Ohio Soul

Before the Second World War, the African American population of Ohio was small and concentrated in the southern part of the State, mainly in Cincinnatti; black music recordings from that era in the state are pretty rare. But the great northward migration from the old slave states during and after the war drew large numbers of blacks to the factories of Akron, Dayton and particularly Cleveland. This encouraged musical entrepreneurs to establish independent recording companies in Ohio that produced music for the new populations. The state's powerhouse for music was of course the King label and its subsidiaries run by the iron fist of Syd Nathan in Cincinnati. So it is quite appropriate that this CD set has a preponderance of tracks from this source, and from King's Chicago outpost.