Okeh: Breakthroughs and Changes in 1923

With a new year upon us, often we think of what will be entering in its centennial year. In 1923, the Okeh record company went through some significant changes and modernized its talent. In that year, the company embarked on its first field recordings, rearranged the management, and made some of the most significant records in its history. The year began with the old studio director and ended with another. While 1923 wasn’t the first year of electric recording, things were beginning to change much in the way that electric recording would. While today we know Okeh as one of the first labels to offer “race records” in its catalog, it didn’t start off this way. In 1918 when the company was founded, it was run entirely by old guard recording experts and musicians. The chief engineer, Charles Hibbard, had been previously involved with Edison back in the Gold Moulded era. The studio director was Fred Hager, who had been active in the phonograph world since 1898. Though there were many older members of the Okeh management, Hager was most often mentioned and mocked. When it began, Okeh looked much like any of the other vertical cut labels of the 1910s, recording many artists popular of the previous decade, such as Collins and Harlan and Billy Golden. While they hired Ralph Peer