FM Album Discography
FM
was a folk/jazz label founded in 1963 by two personal managers/producers, Monte Kay and Pete
Kameron. Kay was the manager of Chris Connor and Herbie Mann, among others, and erstwhile
husband of Diahann Carroll. Pete Kameron was the manager of the Weavers and an advisor of sorts to
the Tarriers. Kay and Kameron formed a partnership called "Village Planners, Inc.," and from this
partnership they started FM Records. Kameron and Kay ended up being listed as producers on many of
the FM albums, along with Alan Douglas (who also was responsible for the op-art record jackets). The
output of FM was a mixture of jazz and folk releases. The label was distributed by Vee-Jay initially, and
later by Roulette.
Kay and Kameron lost no time in signing up people they knew. Jazz songstress Chris Connor, who had had several successful albums for Atlantic, was talked into leaving Atlantic for the fledgling FM label, where she recorded two albums — and possibly a third (unreleased but bootlegged) album — before the label folded in 1964. By most people's opinions, her jumping to FM turned out to be a bad career move, as it sidelined her career for a few years. Kay also released a various artists album featuring a song by Herbie Mann. Other jazz artists included arranger Bill Russo, Eric Dolphy, and spoken-word artist Ken Nordine.
On the folk side, Kameron signed Jo Mapes, Fred Neil, Len Chandler and ex-Tarrier Bob Carey. There
was also a new folk group called the Big 3, a trio comprised of future Mamas & Papas star Cass Elliot
along with folk singer James Hendricks and future solo star Tim Rose. In Rose's debut solo album for
Columbia a few years later, he remade several songs he had done with the Big 3, and recorded a slow
arrangement of "Hey Joe" that Jimi Hendrix copied almost note for note a few months later from the
edited-down 45 version. In addition, Kameron signed husband-and-wife team Jake and Kate Holmes,
recording under the pseudonym "Allen and Grier," who did parodies of folk and other songs. Jake
Holmes later had a minor hit in 1970 with "So Close" [Polydor 14041, #49], but is perhaps more
influential as the alleged source of Led Zeppelin's "Dazed and Confused."
By the time album #307 came out in late 1963, the label was already showing early signs of a money
crunch. The label used for the albums had a complex graphic design, but when the Big 3 started
selling more than expected, they ran out of label blanks and were forced to go to a less expensive label,
in black and grey with no graphics at all. By the time #311 was issued in 1964, they were in trouble.
Although plans had been made for the albums numbered 312 to 319, many were not issued, and the
ones that were are scarce today. Jo Mapes was quoted as saying that while the copies of her album
(#317) were on the docks ready to ship, the company went bankrupt. The albums that had been pressed
were sold to cutout wholesalers. Most of the copies existing today of albums #311 to #319 were
salvaged from the bargain bins of the 1960s and have cutout holes in the covers (or "NR" stamped on
the back meaning they were not returnable) and stickers on the front reading "39 cents" and such.
Vee-Jay, their first distributor, released some of the masters on their own label, such as the Big 3 on Tollie 9006 ["Winkin' Blinkin' and Nod"/"The Banjo Song"], and the Eric Dolphy album, which they reissued several times on Vee-Jay and Epitaph [see related discographies]. Ultimately, other than the Eric Dolphy album, most of the other masters seemed to end up with Roulette. In 1968, some of the FM masters were reissued by Roulette, such as the Big 3 albums and some of the jazz issues, and later they were reissued on CD via the companies who issued Roulette Jazz recordings and licensed material from the Roulette catalog.
FM-300/FM-300S - Chris
Connor at the Village Gate [aka Early Show/Late Show] - Chris Connor [1963]
Reissued in Japan with alternate cover art as shown at right. Lot Of Livin To Do/Anyplace I Hang My Hat
Is Home/All Or Nothing At All/Something's Coming/You Came A Long Way From St Louis/Old Evil
Moon/I Concentrate On You/Black Coffee/Goodbye/Only The Lonely/Ten Cents A Dance
FM/SFM-313 - The
Spanish Side of Jazz, Volume 1 - Various Artists
[1964] Reissued in 1968 as Roulette SR-42001 with new cover art as shown at right. Crisis - Willie
Bobo/Naked City Theme - Willie Bobo/Tin Tin Deo - Machito/Bossa Nova in Blue - Willie Bobo/Kenya -
Machito//Congo Mulence - Machito/Long Long Summer - Candido/Bon Sueno - Willie Bobo/Dark Eyes -
Candido/Holiday - Machito
