Status Inactive Country of origin UK Date founded 1957 | Genre Folk, blues, jazz Founder Doug Dobell | |
Albums Chicago Blues Session, Pure Religion & Bad Company | ||
77 Records was a British record company and label set up in 1957 by Doug Dobell, the proprietor of Dobell's Jazz Record Shop at 77 Charing Cross Road, London. The label specialised in folk, blues and jazz recordings.
Several British jazz musicians, such as Acker Bilk, Bruce Turner, Tubby Hayes, Les Condon, Dick Morrissey, Brian Lemon and Buck Clayton, recorded on the label in the mid 1960s.
British rhythm and blues performers such as Alexis Korner also recorded for 77 Records, as did many American artists. 77 Records also distributed records for US labels, including recordings by Ramblin' Jack Elliott, Lightnin' Hopkins, Scrapper Blackwell, Reverend Gary Davis, Robert Pete Williams, Big Joe Williams, Sunnyland Slim, Joe Turner, Little Brother Montgomery, Yank Rachell, and Sleepy John Estes.
A 1963 album by Dick Fariña and Eric Von Schmidt, released on the offshoot Folklore label, featured "Blind Boy Grunt", alias Bob Dylan, on harmonica. The label also reissued recordings licensed from independent American record labels such as Arhoolie.
In 1960, Dobell started a short-lived spin-off label, Folklore, which released albums by Steve Benbow, Dominic Behan, Dick Fariña and Eric Von Schmidt, and Cyril Davies and Alexis Korner, amongst others.