London

London Records was created by Decca in the 1940s to enable transatlantic releases from the UK into the US, and vice versa. Due to the presence of a Decca subsidiary company in the US, British Decca was unable to use the Decca name in North America, and released records there under the “London” label. In the UK, the London label was used by British Decca to release American recordings which British Decca licensed, such as Atlantic. The catalogue numbering system identified the US company licensor by letter code:

LTZ-C  Savoy
LTZ-D  Dot
LTZ-J  Jubilee
LTZ-K   Atlantic
LTZ-M  Chess
LTZ-N   Bethlehem
LTZ-P   Imperial
LTZ-T   United Artists
LTZ-U   Riverside

The label bears the logo “London American Recordings” and is found in Blue for Stereo with SAH-(letter)  codes and Crimson/Silver and LTZ-(letter)  codes for Mono

Being owned by Decca, naturally all the records released in the UK under this label were mastered and pressed by Decca, at their South West London plant at New Malden . Unlike Esquire Records, who pressed US recordings using original US-made stampers, the London label releases were mastered from copy tapes sent from the US. As a result it is not unusual for UK pressings to differ sonically from original US pressings, the differences being a matter of preference and not necessarily one better than the other.

1. London Mono Crimson/Silver label

2. London Stereo – generally “London Atlantic”

Catalogue Listing LTZ 15000 American Jazz series (1955-62)

Note: incomplete – compiled from a Discogs partial listing plus my own collection and contributions from readers. A more complete listing can be found at the excellent Both Sides Now site. The genre here is Jazz – the full  London catalogue listing covering of course large numbers of rock and pop releases.

Catalogue   No	Artist	Title	Year
HA-N 2033	McGhee, Howard	Life is just a bowl of cherries	1956
LTZ-C 15007	JJ Johnson and Kai Winding	Jay and Kai	1956
LTZ-C 15015	Cannoball Adderley	Presenting Cannonball	1955
LTZ-C 15017	Hank Jones Trio	The Trio	1956
LTZ-C 15018	Nat Adderley	That’s Nat	195?
LTZ-C 15046	Hank Jones Trio	The Trio With Guests	1956
LTZ-C 15099	Hank Mobley	The Jazz Message No. 2	1957
LTZ-C 15104	Charlie Parker	The Immortal Vol 1	1958
LTZ-C 15105	Charlie Parker	The Immortal Vol 2	1958
LTZ-C 15106	Charlie Parker	The Immortal Vol 3	1958
LTZ-C 15107	Charlie Parker	The Immortal Vol 4	1958
LTZ-C 15108	Charlie Parker	The Immortal Vol.5	1958
LTZ-C 15144	Terry & McGhee	Back Country Blues	1958
LTZ-C 15159	Tommy Flanagan Quintet	Mainstream 1958	1959
LTZ-D 15158	Eddie Condon	Dixieland Dance Party	1958
LTZ-D 15168	Clara Ward	Gospel Concert
LTZ-K 15022	Modern Jazz Quartet, The	Fontessa	1957
LTZ-K 15024	Wilbur de Paris	And His New Orleans Jazz	195?
LTZ-K 15025	Lee Konitz,	Lee Konitz with Warne Marsh	1955
LTZ-K 15033	Lennie Tristano	Lennie Tristano	1956
LTZ-K 15043	Montrose, Jack	Jack Montrose with Bob Gordon	1955
LTZ-K 15059	Jimmy Giuffre	The Jimmy Giuffre Clarinet	1956
LTZ-K 15085	Modern Jazz Quartet, with Jimmy   Giuffre	The Modern Jazz Quartet At Music   Inn
LTZ-K 15092	Lee Konitz	Inside Hi Fi	1957
LTZ-K 15127	Mulligan Thelonious Monk, Gerry	Mulligan Meets Monk	1957
LTZ-K 15136	Modern Jazz Quartet, The	The Modern Jazz Quartet	1958
LTZ-K 15140	Modern Jazz Quartet, The	Film Score For “No Sun In   Venice”	1958
LTZ-K 15141	Milt Jackson	Plenty, Plenty Soul	1957
LTZ-K 15142	Chris Connor	A Jazz Date With Chris Connor	1956
LTZ-K 15147	Lee Konitz,	The Real Lee Konitz	1958
LTZ-K 15157	Art Blakey & The Jazz Messengers	Art Blakey’s Jazz Messengers   w/Monk	1959
LTZ-K 15164	The Charles Mingus Workshop	The Clown	1959
LTZ-K 15171	Champion Jack Dupree	Blues From The Gutter	1959
LTZ-K 15173	Modern Jazz Quartet, with Sonny   Rollins	Modern Jazz Quartet At Music   Inn  Vol 2	1959
LTZ-K 15179	Shorty Rogers	Way Up There	19??
LTZ-K 15190	Ray Charles	The Genius Of Ray Charles	1959
LTZ-K 15191	The Jazz Modes	The Most Happy Fella	1959
LTZ-K 15193	Modern Jazz Quartet, The	Pyramid
LTZ-K 15194	Mingus, Charles	Blues & Roots	1960
LTZ-K 15197	John Coltrane	Giant Steps	1959
LTZ-K 15199	Ornette Coleman	Change Of The Century	1961
LTZ-K 15215	Various	The Blues Roll On	1960
LTZ-K 15228	Coleman, Ornette	This Is Our Music	1960
LTZ-K 15232	John Coltrane Milt Jackson	Bags and Trane	196?
LTZ-K 15239	John Coltrane	Ole	196?
LTZ-M 15152	Waters, Muddy	Best of Muddy Waters	19??
LTZ-M 15162	Ahmad Jamal Trio	But Not For Me	1959
LTZ-M 15170	Ahmad Jamal	Ahmad Jamal	1959
LTZ-N 15003	K + J.J.	East Coast Jazz Series No. 7	1976
LTZ-N 15009	Mel Tormé with Marty Paich Dek-Tette	Mel Tormé	1956
LTZ-N 15010	Red Allen Cozy Cole	Jazz at the Metropole cafe	195?
LTZ-N 15011	Howard McGhee	The Return of
LTZ-N 15029	Duke Ellington And His Orchestra	Historically Speaking – The   Duke	1956
LTZ-N 15031	Charlie Mariano	Charlie Mariano	1956
LTZ-N 15035	Oscar Pettiford	Volume 2	1956
LTZ-N 15090	Frank Socolow	Sounds by Socolow	1957
LTZ-N 15111	Johnny Richards And His Orchestra	Something Else By Johnny Richards	1958
LTZ-N 15123	Stu Williamson	Stu Williamson	1958
LTZ-P 15236	Valley Singers, The	Canaan’s Land	1961
LTZ-T 15160	Johnny Mandel	I Want To Live! (Soundtrack)	1958
LTZ-T 15167	Art Farmer	Modern Art	1958
LTZ-T 15189	Pee Wee Ervin	Down By The Riverside	195?
LTZ-U 15075	Matthew Gee All Stars	Jazz By Gee!	1957
LTZ-U 15117	Coleman Hawkins	The Hawk Flies High	1957
LTZ-U 15133	Kenny Dorham	Jazz Contrasts	1958
SAH-K 6017	Art Blakey’s Jazz Messengers w/Monk	Art Blakey’s Jazz Messengers W/ Monk	1959
SAH-K 6031	Modern Jazz Quartet, The	Fontessa
SAH-K 6050	Modern Jazz Quartet w/ Sonny Rollins	Modern Jazz Quartet At Music Inn Vol2
SAH-K 6162	John Coltrane	Coltrane Jazz
SAH-K 6192	Milt Jackson & John Coltrane	Bags & Trane
SAH-K 6235	Ornette Coleman	Ornette!	1961
SAH-K 8017	John Coltrane	Coltrane Plays the Blues	1962