The label was founded in 1954 by Irving Green (founder of Mercury) and Bob Shad, and the name comes by saying MRC (Mercury Record Company) out loud. Bob Shad was Head of A&R at Mercury from 1951.
It was designed to compete with Verve, and signed Dinah Washington, Errol Garner, Sarah Vaughan and Cannonball Adderley. Blues artists like Big Bill Broonzy counted as jazz. The name was put to rest in 1962, when Philips took over Mercury.
From 1958, Jack Tracey replaced Bob Shad, and introduced a more crossover sound with Dinah Washington and Sarah Vaughan.
Emarcy’s name pops up on all sorts of realia from the fifties, and it’s listed with Philips, Columbia, Decca, Brunswick, Pye-Nixa and so on in fairly short lists of record labels on retailer sleeves or gramophone adverts.
Emarcy was a Mercury sub-label, distributed first by Oriole until the end of 1955, then by Pye-Nixa.
Oriole
Images: Sarah Vaughan, Emarcy 10″ LP 1954 MG26005 Oriole distributed
Emarcy claimed that ‘Fine-Fairchild Margin Control’ gave their discs a sonic edge (Oriole era). It was developed by Bob Fine in 1950. Margin Control is a form of variable groove spacing. Musical passages with high levels of low frequency information are spaced wider apart while less highly modulated grooves are closer together. Fairchild made the tape recorders and record lathes.
Maynard Ferguson’s Hollywood Party (EP) Oriole distributed, recorded 1954. Probably 1955 EP6027
Night Letter took up both sides of Hollywood Party.
The Bean (EP): Coleman Hawkins, Oriole distributed EP6029
Pye
There’s a 78 rpm sleeve with Mercury-Emarcy inscribed on it, which dates from the era when Pye distributed Mercury before 1958. We haven’t found a 45 rpm example, but there probably is a matching one. Singles and EPs were produced, but like most jazz specialists of the era, EPs were favoured in the UK. As with Mercury, Pye only issued a small selection of possible American Emarcy LPs in the UK. Oriole had issued even fewer.
Under Pye distribution records achieve the four logo level (Mercury Emarcy Series, Emarcy, Pye 45 rpm, Made in England by Nixa Record Co. Ltd) which was not usually seen that early on. Pye intent on colour coding assigned Emarcy its own colour, orange. Mercury was turquoise.
Presenting The Gerry Mulligan Sextet Vol 1 (EP)
rear sleeve. “Pye Orange Label” as alternate name
Mainstream – Vol 1 (EP) Gerry Mulligan Sextet, note Mercury logo bottom left Pye-Nixa
Orange Centre label, notes Emarcy, Pye and Nixa
You could buy the LP, but they still needed EPs for the UK market. In The Land of Hi Fi was a semi-seriestitle. Dinah Washington (e.g.) also did an album with the title.
In The Land of Hi-Fi (EP): Julian “Cannonball” Adderley 19578
EMI
After Mercury moved to EMI distribution, the name survived as Mercury Emarcy Jazz. The Emarcy logo has gone, it’s just words under the Mercury logo. It’s demoted from a label to a series. Dinah Washington LPs were then plain Mercury in the UK.
Do You Remember? (EP) Big Bill Broonzy 1959 Mercury EmArcy Jazz EP EMI
Centre label. EMI 1959. No Emarcy logo survived switch to EMI
The name was revived in France in the late 80s, and in 1996 was developed from a European base into a Universal Music Group sub-label under the Decca Group, with artists such as Madeleine Peyroux (in Japan at least), Dee Dee Bridgewater and Sonny Rollins. These were Rounder / Emarcy and then Decca / Emarcy.
Mercury Limelight
Limelight was an American Jazz imprint with a small Emarcy logo, and was originally headed by Quincy Jones. It also issued rock, experimental and Indian music. The stellar jazz list included Art Blakey, Oscar Peterson, Dizzy Gillespie, Charles Mingus, Les McCann, Eric Dolphy, Roland Kirk, Cannoball Adderley, Pierre Henry, Paul Bley.
They issued EPs in Mercury’s “Compact 33” juke box 33 rpm series. As these have plain white card sleeves with a stuck on label / picture on one side only, the runs may have been short.
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