Dutton Vocalion
About the company
Dutton Vocalion specialises in re-issuing on CD music recorded between the 1920s and 1970s, and in issuing albums of modern digital recordings. It was established by British recording and re-mastering engineer Michael J. Dutton.
Dutton Laboratories and Dutton Epoch
The company is divided into two distinct sections. The Dutton Laboratories label came first in 1993. It initially gained recognition for its highly acclaimed series of CDs featuring transfers of historic classical music performances that originally appeared on 78-rpm shellac discs. In 1999 the Dutton Epoch series was born, dedicated to championing the unrecorded music of twentieth century British classical composers such as Arnold Bax, York Bowen and Granville Bantock in modern digital recordings.
Vocalion
Vocalion came into being in 1997 and is where CDs featuring light music, big bands/dance bands, jazz, easy listening, vocalists and 1950s/'60s pop can be found. Vocalion first made its name with a celebrated and ongoing series of CDs featuring the recordings of famous 1930s and '40s British dance bands, including those led by Ambrose, Geraldo, Oscar Rabin and Maurice Winnick. Later Vocalion expanded into re-issuing music from the Vinyl LP's golden era of the 1950s to the late '70s. The '2 LPs on 1 CD' CDLK series was launched in 2000, alongside later Vocalion series such as CDLF and CDSML, feature recordings of a diverse array of artistes. These range from orchestra leaders such as Robert Farnon, Mantovani and Stanley Black to singers including Lita Roza and Anthony Newley; from '50s/'60s rock 'n' roll stars Lord Rockingham and Terry Dene right through to modern British jazz musicians and composers like Michael Garrick, John Surman and Alan Skidmore.
CDSA series
The CDSA series, home to Vocalion's critically acclaimed modern digital recordings, was started in 2000. The artistes are among the UK's brightest talents in the fields of orchestral light music and jazz. They include John Wilson and His Orchestra, singers Gary Williams and Lance Ellington, the big band of drummer Pete Cater, and the Best of British Jazz, which includes in its ranks the late trombonist Don Lusher OBE.