Verve Records
Encyclopedia : V : VE : VER : Verve Records
| Verve Records | |||
 | |||
| Parent company | Universal Music Group | ||
| Founded | 1956 | ||
| Founder(s) | Norman Granz | ||
| Distributing label | Verve Records (In the US) | ||
| Genre | Jazz | ||
| Country | US | ||
| Web address | http://www.vervemusicgroup.com | ||
Verve Records is an American Jazz record label, founded by Norman Granz in 1956, which absorbed the catalogues of his earlier labels: Norgran Records and Clef Records (founded 1953).
History
The Verve catalog grew throughout the 1950s and 1960s to include most of the major figures in jazz, though Granz tended to record established artists, sometimes in decline, rather than new talent. It also recognized the potential of comedy albums, producing Spike Jones' first LP, Dinner Music For People Who Aren't Very Hungry in 1956 and several best-selling albums featuring live performances by Shelley Berman beginning in 1960.Granz sold Verve to MGM in 1961 for $3 million. Creed Taylor took over as producer, bringing the bossa nova to America with the Stan Getz/Charlie Byrd LP Jazz Samba as well as Getz/Gilberto. Shortly before leaving Verve in 1967, Creed created a folk music subsidiary named Verve Folkways (later renamed Verve Forecast). But by now, new recordings began to decline & would cease altogether in the early 1970s. The label was revived in the mid-1980s for new releases. Yet a more important focus for the new Verve Records is the reissuing of its back catalogue, in ever more imaginative ways.
In the seventies the label became part of the PolyGram label group, at this point incorporating the Mercury/EmArcy jazz catalog, which Phillips, part owners of PolyGram had earlier acquired. Verve Records became the Verve Music Group after PolyGram was merged with Seagram's Universal Music Group in 1998. The jazz holdings from the merged companies were folded into this sub-group.
Since 2002, the label has released a series of Verve Remixed compilation discs where classic tracks by Verve artists are remixed by contemporary electronic music DJs.
Some of the record labels currently in the Verve Music Group.
- EmArcy Records
- Impulse! Records
- GRP Records
- Commodore Records
- Coral Records
- Blue Thumb Records
- Brunswick Records
- Decca Records (Its jazz holdings only.)
- Verve Forecast
List of early Verve artists
Instrumentalists
- Coleman Hawkins
- Charlie Parker
- Count Basie
- Duke Ellington
- Oscar Peterson
- Dizzy Gillespie
- Bud Powell
- Lester Young
- Kid Ory
- Stan Getz
- Ben Webster
- Bill Evans
- Roy Eldridge
- Gerry Mulligan
- Buddy Rich
- Gene Krupa
- Illinois Jacquet
- Art Tatum
- Teddy Wilson
Vocalists
- Bing Crosby
- Ella Fitzgerald
- Betty Carter
- Natalie Cole
- Blossom Dearie
- Anita O'Day
- Carmen McRae
- Nina Simone
- Mel Torme
- Sally Kellerman
- Diana Krall
- Sarah Vaughn
- Joe Williams
Others
See also
External links
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