists like Tiny Grimes, Houston Person, Willis Jackson, Hank Jones and players working in a slightly later idioms like Lester Bowie and Joe Chambers recorded for the label. Blues musicians like Muddy Waters also featured in the catalogue.
Fields sold the Muse imprint in the 1995 and founded HighNote Records and Savant Records; many Muse artists later recorded for these labels as well. Some Muse sessions were re-released by the short-lived 32 Jazz label, sometimes in a repackaged form.