The Josefowitz's sold Concert Hall Society in 1956 to Crowell-Collier Publishing Company.
Principal founders Samuel and David Josefowitz's father, Zachar Josefowitz (1884–1949), owned a large piece of land in Maine that the United States government used for its earliest research in atomic energy, which generated income that helped finance the founding of Concert Hall Society, Inc. Samuel earned a bachelor's degree in industrial engineering in 1942 from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute.
David Josefowitz was an expert in plastics and had a PhD in Chemistry from the Polytechnic Institute of Brooklyn,[2] which now is part of the New York University Tandon School of Engineering.
[4] Impetus for founding the company Sam and David Josefowitz, with their father as President – while running their family chemical business on Long Island – were offered a 20-ton consignment of vinyl resin, raw material for manufacturing record disks, at a bargain price.
[1] At the time of the sale, the company had a combined mailing list of 600,000 LP record buyers.
The inner sleeves were of a non-scratching "glassine" material and the jackets were a fine weave over cardboard....a class act for the 1950s.
MMS initially focused on the standard classical repertoire, which, from a marketing perspective, made the label an attractive alternative for subscribers who wanted to build a new collection.
But after Columbia Records claimed use of the "Masterwork" tag, the Josefowitz brothers agreed in 1953 to switch to its present name.
Jazztone was distributed in French language markets as Guilde du Jazz.
The Jazztone Society was the first independent mail-order jazz record club in the United States.
Jazztone re-issued recordings from the catalogs of Fantasy, Pacific Jazz, Vanguard, Storyville, Commodore, Urania, Period, Roost, Victor (out of catalog recordings), Dial (acquired by Concert Hall Society), Black & White (defunct),[7][10] Purist,[a] Paradox, Jazz Information, Black Deuce,[b] and Okidoke.
[6] Chamber Music Society (CMS)initial offering, CM-1 Giuseppe Tartini, Sonata in G minor.