M & K Sound

M & K Sound, M&K, Miller & Kreisel Sound Inc. M & K Sound was run by Jonas Miller and Ken Kreisel as part of the Miller & Kreisel Sound Corporation of Wilshire Boulevard, Beverly Hills, California, USA. The company produced sound equipment, and continues to do so today. These records were pressed to help customers test the equipment the company made by playing one of a few releases that were made especially by them in limited amounts for this purpose as Hi-Fi Demonstration Records. Most were sold with equipment, with some also being used internally in the company. The interesting story about the label, is that a track called "The Bottom End" was discovered by DJ Chris Bangs for 10 pence in 1981 in a second-hand record shop in Notting Hill Gate, London, UK. Later the record passed to DJs Paul Murphy and Gilles Peterson. For years it was played as a classic on the London jazz-dance scene with the true identity of the artists thought to be unknown. It wasn't until research in 2006 by London DJ/jazz-dancer/writer Seymour Nurse unearthed that it was made by Don Baaska and Valli Scavelli. However, shortly after discovering all the facts he found a tracklist in a 1980s UK magazine article about the jazz-dance scene which listed a track under the name "Vali Scobelli" called "The Tune". Ken Kreisel confirmed to him 'I seem to remember a similar request years ago from Europe about one of our very old test discs being played in discos. Could this be the same disc...'. The realization being that someone on the London scene had already been onto him about it, and for 20 years known who the artists were, yet had covered it up; as was common for DJs to do to protect their rare finds. A pity perhaps for Baaska & Scavelli, as their careers may have been enhanced by having more exposure of their talents, and therefore the possibility to produce further recorded works at the time. Seymour Nurse got both versions of "The Bottom End" re-released under it's official title "738435" via Freestyle Records, along with another great tune, the title track taken from Valli's album, "663692".