Hot Jazz Club Of America

Bootleg label from the later 40's, beginning 50's, founded by Sam Meltzer. The label illegally dubbed Columbia, Okeh, Vocalion and RCA source material and sold it through mail order.

Around 1946-1947 a small ad appeared in the record collector's magazine The Record Changer announcing a 78rpm reissue of the legendary King Oliver Creole Jazz Band sides from 1923. These were dubbed shellac white label pressings produced anonymously by Brooklyn record store owner Sam Meltzer and although we didn't know it then, was the beginning of the jazz bootleg reissue avalanche of the 1947-52 era. This first pressing was immediately sold out and quickly reissued with the familiar blue 'Hot Jazz Club Of America' label and began a series of more than 100 discs.

Later issues had a yellow label and were pressed on a plastic compound with improved dubbing techniques. The RAV matrix prefix stands for Irving Ravinsky.

Recordings were also issued on a French label HJCA, run apparently by SOFRADI (Société Française du Disque).

Source: Discogs