Warner/Reprise Records

Hoping to find musical freedom, Johnny Mercer, the writer of “Moon River,” helped launch Capitol Records in 1942. Nineteen years later, Frank Sinatra, in search of musical freedom of his own, left Capitol and formed the Reprise label. In 1963 Reprise was sold to Warner Brothers, and, although the label continued to record Sinatra, it soon forswore 1950s swing-a-ding-dingness. If Reprise never had a distinctive sound, it did have a clear identity: West Coast hip,...