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| Verve Records | |
|---|---|
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| Parent company | Verve Label Group (Universal Music Group (UMG)) |
| Founded | 1956; 69 years ago (1956) |
| Founder | Norman Granz |
| Distributor | Verve Label Group |
| Genre | American contemporary; historicallyjazz music |
| Country of origin | United States |
| Location | New York City, New York |
| Official website | www |
Verve Records is an Americanrecord label owned byUniversal Music Group (UMG). Founded in 1956 byNorman Granz, the label is home to the world's largestjazz catalogue, which includes recordings byElla Fitzgerald,Cal Tjader,Nina Simone,Stan Getz,Bill Evans,Billie Holiday,Oscar Peterson,Jon Batiste, andDiana Krall, among other notable artists, as well as a diverse mix of recordings that fall outside the jazz category, with albums from such disparate artists asthe Velvet Underground,Kurt Vile,Arooj Aftab,Frank Zappa andthe Mothers of Invention, and many more. It absorbed the catalogues of Granz's earlier label,Clef Records, founded in 1946;Norgran Records, founded in 1953; and material which was previously licensed toMercury Records.[1]
The label has continued to be the home to an eclectic mix of modern artists, includingKurt Vile,Everything But the Girl,Samara Joy andArooj Aftab. The restructured Verve Records is now part of theVerve Label Group (VLG), a subsidiary of Universal Music Group. This company is also home to historic imprints includingVerve Forecast,Impulse! andDecca Records.
Norman Granz created Verve to produce new recordings byElla Fitzgerald, whom he managed; the first album the label released wasElla Fitzgerald Sings the Cole Porter Song Book.[2] The catalog grew throughout the 1950s and 1960s to includeCharlie Parker,Bill Evans,Stan Getz,Billie Holiday,Oscar Peterson,Ben Webster, andLester Young.
By 1960 Milton Rudin, Granz' attorney, representedFrank 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 toMGM in 1960. Sinatra establishedReprise Records and hiredMo Ostin, an executive at Verve, to run it. At Verve,Creed Taylor was made head producer. Taylor adopted a more commercial approach, terminating several contracts. He broughtbossa nova to America with the release ofJazz Samba byStan Getz andCharlie Byrd,Getz/Gilberto, andRain Forest byWalter Wanderley. Verve's arrangers includedClaus Ogerman andOliver Nelson. According to Ogerman inJazzletter, he arranged 60–70 albums for Verve from 1963 to 1967.[3]
In 1964, Taylor supervised the creation of afolk music subsidiary named Verve Folkways which was later renamedVerve Forecast. Taylor left Verve in 1967 to formCTI Records. Aside from jazz, Verve's catalogue includedthe Righteous Brothers,the Velvet Underground,Frank Zappa &the Mothers of Invention,Rare Earth, andthe Blues Project, as well as a series of "Sound Impressions of an American on Tour" records which was produced in cooperation withEsquire Magazine.[4]
The late 1960s relationship between Verve and other MGM labels is illustrated in the promotional "Music Factory" radio series for college stations hosted by A&R manTom Wilson, with studio guests from a variety of MGM labels:Janis Ian,Dave Van Ronk,Richie Havens,the Cowsills,Lovin' Spoonful and more. Meanwhile, the program's conversations and advertisements pitched everything fromNico and theVelvet Underground (produced by Wilson) and theBosstown Sound bands (Beacon Street Union,Ultimate Spinach andOrpheus), to MGM movie-soundtrack LPs such asGone with the Wind.[5]
While the Velvet Underground's first records did not initially sell well, the band became a major influence in independent rock music. SeeThe Velvet Underground & Nico and their second album,White Light/White Heat.
In the 1970s, Verve became part ofPolyGram, incorporating theMercury/EmArcy jazz catalog, whichPhilips, part-owners of PolyGram, had earlier acquired. Verve Records became the Verve Music Group after PolyGram was merged withSeagram'sUniversal Music Group in 1999. The jazz holdings from the merged companies were folded into this sub-group.[6]
In 1990, British groupTalk Talk signed to Polydor after conflicts with their previous labelEMI regarding a lack of commercial allure on their fourth album,Spirit of Eden. Their fifth and final album,Laughing Stock, was released through Verve on September 16, 1991 and, while being slightly divisive at the time, has since been reconsidered by critics and fans as their masterpiece and a precursor to thepost-rock movement.
In the 1990s, as part of PolyGram Classics and Jazz, Verve signedHerbie Hancock,Wayne Shorter,Joe Henderson,Roy Hargrove,John Scofield,Shirley Horn,Betty Carter,Abbey Lincoln,Chris Botti,Jeff Lorber,Gino Vannelli,Art Porter,Will Downing,Christian McBride andIncognito.
When Universal and PolyGram merged in 1998, Verve's holdings were merged with Universal'sGRP Recording Company to become Verve Music Group. Verve was corporately aligned with Universal Music Enterprises (UMe) in 2006 and was no longer a stand-alone label within UMG during that time.[7]
Under this regime, led by UMe's President, Bruce Resnikoff, Verve won theGrammy for album of the year, the first time a jazz record had garnered this award since another Verve album, Stan Getz's Getz/Gilberto, won in 1965.[8]
Verve Records went through several other leadership changes in the aughts (including stints by Danny Bennett and David Foster) before Jamie Krents took over with a revamped label team in 2019. Notable moments during this period include the signing ofJon Batiste,Samara Joy,Kurt Vile andArooj Aftab. Verve has had particularly strong showings at the Grammy Awards since 2019 withJon Batiste leading the music industry in 2022 with 11 nominations and 5 wins, including album of the year, as well as a win for Aftab in Best Global Performance, andSamara Joy winning Best New Artist in 2023, a first in the label's 67-year history.
The Verve imprint itself manages much of the jazz catalog that once belonged to PolyGram (not including recordings byHerb Alpert for hisA&M Records label which Alpert acquired in a legal settlement with Universal Music and are licensed toShout! Factory),[9] while theImpulse! Records imprint manages the portion of Universal's catalog that was acquired fromABC Records, which itself includes the jazz catalog of theFamous Music Group, which was once owned byParamount Pictures/Gulf+Western, but which was sold to ABC in 1974. Meanwhile, GRP manages the rest of MCA/Universal's jazz catalog, including some releases once issued on theDecca andChess labels.
TheVerve Label Group is the American contemporary, classic and jazz division ofUniversal Music Group in the US. Labels in the group include Verve andImpulse! Records labels andUniversal Music Classics. Verve labels are Verve Records andVerve Forecast.Universal Music Classical consists ofDecca Gold label plus represents the European imprintsDecca Records,Decca Classics,Deutsche Grammophon,Philips Classics andMercury KX plusECM Records distributed label.[10]
On May 20, 2016, the newly-formed Verve Label Group appointed industry veteran Danny Bennett as its president and CEO. Besides Verve, the label group was formed with Decca Records, Decca Classics, Deutsche Grammophon, Mercury Classics, and distributed label ECM. The group relocated to New York City.[11][12]
The label group in March 2019 was further restructured to its global classical and jazz unit. Dickon Stainer, President and CEO of Universal Classics and Jazz, would lead the group with Bennett exiting his post.[10] The Decca Broadway label for original cast recording was relaunched in May 2019.[13]
The Verve Label Group has expanded its output beyond jazz to include crossover classical music, progressive pop, and show tunes (by absorbingDecca Records'Broadway label and taking over ownership of the label's library includingEMI's,MGM Records', andMCA Records' musical theater catalogs).[14][15]
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