Label Guide: Esquire

Esquire Records was a British jazz label founded by Carlo Krahmer and Peter Newbrook in 1947. It issued recordings by British musicians, and others, under licence, from the American Prestige label, the Chicago blues label Delmark, and the Swedish Metronome label. Esquire was the first label to record modern jazz in England.

The first 10" jazz LPs were released in 1952, and the label peaked in the mid-1950s. Many of those albums are now considered highly collectible. Esquire Records as a company lasted until the mid-1970s.