Verve Records is best known as one of America's pre-eminent Jazz labels, although it has also signed major artists in other genres, including Rock and Recorded and Stand-Up Comedy.
Verve was started in 1956 by Norman Granz, an experienced jazz producer and impresario who had previously headed the Clef and Norgran labels. His first signing was Ella Fitzgerald, whom he was already managing. He soon assembled an impressive roster that included Count Basie, Lionel Hampton, Gene Krupa, Lee Konitz, Oscar Peterson, Bud Powell, and Lester Young, among many others. Granz also dabbled in Rock & Roll by issuing Ricky Nelson's first recordings.
Verve did well enough that it became a target for acquisition by larger entities. Frank Sinatra, who was interested in owning a record company, almost bought the label, but ultimately started his own Reprise imprint instead. In the end, Verve wound up purchased by MGM Records in 1960. Around the same time, Creed Taylor was hired away from Verve's rival Impulse! Records to become the new label head.
Under MGM's ownership, Verve continued as before while diversifying into new genres. The label had already signed Jonathan Winters, and it soon became a force in Recorded and Stand-Up Comedy with Shelley Berman, Phyllis Diller, Vaughn Meader, Mort Sahl, and the Creator Couple of Jerry Stiller and Anne Meara. There were also spoken word albums, such as Joseph Cotten's recitation The Letters of Thomas Jefferson and scientist Linus Pauling's lecture On Fallout and Nuclear Warfare.
As The '60s continued, Verve expanded into Folk Music with the Verve Folkways sublabel, which eventually evolved into Verve Forecast. It also found Pop success when The Righteous Brothers had a string of hits. Verve then signed two of the era's most daring and experimental Rock groups, The Velvet Underground and Frank Zappa and The Mothers of Invention.
As The '70s began, Verve was gradually wound down by the financially troubled MGM, which reissued some of its recordings. However, the imprint was eventually revived after MGM was acquired by PolyGram in 1972; in turn, PolyGram became part of Universal Music Group in 1998. Today, Verve is the flagship label of UMG's Verve Label Group, which includes Verve Forecast (also revived), Decca, Deutsche Grammophon, ECM, Mercury KX, and Verve's old rival Impulse!. Verve has become a home for veteran rock performers such as Van Morrison, Linda Ronstadt and Rod Stewart; it's also a catch-all label for reissues from UMG's jazz catalog, including several artists who did not record for the original label.
Verve original artists, past and present, with TV Tropes pages:
- Paul Anka
- Louis Armstrong
- Fred Astaire
- Burt Bacharach
- Count Basie
- Jorge Ben
- Tony Bennett
- Shelley Berman
- Mary J. Blige
- Andrea Bocelli
- Michelle Branch
- Ornette Coleman
- Bill Cosby
- Joseph Cotten
- Bernard Cribbins
- Bing Crosby
- Dorothy Dandridge
- Sammy Davis Jr.
- Phyllis Diller
- Duke Ellington
- Bill Evans
- Ella Fitzgerald
- Dizzy Gillespie
- Herbie Hancock
- Coleman Hawkins
- Johnny Hodges
- Billie Holiday
- The Ink Spots
- Antônio Carlos Jobim
- Quincy Jones
- Spike Jones
- B.B. King
- Roland Kirk
- Gladys Knight
- Labelle
- Michel Legrand
- Seth MacFarlane
- Barry Manilow
- Loreena McKennitt
- Sarah McLachlan
- Ricky Nelson
- Nico
- Charlie Parker
- The Puppini Sisters
- Queen Latifah
- Django Reinhardt
- Linda Ronstadt
- Richard Roundtree
- Lalo Schifrin
- Nina Simone
- Rod Stewart
- Jerry Stiller
- Donna Summer
- Talk Talk
- Art Tatum
- Sarah Vaughan
- The Velvet Underground
- Rufus Wainwright
- Jonathan Winters
- Yusuf, aka Cat Stevens
- Frank Zappa and The Mothers of Invention
Verve artists reissued from other UMG labels with TV Tropes pages:
- James Brown
- Ray Charles
- John Coltrane
- Nat King Cole
- Screamin' Jay Hawkins
- Charles Mingus
- Thelonious Monk
- Ike & Tina Turner
