studio; apart from its live sound, it gave the performers familiar surroundings... The hall's acoustical sound was exactly what I wanted to recapture: the same kind of ambience that lent such character to Bill Russell's 1940s American Music recordings from San Jacinto Hall." One of the musicians invited to participate was Louis Cottrell, Jr. Cottrell organized a trio comprising McNeal Breaux, Alcide "Slow Drag" Pavageau with Emanuel Sayles sitting in playing guitar and banjo. The band was so well received that they continued to play together. The music on this album has been described as "more polite and subtle than the city's 'downtown' music... an intimate, low-key delight." Cottrell's playing has also been well received: Riverside Wonderland Under the subsidiary label Riverside Wonderland, the company also produced a series of children's albums, the Grandpa Magic series of albums starring Ed Wynn, including two Alec Templeton albums, an album of Martyn Green reading from the Arabian Nights, and a six-record album set of the complete Alice in Wonderland, narrated by Cyril Ritchard, a rarity in the LP era when books were seldom recorded complete. An album of excerpts from the book was also issued, and the six records in the complete set were also issued as separate volumes. Riverside Wonderland also acquired U.S. rights to package and distribute musical recordings produced in England by Fiona Bentley, including The First Christmas with Dame Edith Evans, Musical Zoo with The Mike Sammes Singers, and Beatrix Potter stories narrated by Vivien Leigh. The British recordings were licensed by A.A. Records in the seventies, when that company was transitioning from Golden Records to Wonderland Records (no connection to Riverside). End Grauer died, following a sudden heart attack, in December 1963, and the company filed for voluntary bankruptcy in July 1964. The catalogue was taken over by ABC Records, which reissued some of it, but virtually all Riverside masters were acquired by Fantasy Records in 1972. The majority of this material was subsequently reissued on LP on the Milestone label and as part of Fantasy's Original Jazz Classics series from the 1980s on CD. The current Fantasy catalog owner is Concord Records. Discography References External links Riverside Records Discography Project Page Riverside Records History at Concord Music Group "A Life In Jazz" feature on Orrin Keepnews by Columbia College Today. American record labels Jazz record labels Record labels established in 1953 Record labels disestablished in 1963