Music Minus One
{{multiple issues|
{{one source|date = March 2012}}
{{primary sources|date = May 2009}}
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{{Infobox company
| name = Music Minus One
| logo =
| type =
| industry = Music production and recording
| fate =
| predecessor =
| successor =
| founded = {{Start date and age|1950}}
| founder = Irv Kratka
| defunct =
| hq_location_city = Westchester, New York
| hq_location_country = United States
| area_served =
| key_people =
| products =
| owner =
| num_employees =
| num_employees_year =
| parent = Hal Leonard
| website = {{URL|www.musicminusone.com}}
}}
Music Minus One (MMO) was an American educational music company founded in Westchester, New York. The company released play-along albums intended to accompany a melodic instrument (or vocalist) as an aid for practicing.
Background
Music Minus One was founded in 1950 by Irv Kratka, a 24-year-old college student. The company's first recording was based on Schubert's "Trout Quintet" opus, with one of the five ensemble instruments omitted in each of the versions. The release received a full-page review in 1953 in The New York Times.{{citation needed|date=April 2024}}
In the following years, the company released chamber music and jazz "rhythm recordings" utilizing New York. Stan Getz, Hank Jones, George Barnes, Max Roach, Julius Baker, Elaine Douvas, Armando Ghitalla, Stanley Drucker, Christian Reichert have played on MMO recordings. MMO produced approximately nine hundred albums,{{Cite book |last=Borgerson |first=Janet |title=Designed for success: better living and self-improvement with midcentury instructional records |last2=Schroeder |first2=Jonathan E. |date=2024 |publisher=The MIT Press |isbn=978-0-262-04883-5 |location=Cambridge, Massachusetts}} covering the genres of classical, chamber music, opera, lieder, popular, jazz and religious music.
Sale to Hal Leonard
In 2016, the CEO of the Hal Leonard Corporation, Keith Mardak, purchased Music Minus One.{{Cite web|url=http://www.bizjournals.com/milwaukee/news/2016/05/23/hal-leonard-buys-play-along-music-publisher-music.html|title=Hal Leonard Buys Play-Along Music Publisher Music Minus One|last=|first=|date=|website=www.bizjournals.com|publisher=|access-date=2017-01-29}}
References
{{Reflist}}
External links
- [https://web.archive.org/web/20091124093834/http://www.forsyths.co.uk/music-minus-one/ UK Distributors of Music Minus One]
- [https://www.namm.org/library/oral-history/irv-kratka NAMM Oral History Interview] Irv Kratka reflects on the development of Music Minus One and the musicians on the recordings, September 13, 2005
- [https://nyti.ms/35Njb7w New York Times] "Records: Play Along" Sept 13, 1953 review of MMO Trout Quintet recording.
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Category:American record labels
Category:Record labels established in 1950