Fantasy Records
Fantasy Records is a United States-based record label that was founded by Max and Sol Weiss in 1949 in San Francisco, California. They had previously operated a record-pressing plant called Circle Record Company (unrelated to the Circle Records label) before forming the Fantasy label. The early years of the company were dedicated to issuing recordings by Dave Brubeck, Cal Tjader, Vince Guaraldi, and other jazz artists. The label was the first to record in-person performances by Lenny Bruce.
History
In 1949, Jack Sheedy, the owner of a San Francisco-based record label called Coronet, was talked into making the first recording of an octet and a trio featuring Dave Brubeck. (This Coronet Records should not be confused with either the Australia-based Coronet Records or the late 1950s New York-based budget label Coronet Records.) Sheedy's Coronet Records had previously recorded area Dixieland bands. But Sheedy was unable to pay his bills and in 1949 turned his masters over to his record stamping company, the Circle Record Company, owned by Max and Sol Weiss. The Weiss brothers soon changed the name of their business to Fantasy Records and met an increasing demand for Brubeck recording by recording and issuing new records. Soon the company was shipping 40,000 to 50,000 copies of Brubeck recordings a quarter, making large profits for the company.