Dial Records was a United States

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 based 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,...

 specializing in bebop

Bebop

Bebop differed drastically from the straightforward compositions of the swing era, and was instead characterized by fast tempos, asymmetrical phrasing, intricate melodies, and rhythm sections that expanded on their role as tempo-keepers...

 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...

. Dial was founded by Ross Russell

Ross Russell

Ross Russell was an American jazz producer and author. He was the founder of Dial Records....

 in 1946

1946 in music

- Events :*January 6 – A somewhat revised and streamlined revival of Kern and Hammerstein's Show Boat opens on Broadway at the Ziegfeld Theatre, the same theatre at which the original production played back in 1927. This production features newly designed sets and costumes, new, more extended...

, who operated the label for about a decade. Notable artists who recorded for Dial included Charlie Parker

Charlie Parker

Charles Parker, Jr. , famously called Bird or Yardbird, was an American jazz saxophonist and composer....

, Miles Davis

Miles Davis

Miles Dewey Davis III was an American jazz musician, trumpeter, bandleader, and composer. Widely considered one of the most influential musicians of the 20th century, Miles Davis was, with his musical groups, at the forefront of several major developments in jazz music, including bebop, cool jazz,...

, Max Roach

Max Roach

Maxwell Lemuel "Max" Roach was an American jazz percussionist, drummer, and composer.A pioneer of bebop, Roach went on to work in many other styles of music, and is generally considered alongside the most important drummers in history...

, and Milt Jackson

Milt Jackson

Milton "Bags" Jackson was an American jazz vibraphonist, usually thought of as a bebop player, although he performed in several jazz idioms...

. Dial Records were made by the Tempo Music Shop of Hollywood, California.

Labels of Dial Records said that they were "Contemporary American Music", a dig at the traditionalist American Music Records

American Music Records

American Music Records is a United States-based record label specializing in traditional New Orleans jazz.The label was founded by William Russell in 1944, who ran the label almost entirely by himself for most of his life...

label.

Further reading

• Wheeler, Geoffrey. 1999. Jazz by Mail: Record Clubs and Record Labels, 1936 to 1958—Including Complete Discographies for Jazztone and Dial Records. Manasses, VA: Hillbrook Press. ISBN 0-9667819-0-2.