QRS Records

QRS Records was a United States record label, which produced four different groups of records 1919-1930, including some notable jazz and blues recordings.

The QRS company began in 1900 as a manufacturer of piano rolls and were one of the leading makers throughout the 20th Century. The initials stand for "Quality & Real Service".

Gennett QRS

The earliest known QRS record not only drew from Emerson Records and were 9" records. A few years later, the label drew from the Gennett catalog and even used the Gennett catalog number and label color-scheme. One of these rare and short lived QRS records is identical to Gennett 5271.

Black label record series

They established their third QRS label in 1928 which was run by Art Satherley who had been an executive at Paramount Records. Their studio was located in Long Island City, New York using the New York Gennett recording studio (who pressed their records), Clarence Williams was involved with them as Musical Director during this period. There was a 7000 series for jazz and blues, as well as a 9000 series for country and rural folk. Among the artists who recorded for QRS were Ed Bell, Clarence Williams, Katherine Henderson,Clifford Gibson, South Street Ramblers, Earl Hines, James "Stump" Johnson, Sara Martin, Anna Bell and Edith North Johnson, as well as the preacher Missionary Josephine Miles.