Fantasy Records is a United States-based record label that was founded by Max and Sol Weiss in 1949 in San Francisco, California. They had previously operated a record-pressing plant called Circle Record Company (unrelated to the Circle Records label) before forming the Fantasy label. The early years of the company were dedicated to issuing recordings by Dave Brubeck, Cal Tjader, Vince Guaraldi, and other jazz artists. The label was the first to record in-person performances by Lenny Bruce.