Verve Records
| Verve Records | |
|---|---|
 |
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| Parent company | Universal Music Group |
| Founded | 1956 |
| Founder | Norman Granz |
| Distributor(s) | Verve Label Group Interscope Geffen A&M |
| Genre | Various; historically Jazz music |
| Country of origin | United States. |
| Location | Santa Monica, California |
| Official website | vervemusicgroup |
Verve Records is an American record company operating under the newly-founded Verve Label Group distributed by Interscope Geffen A&M Records. It was founded in 1956 by Norman Granz. It absorbed the catalogues of his earlier labels, Clef Records (founded in 1946) and Norgran Records (founded in 1953), and material previously licensed to Mercury Records. It has been under ownership of Universal Music Group and has recently expanded to scope newer artists.
Norman Granz created Verve to produce new recordings by Ella Fitzgerald, whom he managed; the first album the label released was Ella Fitzgerald Sings the Cole Porter Song Book. The catalog grew throughout the 1950s and 1960s to include Charlie Parker, Bill Evans, Stan Getz, Billie Holiday, Oscar Peterson, Ben Webster, and Lester Young.
By 1960, Granz near retirement. Milton Rudin, his attorney, represented Frank Sinatra and knew that Sinatra wanted his own label. Sinatra and Granz made a handshake deal, but negotiations broke down over price and Sinatra's desire that Granz remain head of the label. Granz sold Verve to MGM in 1961. Sinatra established Reprise Records and hired Mo Ostin, an executive at Verve, to run it. At Verve, Creed Taylor was made head producer. Taylor adopted a more commercial approach, canceling several contracts. He brought bossa nova to America with the release of Jazz Samba by Stan Getz and Charlie Byrd, Getz/Gilberto, and Rain Forest by Walter Wanderley. Verve's notable arrangers included Claus Ogerman and Oliver Nelson. According to Ogerman in Jazzletter, he arranged 60–70 albums for Verve from 1963–1947.
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