Verve Records facts for kids
Quick facts for kids Verve Records |
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| Parent company | Verve Label Group (Universal Music Group (UMG)) |
| Founded | 1956 |
| Founder | Norman Granz |
| Distributor(s) | Verve Label Group |
| Genre | American contemporary; historically Jazz music |
| Country of origin | United States |
| Location | New York City, New York |
Verve Records is a well-known American record label. It is owned by Universal Music Group (UMG), which is one of the biggest music companies in the world. Verve Records was started in 1956 by a man named Norman Granz.
This label is famous for having the largest collection of jazz recordings anywhere. It includes music from amazing artists like Ella Fitzgerald, Nina Simone, Billie Holiday, and Jon Batiste. Verve also releases music from other types of artists, such as the Velvet Underground and Kurt Vile. The company also took over music from Granz's older labels, Clef Records and Norgran Records.
Today, Verve Records continues to work with many different modern artists. These include Samara Joy and Arooj Aftab. Verve Records is now part of a bigger group called the Verve Label Group (VLG). This group also includes other historic music labels like Impulse! and Decca Records.
Contents
The Story of Verve Records
How Verve Records Started
Norman Granz created Verve Records especially for Ella Fitzgerald. He was her manager and wanted to produce new music for her. The very first album Verve released was Ella Fitzgerald Sings the Cole Porter Song Book.
Throughout the 1950s and 1960s, the label grew a lot. It started to include recordings from many other famous jazz musicians. Some of these artists were Charlie Parker, Bill Evans, Stan Getz, and Oscar Peterson.
New Sounds and Changes
In 1960, Norman Granz sold Verve Records to MGM, a large movie company. A new producer named Creed Taylor took charge at Verve. He wanted to make the music more popular.
Creed Taylor helped bring a new style of music called bossa nova to America. This happened with popular albums like Jazz Samba by Stan Getz and Charlie Byrd. Another big hit was Getz/Gilberto.
Beyond Jazz Music
In 1964, Verve started a new part of the company for folk music. It was first called Verve Folkways, but later changed its name to Verve Forecast. Creed Taylor left Verve in 1967 to start his own record company.
Besides jazz, Verve's music collection grew to include other types of bands. They released music by groups like the Righteous Brothers, the Velvet Underground, and Frank Zappa & the Mothers of Invention. Even though the Velvet Underground's first records didn't sell much at first, they became very important for independent rock music later on.
Verve in Recent Years
In the 1970s, Verve became part of a bigger music company called PolyGram. Later, in 1999, PolyGram joined with Universal Music Group. This created the Verve Music Group, which brought together many jazz recordings.
In the 1990s, Verve signed many new jazz artists. These included Herbie Hancock, Wayne Shorter, and Joe Henderson. The label continued to release important music.
In 2006, Verve Records became closely connected with Universal Music Enterprises (UMe). Under this new setup, Verve won a Grammy Award for Album of the Year. This was a big deal because it was the first time a jazz album had won this award since 1965.
Verve Records has seen more changes in leadership since 2019. During this time, they signed new and exciting artists. These include Jon Batiste, Samara Joy, and Arooj Aftab. Verve has had great success at the Grammy Awards recently. Jon Batiste won many awards in 2022, including Album of the Year. Arooj Aftab won for Best Global Performance. In 2023, Samara Joy won Best New Artist, which was a first for Verve in its long history.
The Verve Label Group
The Verve Label Group is a special part of Universal Music Group in the US. It focuses on contemporary, classic, and jazz music. This group includes the Verve and Impulse labels. It also includes Universal Music Classics.
Universal Music Classics has the Decca Gold label. It also represents European labels like Decca, Decca Classics, and Deutsche Grammophon.
In 2016, a new leader, Danny Bennett, was chosen for the Verve Label Group. The group moved its main office to New York City. In 2019, the group was reorganized again to focus on global classical and jazz music.
The Verve Label Group now releases more than just jazz. It also includes crossover classical music and pop music. It even has show tunes from Broadway musicals.
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