The Babel Label is a record label

Record label

In the music industry, a record label is a brand and a trademark associated with the marketing of music recordings and music videos. Most commonly, a record label is the company that manages such brands and trademarks, coordinates the production, manufacture, distribution, marketing and promotion,...

 was founded in 1994 by Oliver Weindling

Oliver Weindling

Oliver Weindling is a British jazz promoter and founder of the Babel jazz record label. He came from a family which encouraged his interest in music, being taken to the opera and concerts regularly. Originally an economist by training with degrees from Balliol College, Oxford and London School of...

. It primarily records and releases jazz

Jazz

Jazz is a musical style that originated at the beginning of the 20th century in African American communities in the Southern United States. It was born out of a mix of African and European music traditions. From its early development until the present, jazz has incorporated music from 19th and 20th...

 album

Album

An album is a collection of recordings, released as a single package on gramophone record, cassette, compact disc, or via digital distribution. The word derives from the Latin word for list .Vinyl LP records have two sides, each comprising one half of the album...

s from UK

United Kingdom

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...

 artists. Ongoing relationships include artists such as Billy Jenkins

Billy Jenkins

Billy Jenkins is an English blues guitarist, composer, and bandleader.Initially Jenkins became famous as a member of Burlesque, then as part of Trimmer & Jenkins. A short period he followed as a member of Ginger Baker's Nutters. For several years, he ran Wood Wharf Studios...

, Christine Tobin

Christine Tobin

Christine Tobin is an Irish born jazz singer from Dublin who has been part of the London jazz and improvising scene since the second half of the 1980s. She has been influenced by a diverse range of singers and writers including Betty Carter, Bessie Smith, Leonard Cohen, and poets WB Yeats, Paul...

 and Huw Warren

Huw Warren

Huw Warren is a jazz pianist and composer. A graduate of Goldsmiths College and Guildhall School of Music, he is known for his work with June Tabor, Perfect Houseplants, and various groups. Warren has recorded several albums under his own name on Babel Label, including projects with violinist Mark...

. A close relationship has been forged with a number of musicians from the F-IRE Collective

F-IRE Collective

F-IRE Collective is a creative music community founded by Barak Schmool in London, United Kingdom. Additionally, the Collective also has a record label....

, such as Tom Arthurs, Pete Wareham

Pete Wareham

Pete Wareham is a British saxophonist, known for his group Acoustic Ladyland and Seb Rochford's Polar Bear. He is a member of the London based jazz collective F-IRE.- Career :...

, Finn Peters

Finn Peters

Finn Peters is a flautist and saxophonist. He studied music at Durham University and took the postgraduate jazz course at Guildhall School of Music...

 and Seb Rochford

Seb Rochford

Sebastian "Seb" Rochford is a British drummer who spans many musical genres.He comes from Aberdeen and has a large family of 2 brothers and 7 sisters...

. The label has been a major influence on a "revival" of interest in jazz in the UK over recent years. Currently this includes the successful crossover of some releases such as those of Polar Bear

Polar Bear (jazz)

Polar Bear is a British experimental jazz band led by drummer Seb Rochford with Pete Wareham on tenor and baritone saxophone, Mark Lockheart on tenor saxophone, Tom Herbert on double bass and Leafcutter John on mandolin and electronics....

 and Acoustic Ladyland

Acoustic Ladyland

Acoustic Ladyland are a London based jazz/punk band consisting of Pete Wareham on vocals, tenor and baritone saxophone, Seb Rochford on drums, Chris Sharkey on Guitar and Ruth Goller on bass guitar....

 into the pop world, and the work of the likes of Huw Warren

Huw Warren

Huw Warren is a jazz pianist and composer. A graduate of Goldsmiths College and Guildhall School of Music, he is known for his work with June Tabor, Perfect Houseplants, and various groups. Warren has recorded several albums under his own name on Babel Label, including projects with violinist Mark...

 using classical music by John Dowland

John Dowland

John Dowland was an English Renaissance composer, singer, and lutenist. He is best known today for his melancholy songs such as "Come, heavy sleep" , "Come again", "Flow my tears", "I saw my Lady weepe" and "In darkness let me dwell", but his instrumental music has undergone a major revival, and has...

 and others. Another side of Babel's work is with Penny Rimbaud

Penny Rimbaud

Jeremy John Ratter , better known under his pseudonym of Penny Rimbaud, is a drummer, writer, poet, former member of performance art groups EXIT and Ceres Confusion, and co-founder of the anarchist punk band Crass with Steve Ignorant in 1977.-Biography:Rimbaud Jeremy John Ratter (born 8 June 1943,...

 and Last Amendment

Last Amendment

Last Amendment is the working title of a series of collaborations by ex-members of the anarchist punk band Crass and others...

 such as his reworking of Howl

Howl

"Howl" is a poem written by Allen Ginsberg in 1955 and published as part of his 1956 collection of poetry titled Howl and Other Poems. The poem is considered to be one of the great works of the Beat Generation, along with Jack Kerouac's On the Road and William S. Burroughs's Naked Lunch...

 (How?, released 2004). Many of the sleeves are designed by Gee Vaucher

Gee Vaucher

Gee Vaucher is a visual artist who was born in 1945 in Dagenham, East London.Her work with Anarcho-punk band Crass was seminal to the 'protest art' of the 1980s. Vaucher has always seen her work as a tool for social change. In her collection of early works Crass Art and Other Pre Post-Modernist...

.

The label releases six albums a year. For 2007 these include Led Bib

Led Bib

Led Bib are a modern jazz group from London, England. Their fourth album, Sensible Shoes, was shortlisted for the 2009 Mercury Prize.- History :...

, Billy Jenkins

Billy Jenkins

Billy Jenkins is an English blues guitarist, composer, and bandleader.Initially Jenkins became famous as a member of Burlesque, then as part of Trimmer & Jenkins. A short period he followed as a member of Ginger Baker's Nutters. For several years, he ran Wood Wharf Studios...

, Tom Arthurs and Fraud

Fraud

In criminal law, a fraud is an intentional deception made for personal gain or to damage another individual; the related adjective is fraudulent. The specific legal definition varies by legal jurisdiction. Fraud is a crime, and also a civil law violation...

. The label is also working with the Vortex Jazz Club

Vortex Jazz Club

The Vortex Jazz Club is a London venue that primarily features live contemporary jazz. The club's official website features book reviews and jazz CD reviews by critic Chris Parker....

 on a joint venture, the first release of which is by Portico Quartet

Portico Quartet

Portico Quartet are a 4-piece modern jazz group from London and Southampton. Their sound is made distinctive by the use of the Hang, a 21st Century percussion instrument used on all their tracks. The group is composed of Jack Wyllie , Duncan Bellamy , Milo Fitzpatrick , and Keir Vine...

 and which was nominated for the 2008 Mercury Music Prize. Its 100th album, by pianist Bruno Heinen was released in 2011.