Verve Records

Multinational record label; appears with logo "[i]Verve[/i]" as well as with logo "[i]Verve Records[/i]".
Label Code: LC 0383 / LC 00383
For all Unofficial / Bootleg releases of this label, please use .

Verve Records was originally the product of the vision of jazz impresario [a=Norman Granz] (1918-2001). He formed the label in 1956 and moved all of the recordings released on his earlier [l=Norgran Records] and [l=Clef Records] labels to create the new Verve catalog. The first releases were in February of that year.

In December 1960, Granz sold the label to , becoming a subsidiary of [l=MGM Records] in the process. During the 1960s, Verve expanded into comedy ([a=Jonathan Winters], [a=Mort Sahl], [a=Phyllis Diller]), pop (), R&B ([a=Howard Tate], [a=Arthur Prysock]), rock ([a=The Velvet Underground], [a=Frank Zappa] and the [a=Mothers of Invention], [a=Blues Project]) and folk ([a=Janis Ian], [a=Richie Havens], [a=Tim Hardin]) music, eventually creating the [l=Verve Folkways] (later renamed [l=Verve Forecast]) label in 1966 for issuing more psychedelic-leaning rock as well as folk and blues material.

Verve had million-selling jazz recordings during that decade from [a=Stan Getz], [a=Kai Winding], [a=Astrud Gilberto], [a=Ella Fitzgerald] and [a=Jimmy Smith] among others under the studio/A&R direction of [a=Creed Taylor].

The MGM film studio sold its record division to [l=Polydor] in 1972, a move that brought Verve into the newly formed [l=PolyGram] and its family of record labels. Verve slowly became relegated to jazz reissues as MGM Records (and the non-jazz Verve output) was ultimately absorbed into Polydor by 1976. During this period, PolyGram had [l=Mercury] Records' [l=Emarcy] jazz catalog absorbed into Verve's holdings. In the late 1980s, PolyGram decided to reactivate the long-dormant label with both a reissue program and new artist signings. The revitalized label's new material and remastered classic recordings sold very well and it soon became PolyGram's front-line jazz division.

With the 1999 merger of [l=PolyGram] with Vivendi Universal creating the [l=Universal Music Group], Verve Records became the hub of the [l=The Verve Music Group], which also encompasses the influential , and labels as well as overseeing the jazz catalog holdings of a number of UMG-owned labels, including [l=Commodore], [l=Chess], [l=Brunswick] (pre-1958), [l=Argo (2)], [l=Cadet Records], [l=Dot Records], [l=Coral], [l=Decca], [l=ABC-Paramount], , [l=Mercury], [l=Philips] and [l=Polydor].

For the different label designs, see label guide links below.

For the company credits, see:
-[l=Verve Records, Inc.] (1956-1960)
-[l=MGM Records], a division of [l=Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, Inc.] (US) / [l=MGM Records], a division of [l=Loew's Incorporated] (Germany) (1960-1971)