RCA Thesaurus

RCA Thesaurus, a brand owned by RCA Victor, was a supplier of electrical transcriptions.^[1] It enjoyed a long history of producing electrical transcriptions of music for radio broadcasting which dated back to NBC's Radio Recording Division.^[2]

Efforts were made as early as 1936 to consolidate The RCA Victor Transcription service with NBC's independent transcription service within the NBC radio network. NBC'sThesaurus catalog system and library of recordings was not completely merged with RCA's catalog until 1939 when the consolidation was completed in an effort to compete with rival transcription services which were available at the Mutual, Columbia and World Broadcasting Systems. ^[3]

During the 1950s, RCA Thesaurus produced under the musical direction of Ben Selvin in New York City.^[4][5] As the transcription service continued to grow in 1953, RCA Thesaurus bought a library of 1600 transcriptions of jingles from the Ullman Jingl Library.^[6]

In 1954, John Serry Sr. recorded several of his arrangements of easy listening music for RCA Thesaurus with his ensemble The Bel-Cordions quartet and the Serry Sextette.^[7][8] The group consisted of four accordions, string bass and guitar.^[9][10] Copies of Serry's album and his original orchestral scores were subsequently donated years later to the Eastman School of Music's Sibley Music Library for archival purposes within the Ruth T. Watanabe Special Collections Department: John J. Serry Sr. Collection.^[11][12][13]

By 1955, RCA Thesaurus continued to expand its musical library by including complete shows five times a week which showcased performances by several leading jazz artists including Sammy Kaye and Freddie Martin.^[14] In 1956, Lawrence Welk also signed with Ben Selvin at RCA Thesaurus for recordings on his "New Lawrence Welk Show".^[15][16] By 1956, Ben Selvin also signed an agreement with the impresario Norman Granz which enhanced the RCA Thesaurus library to include performances by such jazz luminaries as: Count Basie, Roy Eldridge, Ella Fitzgerald, Stan Getz, Gene Krupa, Oscar Peterson, and Art Tatum.^[17]