Black Swan was founded in May of 1921 by Harry Pace and W.C. Handy, based in Harlem, New York City. Originally the company producing Black Swan was called the Pace Phonograph Corporation, but in 1923 it was renamed the Black Swan Company. The firm was named after 19th century opera star Elizabeth Taylor Greenfield, who was known as the Black Swan.
The most commercially successful records by Black Swan were by singers Ethel Waters and Trixie Smith. Fletcher Henderson worked for Black Swan, providing piano accompaniment for many of the singers and leading a small band for the recordings.
In 1924 Black Swan was bought out by Paramount Records, and the label discontinued a short time later.
The Black Swan label was revived in the 1990s for a series of reissue compact discs of historic jazz and blues recordings originally issued on Black Swan and Paramount. These cds were issued by George H. Buck's Jazzology/GHB Record group, which has rights to the Paramount back-catalogue, but not the Paramount brand name.
See also: List of other record labels
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