The Minit Label was formed in 1959 in New Orleans, Louisiana, by Joe Banashak and Larry McKinley. Joe Banashak ran A-1 Record Distributors in New Orleans when he formed the label. The man responsible for most of the hits on Minit was Allen Toussaint, who wrote, played piano, arranged, and produced the music. The first artist recorded for the label was Matthew Jacobs, also known as "Boogie Jake," who had three of the first six singles for the label. Ernest Kador (Ernie K. Doe), Aaron Neville, Irma Thomas, and Benny Spellman were also early artists for the label. The first hit for Minit was Allen Toussaint's production of Jessie Hill's "Ooh Poo Pah Doo, Part 2" which reached No. 28 in the summer of 1960. In 1961, Minit reached a distribution deal with Lew Chudd of Imperial Records. Shortly after the deal was formed, Minit had a No. 1 national hit with "Mother-In-Law" by Ernie K-Doe. At the end of 1961, the Showmen made a fine tribute to rock and roll with "It Will Stand," which only reached No. 61 on the national charts, but has been a standard of sorts ever since. The 1960-63 Minit label has long been known for the early work of some of the most talented and enduring performers on the New Orleans scene. When Allen Toussaint went into the Army in 1963, the hits stopped coming and the Minit Record Label was sold to Imperial.

The first Minit label was orange with black printing. "MINIT RECORDS" above the center hole, with the notation, "c/o Imperial Records Hollywood Calif.". This label was used on the records LP-0001 to LP-0004, when Imperial was only the distributor for Minit. When Liberty acquired the Imperial label, the numbering system changed, as well as the label design. The label became black with silver printing, with the MINIT logo in white and parallel to the center hole on the left side of the label. Below the MINIT logo was "A PRODUCT OF LIBERTY RECORDS". This label was used through 1968 and at least LP-24023. The third label was black with silver printing, the logo on the left side was "MINIT" in white but the "A PRODUCT OF LIBERTY RECORDS" was dropped and at the bottom of the record is "LIBERTY/UA. INC. LOS ANGELES CALIFORNIA". This label was used until the label was discontinued.

We would appreciate any additions or corrections to this discography. Just send them to us via e-mail. Both Sides Now Publications is an information web page. We are not a catalog, nor can we provide the records listed below. We have no association with Minit Records, which is currently owned by EMI/Capitol Records Group. Should you want to contact EMI/Capitol, or should you be interested in acquiring albums listed in this discography (which are all out of print), we suggest you see our Frequently Asked Questions page and Follow the instructions found there. This story and discography are copyright 1997, 1998, 1999 by Mike Callahan.