Donald's Encyclopedia of Popular Music

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HAT ART label

Swiss avant-garde jazz label founded in the mid-1970s by Werner X. Uehlinger to record saxophonist Joe McPhee; hat Hut records first appeared in the USA '75 (parent company is called hat Hut Records Ltd); hat Art was formed to record the Vienna Art Orchestra, hat Music was also formed but rationalization ensued and only hat Art survived. The vinyl packaging was unique and eye-catching but heavy and clumsy. There were about 40 issues by McPhee, plus Steve Lacy (including one album with Mal Waldron), Albert Ayler (from '66), Anthony Braxton, Sun Ra, the Ganelin Trio, David Murray, Tony Coe (Coe, Oxley and Co.), Max Roach, Cecil Taylor, Phillip Wilson, Jimmy Lyons and Sunny Murray, sets by the Vienna Art Orchestra and various European artists. The Quality was very high; reissues seem to come and go but are always worth investigating.