Signature

Signature Records began as a jazz label founded in 1939 by Bob Thiele, who was 17 at the time. Thiele had already built an unusually hands-on life in music: at 14 he was a disc jockey with his own jazz radio programme, edited a jazz magazine and played clarinet with New York City bands. At Signature, he served as president and head producer, with orchestra leader Ray Bloch as musical director.

The label's early catalogue drew from major currents in jazz, recording artists including Coleman Hawkins, Earl Hines, Erroll Garner and Lester Young. Signature also worked with vocalists and entertainers such as Anita O'Day, Monica Lewis, Jane Harvey, Kay Thompson, Barbara McNair and Ray Anthony. Thiele's work as a producer was central to the company, and Signature became one part of a wider career that also included production work for Decca and its Coral and Brunswick imprints, plus a vice-presidential A&R role at Dot Records.

Accounts differ over the end of Signature's first run. Some sources place its closure in 1948, while others indicate that releases continued into the 1950s before the company became moribund late in that decade. In May 1959, Thiele announced that he was reactivating the label in an arrangement involving Steve Allen, a co-owner of Hanover Records. The resulting company operated as Hanover-Signature Records, with orchestra leader Milton Delugg, a colleague of Thiele's from Dot and Coral, appointed musical director.

Hanover-Signature issued records on both of its labels, while Hanover releases continued into 1961. Signature's name remained part of Thiele's later work: he produced recordings for his then-wife, singer Teresa Brewer, as late as 1983, and reissued earlier Signature material through his Flying Dutchman and Doctor Jazz labels.