Norman Granz was an American jazz record producer and concert promoter. He founded the record labels Clef, Norgran, Down Home, Verve, and Pablo. Granz was acknowledged as "the most successful impresario in the history of jazz". He was also a champion of racial equality, insisting, for example, on integrating audiences at concerts he promoted.
Jean-Baptiste "Illinois" Jacquet was an American jazz tenor saxophonist, best remembered for his solo on "Flying Home", critically recognized as the first R&B saxophone solo.
Jazz at the Philharmonic, or JATP (1944–1983), was the title of a series of jazz concerts, tours and recordings produced by Norman Granz.
James Charles Heard was an American swing, bop, and blues drummer.
Charles James Shavers was an American jazz trumpeter who played with Dizzy Gillespie, Nat King Cole, Roy Eldridge, Johnny Dodds, Jimmie Noone, Sidney Bechet, Midge Williams, Tommy Dorsey, and Billie Holiday. He was an arranger and composer, and one of his compositions, "Undecided", is a jazz standard.
Lester Willis Young, nicknamed "Pres" or "Prez", was an American jazz tenor saxophonist and occasional clarinetist.
At the Opera House is a 1958 live album by Ella Fitzgerald. The album presents a recording of the 1957 Jazz at the Philharmonic Concerts. This series of live jazz concerts was devised by Fitzgerald's manager Norman Granz; they ran from 1944 to 1983. Featured on this occasion, in 1957, are Fitzgerald and the leading jazz players of the day in an onstage jam session. The first half of the 1990 CD edition includes a performance that was recorded on September 29, 1957, at the Chicago Opera House, whilst the second half highlights the concert recorded on October 7, 1957, at the Shrine Auditorium, in Los Angeles. The original LP obviously included only the mono tracks (#10-18).
Fine and Mellow is an album by Ella Fitzgerald, released in 1979. The album won the Grammy Award for Best Jazz Vocal Album in 1980.
Songs for Distingué Lovers is an album by jazz singer Billie Holiday, released in 1958 on Verve Records. It was originally available in both mono and stereo. It was recorded at Capitol Studios in Los Angeles from January 3 to January 9, 1957, and produced by Norman Granz.
Jazz at the Philharmonic – Yoyogi National Stadium, Tokyo 1983: Return to Happiness is a live album that was released in 1983. The album includes Louie Bellson, Eddie "Lockjaw" Davis, Harry "Sweets" Edison, Ella Fitzgerald, Al Grey, J. J. Johnson, Joe Pass, Niels-Henning Ørsted Pedersen, Oscar Peterson, Zoot Sims, and Clark Terry.
Lady Sings the Blues is an album by American jazz vocalist Billie Holiday released in December 1956. It was Holiday's last album released on Clef Records; the following year, the label would be absorbed by Verve Records. Lady Sings the Blues was taken from sessions taped during 1954 and 1956. It was released simultaneously with her ghostwritten autobiography of the same name.
An Evening with Billie Holiday is the second 10-inch LP studio album by jazz singer Billie Holiday, released by Clef Records in 1953.
The Lester Young Trio and The Lester Young Trio No. 2 are jazz trio albums recorded in Hollywood, California in March–April 1946 by Lester Young with Nat King Cole and Buddy Rich.
Stay with Me is an album by the jazz singer Billie Holiday, accompanied by Tony Scott and his Orchestra. It contains all the material from a session recorded February 14, 1955, in New York City, and released in 1958 on producer Norman Granz's Verve label.
This is the complete discography of the main 12-inch (8000) series of LPs issued by Verve Records, a label founded in 1956 by producer Norman Granz in Los Angeles, California. Alongside new sessions Granz re-released many of the recordings of his earlier labels Clef and Norgran on Verve.
Billie Holiday is the third 10 inch LP album of original material by jazz singer Billie Holiday, released on Clef Records in 1954. The recordings took place in 1952 and 1954. Holiday never entered the recording studio in 1953.
The Essential Billie Holiday: Carnegie Hall Concert Recorded Live is a live album by jazz singer Billie Holiday that was recorded on November 10, 1956 at Carnegie Hall in New York City. The two concerts promoted Billie Holiday's autobiography, Lady Sings the Blues.
White Gardenia is an album by jazz saxophonist Johnny Griffin with brass and strings which was recorded in 1961 and released on the Riverside label. Intended as a tribute album to jazz singer Billie Holiday, who had died two years earlier, she had sung all of the songs, except for the title track, which is the only original composition by Griffin on the album. The white gardenia was the flower Holiday often wore in her hair. The orchestral arrangements were written by Melba Liston and Norman Simmons.
James Theodore Powell was an American jazz saxophonist who played alto sax.
The Complete Commodore & Decca Masters is a 3CD box set of recordings by Billie Holiday, released by Hip-O Records in 2009, compiling all the master takes released as 78rpm singles by Commodore and Decca Records. It includes an essay by Ashley Kahn.
