Enoch Light - Biography
By J Poet
Bandleader and audiophile Enoch Light had a long music business career, but is best known for two Top 10 albums from 1959 - Persuasive Percussion (Command) and Provocative Percussion (Command.) The Percussion albums, on his own Command label, made full use of the then novel stereo recording process with arrangements that had the sound of drums, bongos and other percussion instruments ping ponging back and forth between speakers. It gave the ears of early stereo owners a good workout and the albums served as stereo demonstration discs in appliance stores worldwide. Light also pioneered the use of 35mm film as a recording medium because of its ability to capture a wider range of audio information. He continued making high quality sound records almost until his demise in 1978.
Light started his career as a classical violinist and toured the US and Europe until a car crash in 1940 made it impossible to play properly. After WW II, he organized The Light Brigade, an easy listening orchestra that played the hits of the 30s and 40s and was popular with older listeners. In the early 50s he broke up the band and went into management and A&R for various record labels. Then in 1955, he started his own label, Grand Award. Stereo was just coming into the market and the label made full use of the new medium. Light was a marketing mastermind and called his stereo technique Phase X, trumpeting its ability to create a “third channel” between the left and right speakers. It was a common phenomenon, but Light was the first to use it as part of his marketing campaign. His album packaging was slick and appealed to audiophiles as well as regular music fans. He put together a new Light Brigade using studio musicians like pianist Dick Hyman and super session guitarist Tony Mattola who went on to a long stint in the Tonight Show band during the reign of Johnny Carson. Grand Award found success with a series of ragtime piano albums by Knuckles O'Toole, AKA Dick Hyman, and the new Light Brigade’s I Want to Be Happy Cha Chas (1958 Grand Award), one of the first albums to take advantage of the stereo process with arrangements that emphasized the spatial separation of the two channels. I Want to Be Happy Cha Chas Vol. 2 (1958 Grand Award) and Enoch Light The Light Brigade Play Happy Cha Chas Vol. 1 and 2 (1958 Grand Award) duplicated the success of the first set with easy listening takes of 40s pop hits that weren’t going to find much favor with hard core Latin music fans.
In 1959 Light started Command Records and pushed the technique of audio separation to its limits. Arrangers Lew Davies and Jack Andrews came up with playful charts for The Light Brigade to play and by sticking to old standards they insured that the albums would have a wide fan base. The albums were the first to be packaged in double-thickness gatefold jackets crammed with technical information and the abstract cover art by Josef Albers was modern, clean and eye poppingly catchy. The first Command album, Enoch Light and The Light Brigade’s Persuasive Percussion (1959 Command, 1995 Varese Sarabande) was a huge hit and would have been platinum, if platinum records were awarded in 1959. It got little airplay because radio was still mono, but built up a runaway street buzz. Provocative Percussion (1959 Command, 1995 Varese Sarabande), credited to Enoch Light and The Command All Stars, did just as well. He followed up with dozens of albums cut from the same cloth like The Private Life of a Private Eye (1959 Command), Provocative Percussion Vol. 2 (1960 Command, 1995 Varese Sarabande), Bongos/Flute/Guitars (1960 Command), Persuasive Percussion Vol. 2 (1960 Command, 1995 Varese Sarabande), Big Bold and Brassy (1960 Command), and Far Away Places (1960 Command.)
In 1962, Light pioneered the use of 35mm film as a recording medium because of its ability to capture a wider range of audio information. Titles that made use of this innovation include Stereo 35/MM (1962 Command), Persuasive Percussion Vol. 4 (1962 Command), Vibrations (1962 Command), Provocative Percussion Vol. 4 (1963 Command), Great Themes from Hit Films (1963 Command), Rome 35/MM (1964 Command), Dimension 3 (1964 Command), and A New Concept of Cole Porter (1964 Command.)
Light sold Command to ABC Records in 1965 and started Project 3, another audiophile label. He brought most of his Command crew with him, but the new records lacked the crisp, innovative edge that made Command an industry standard. The label put out Film Fame (1966 Project 3), Enoch Light and the Glittering Guitars (1969 Project 3), Enoch Light & the Brass Menagerie (1970 Project 3), The Best of the Movie Themes 1970 (1970 Project 3), Permissive Polyphonics (1971 Project 3), The Brass Menagerie 1973 (1973 Project 3), Future Sound Shock (1973 Project 3), Beatles Classics (1973 Project 3, 1992 Project 3), Great Hits from the Great Gatsby Era (1973 Project 3), Feelings at the Movies (1973 Project 3) and other titles. Light finally threw in the towel in 1974 and retired. He died four years later. Most of his albums have never been released on CD.
