Baton Records, home of the Rivileers and the Hearts, was started in 1953 by Sol Rabinowitz. At the time, he worked for Malverne, a New York City-based distributor of Mercury Records. Their biggest competitor was Jerry Blaine's Cosnat Distributors, which was involved with Jubilee Records. Sol's bosses asked him to start a competing label with their backing.

You can't have a label without artists and Sol immediately went out looking for talent. In Queens, he visited the Triboro Record Shop, where someone suggested that he listen to a group called the Rivileers. Sol did and liked what he heard, picking four songs that he wanted to record ("A Thousand Stars," "Eternal Love," "I," and "Hey Chiquita"). At this point, one of the Malverne partners backed out of the deal, but Sol decided to proceed anyway. His own money and Hugo & Luigi's AFM license enabled him to use a recording studio to wax the Rivileers. The studio bands he used were mostly white jazz musicians.

Sol took the newly-minted Rivileers masters to Eddie Heller, with the intention of having them released on Rainbow Records. Heller was most impressed with "I" and "Hey Chiquita," which Sol thought were mediocre compared to the other two. He decided if that was all there was to it, he might as well put them out himself.

Sol had some acetate discs made and brought them to Dr. Jive (Tommy Smalls), who played "A Thousand Stars" on his radio show. A few days later, orders started coming in. But orders for what? No records had yet been pressed. It took another furious few days in December, 1953 for the Baton label to actually come into existence. Baton Records, distributed through Malverne, had offices at 108 West 44th Street in New York City.

Sol made a deal with Jimmy Warren of Central Record Sales in Los Angeles to have "A Thousand Stars" pressed and distributed there (where it ultimately reached number one on the local R&B charts). It was also a hit in New York, Chicago, and a few other locales. However, it couldn't be termed a major hit, since distribution (hence sales) was limited to only a few cities. Most distributors that Sol contacted didn't even answer his letters. Distributors were the ones with the power. A million-selling record didn't mean that a million kids had purchased it from record stores; it meant that the distributors had pushed a million copies out to retailers.

Before "I" could be issued, the Rivileers made the mistake of singing it at a party. One of the members of the Velvets heard it and got his group to put it out first on Red Robin. This was a common enough occurrence and was treated rather stoically.

Some minor acts followed on Baton - organist Preston Brown, blues singer Milan Brown, the Miracles, the Belvederes, the Heavenly Echoes, blues singer "Big Mike" Gordon, Chris Kenner from New Orleans (who was later to have a hit with "I Like It Like That"), and Frank Culley (who had had some hits for Atlantic) .

Among the Baton hitmakers was Ann Cole (with "Are You Satisfied," "In The Chapel," and "I've Got My Mojo Working"). According to Sol, Ann Cole actually had the power to make an audience cry. She was backed up, at times, by the Suburbans, a group from Harlem.

Another hit, "Lonely Nights," came from the Hearts, a group recommended to Sol by Zell Sanders (since her daughter Johnnie Richardson - later of Johnnie & Joe - was in it). Sol went up to Harlem to hear them and two weeks later they were recording. They'd have five releases on Baton over the next year and a half, but none of the others recreated the magic of "Lonely Nights."

Saxman Buddy Tate, who had previously worked with Count Basie, had a Philadelphia hit with "Fatbacks And Greens." Bob Horn, who was host of Bandstand before Dick Clark, liked it and played it often. Another Tate record that got a lot of airplay was "Jackie," named after Alan Freed's wife. Of course, Freed played it nightly, but it never became a hit.

As Sol found out, it's not always easy to recognize talent. He told two Queens youngsters to go home and practice some more and then come back. Well, they went home to practice but didn't come back, even after they were Tom & Jerry or, later on, Simon and Garfunkel.

The Pilgrims were a medium-sized choir that sang folk songs. They were formed by Bob DeCormier, Harry Belafonte's arranger. Also in the group were bass Milt Okun (who became John Denver's producer), and Leon Bibb. The Pilgrims' recording of "Mr. Fiddler" became Baton's most constantly played record. This former Czechoslovakian folk song was used on the "Captain Kangaroo Show" beginning in 1956.

Nat Margo, manager of the Ravens, was instrumental in bringing Jimmy Ricks and also the Ravens to Baton, although neither had a hit. Baton purchased "Long Lonely Nights" and "Let Me Know" by the Ravens, who had recorded them for Argo. However, Chess (which owned Argo) didn't want to release them so as not to interfere with sales of "Long Lonely Nights" by Lee Andrews & the Hearts, which was doing well on the parent label. Sol re-named them the "Kings," but the public already had two fine versions of the song (by Clyde McPhatter and Lee Andrews & the Hearts) and it didn't sell.

In 1957, Sol reissued "A Thousand Stars," hoping it would do better now that Baton's distribution channels had been improved; it didn't.

Noble "Thin Man" Watts, a blues saxophonist, had a big hit with "Hard Times (The Slop)." It was originally just called "The Slop," but it sold better after the name change.

The last Baton hit was "The Things I Love" by The Fidelitys. They had a pop/R&R sound similar to the Platters; but Baton didn't have too much influence with the pop DJ's at the time so the group didn't do as well as they should have.

Baton lasted until around April 1959. At that time, the distributors were putting small companies out of business - they were neither pushing records, nor paying the manufacturers for the ones that sold. According to Sol, Baton's biggest hit was either "Hard Times (The Slop)" by Noble Watts or "In The Chapel" by Ann Cole.

A couple of months later, Sol formed the Sir label with Morty Craft. "SIR" stood for Sol's initials: Sol I. Rabinowitz. Since the same record and master numbers series were used, it was really a continuation of Baton. Lasting about a year, its main artist was the Fidelitys, although there were also releases by the Lonely Ones, Ann Cole, and Noble Watts.

Baton records gave us a load of great sounds. It's a shame its distribution system couldn't have been better, but it was unusual for small record companies to fare very well, even if they had a hit or two.

Read How I Started An Independent Label by Sol Rabinowitz.

See Global Dog Productions for a discography of Baton Records.