Enoch Henry Light was an American classically trained violinist, danceband leader, and recording engineer.

His earliest dance band recordings are from March 1927. You’ll hear his ‘Light Brigade’ swing dance band on this weeks Phantom Dancer from a fun park broadcast aired in 1944.

In 1928 he led a band in Paris, where, in the 1930s he studied conducting with the French conductor Maurice Frigara. He studied classical conducting at the Mozarteum in Salzburg and the Opera Comique in Paris.

Throughout the 1930s, Light and his orchestras played on the Society Band circuit in New York City playing polite dance music for well-heeled patrons..

When he formed his Light Brigade he got radio exposure in broadcasts from NYC’s Hotel Taft.

A head-on car accident interrupted his band leading for two years. In those 2 years, the big band business had died and Light turned to the business side of recorded music.

LOUNGE KING

Light is credited with being one of the first musicians to go to extreme lengths to create high-quality recordings.

He was particularly into stereo effects that bounced the sounds between the right and left channels (often described as “Ping-pong recording”).

He introduced recording practices now used in multitrack recording, including overdubbing and isolating various groups of musicians from each other in the recording studio.

His first LP produced for Command Records, Persuasive Percussion, became one of the first big-hit albums based solely on retail sales. Light’s music received little or no airplay on the radio, because AM radio, the standard of the day, was monaural and had very poor fidelity.

The album covers were generally designed with abstract, minimalist artwork that stood out boldly from other album covers. These pieces were usually the work of Josef Albers.

GATEFOLD ALBUMS

Light was so interested in the sound of his music that he would include lengthy prose describing each song’s sounds. In order to fit all of his descriptions on to the album sleeve, he doubled the size of the sleeve but enabled it to fold like a book, thus popularizing the gatefold packaging format.

Enoch Light released 25 albums in various genres of music under a variety of names during the late 1950s and early 1960s. Some were released under Grand Award Records, which he founded in 1955. He founded Command Records in 1959. ABC-Paramount Records acquired the Light family of labels in October 1959. Light stayed on to manage and handle A&R.

During this time, he pioneered many recording techniques such as the use of 35 mm magnetic film instead of magnetic tape, reducing wow and flutter. The recordings were released under the “35MM” series, starting from “Stereo 35-MM” released by Command Records. Musicians who appeared on Light’s albums include The Free Design, The Critters, Rain, Doc Severinsen, Tony Mottola, Dick Hyman, and organist Virgil Fox. As an arranger, Lew Davies was one of the label’s most important contributors.

Light remained with tABC/Command until 1965. After his departure, the quality of the records plummeted dramatically. The signature gatefold format (along with Light’s prose) was immediately discontinued, and the covers changed to budget labels pressed on recycled vinyl. In 1975, they were completely discontinued.

Light joined forces with the Singer Corporation in August 1966, to help the company launch production of phonograph records, tapes, and tape cartridges. Plans called for a new company to be formed, with Light and Singer each having half-interest and Light as both president and chief executive officer.

Light’s new label was called Project 3. It did not concentrate as heavily on stereo effects. Light recorded several successful big band albums with group of top New York studio musicians. Many of them were veterans of the bands of the swing era.

Released as Enoch Light and the Light Brigade, the arrangements used on the recordings were transcribed note-for-note from some of what were the hallmark recordings by many of the best bands of the swing era.

REMEMBERED

Enoch Light holds the record for having the most charting LPs without having a Top 40 single.

Events coinciding with Light’s birthday near his birthplace of northeastern Ohio have occurred since the late 1990s. The most recent is 2014’s Enoch Light Birthday Memorial Go-Go Happening and features bands performing Light’s work and multimedia installations remixing the distinctive Command Records album cover designs.