CTI Records

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CTI Records (Creed Taylor International or Creed Taylor Incorporated) was a jazz record label founded in 1967 by Creed Taylor.

Taylor had previously founded Impulse Records and worked for Verve Records and had earned a reputation as a respected producer of jazz albums. CTI Records was initially set up as a subsidiary of A&M Records.

CTI Records had some considerable success, and helped establish smooth jazz as a commercially viable musical genre. There was, however, criticism from some, who regarded the nascent smooth jazz field as a dilution or overcommercialization of jazz music. Others rejected these arguments, noting that CTI Records often sold quite well, and, noted that despite frequent arrangements of popular hits, performances were often as artistically valid as any jazz, and furthermore, CTI Records helped keep many musicians employed and publicly visible in an era of generally declining interest in jazz.

In 1978, CTI Records declared bankruptcy [1], but remained in print. CTI Records is now owned by Columbia Records.