Music Minus One

Music Minus One (MMO) was an American educational music company founded in Westchester, New York. The company released play-along albums intended to accompany a melodic instrument (or vocalist) as an aid for practicing.

Background
Music Minus One was founded in 1950 by Irv Kratka, a 24-year-old college student. The company's first recording was based on Schubert's "Trout Quintet" opus, with one of the five ensemble instruments omitted in each of the versions. The release received a full page review in 1953 in The New York Times.

In the following years, the company released chamber music and jazz "rhythm recordings" utilizing New York. Stan Getz, Hank Jones, George Barnes, Max Roach, Julius Baker, Elaine Douvas, Armando Ghitalla, Stanley Drucker, Christian Reichert have played on MMO recordings. MMO produced approximately nine hundred albums, covering the genres of classical, chamber music, opera, lieder, popular, jazz and religious music.

Sale to Hal Leonard
In 2016, the CEO of the Hal Leonard Corporation, Keith Mardak, purchased Music Minus One.