Editing Verve Records (section)

==History==
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]]''.<ref name="Longreads">{{cite web|last1=Maxwell|first1=Tom|title=The Story of 'Ella and Louis,' 60 Years Later|url=https://blog.longreads.com/2016/11/07/the-story-of-ella-and-louis-60-years-later/|website=Longreads|publisher=Longreads.com|access-date=21 November 2016|date=November 2016}}</ref> 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 Milton Rudin, Granz' 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 1960. 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, terminating 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 (Walter Wanderley album)|''Rain Forest'']] by [[Walter Wanderley]]. Verve's arrangers included [[Claus Ogerman]] and [[Oliver Nelson]]. According to Ogerman in ''Jazzletter'', he arranged 60–70 albums for Verve from 1963 to 1967.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://bjbear71.com/Ogerman/Claus-news.html |title=The Work of Claus Ogerman |publisher=Bjbear71.com |access-date=2013-02-28}}</ref>

In 1964, Taylor supervised the creation of a [[folk music]] subsidiary named Verve Folkways which was later renamed [[Verve Forecast Records|Verve Forecast]]. Taylor left Verve in 1967 to form [[CTI Records]]. Aside from jazz, Verve's catalogue included [[the Righteous Brothers]], [[the Velvet Underground]], [[Frank Zappa]] & [[the Mothers of Invention]], [[Rare Earth (band)|Rare Earth]], and [[the Blues Project]], as well as a series of "Sound Impressions of an American on Tour" records which was produced in cooperation with ''[[Esquire (magazine)|Esquire]]'' Magazine.<ref>{{Cite book|title=Designed for hi-fi living : the vinyl LP in midcentury America|last=Borgerson|first=Janet|publisher=MIT Press|others=Schroeder, Jonathan E., 1962-|year=2017|isbn=9780262036238|location=Cambridge, Massachusetts|pages=269–284|oclc=958205262}}</ref>

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 man  [[Tom Wilson (record producer)]], 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 from [[Nico]] and the [[Velvet Underground]] (produced by Wilson) and the  [[Bosstown Sound]] bands ([[Beacon Street Union]], [[Ultimate Spinach]] and [[Orpheus]]), to MGM movie-soundtrack LPs like ''[[Gone with the Wind (film)|Gone with the Wind]]''.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://producertomwilson.com/the-music-factory | title=The Music Factory }}</ref>

While the Velvet Underground's first records did not initially sell well, the band became a major influence in independent rock music. See ''[[The Velvet Underground & Nico]]'' and their second album, ''[[White Light/White Heat]]''.

In the 1970s, Verve became part of [[PolyGram]], incorporating the [[Mercury Records|Mercury]]/[[EmArcy Records|EmArcy]] jazz catalog, which [[Philips]], part owners of PolyGram had earlier acquired. Verve Records became the Verve Music Group after PolyGram was merged with [[Seagram]]'s [[Universal Music Group]] in 1999. The jazz holdings from the merged companies were folded into this sub-group.<ref>[http://www.allaboutjazz.com/php/entity.php?id=1469] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090501091602/http://www.allaboutjazz.com/php/entity.php?id=1469|date=May 1, 2009}}</ref>

In 1990, British group [[Talk Talk]] signed to Polydor after conflicts with their previous label [[EMI]] 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 the [[post-rock]] movement.

In the 1990s, as part of PolyGram Classics and Jazz, Verve signed [[Herbie Hancock]], [[Wayne Shorter]], [[Joe Henderson]], [[Roy Hargrove]], [[John Scofield]], [[Shirley Horn]], [[Betty Carter]], [[Abbey Lincoln]], [[Chris Botti]], [[Jeff Lorber]], [[Gino Vannelli]], [[Art Porter, Jr.|Art Porter]], [[Will Downing]], and [[Incognito (band)|Incognito]].

When Universal and PolyGram merged in 1998, Verve's holdings were merged with Universal's [[GRP Records|GRP 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.<ref>{{cite magazine | url=https://www.billboard.com/music/music-news/goldstein-exits-verve-1328900/ | title=Goldstein Exits Verve | magazine=[[Billboard (magazine)|Billboard]] }}</ref>

Under this regime, led by UMe's President, Bruce Resnikoff, Verve won the Grammy 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.<ref>{{cite magazine | url=https://www.billboard.com/music/music-news/billboard-qa-umeverve-music-group-presidentceo-bruce-resnikoff-1311455/ | title=Billboard Q&A: UME/Verve Music Group President/CEO Bruce Resnikoff | magazine=[[Billboard (magazine)|Billboard]] }}</ref>

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 of [[Jon Batiste]], [[Samara Joy]], [[Kurt Vile]] and [[Arooj Aftab]].  Verve has had particularly strong showings at the Grammy's since 2019 with [[Jon 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, and [[Samara 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 by [[Herb Alpert]] for his [[A&M Records]] label which Alpert acquired in a legal settlement with Universal Music and are licensed to [[Shout! Factory]]),<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.shoutfactory.com/browse/42/herb_alpert.aspx |title=Shout! Factory - Herb Alpert |access-date=2011-07-16 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110716161333/http://www.shoutfactory.com/browse/42/herb_alpert.aspx |archive-date=2011-07-16 }}</ref> while the [[Impulse! Records]] imprint manages the portion of Universal's catalog that was acquired from [[ABC Records]], which itself includes the jazz catalog of the [[Famous Music]] Group, which was once owned by [[Paramount 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 the [[Decca Records|Decca]] and [[Chess Records|Chess]] labels.