Verve
The American music label Verve
Jazz on Verve - a touch lighter. It too has glamor and its stars, who feel just as comfortable with a glass of champagne in their hands in a backdrop of dark red velvet as they do in the wicked bars of Chicago.
The sophisticated ladies of jazz, who have lived through all the highs and lows themselves, who own up to all the mistakes of their lives and no longer have to prove anything to anyone, are gathered together on the Verve label: Ella Fitzgerald is the personified jazz feeling and quite simply an icon. Many of her Verve productions have been crowned with Grammy awards. And with these wonderful recordings, Ella paved the way for the label's success and reputation.Norman Granz, a jazz producer from Los Angeles, brought together several small labels in 1956 to form Verve Records and released the first record from Verve Records, "Ella Fitzgerald Sings The Cole Porter Songbook", thus setting a milestone in jazz history.
The name of the label "Verve" was synonymous with a light, positive attitude to life as well as the creativity and power of music. This lightness is also one of the many facets of jazz music. This is what Sarah Vaughan stands for in "Corcovado (Quiet Nights Of Quiet Stars)" or her samba version of Lennon/Mc Cartney's "Something". There is no better way for music to convey a feeling of lightness and happiness. Nina Simone's "My Baby Just Cares For Me", Stan Getz and Joao Gilberto's "Desafinato" from the record "Jazz Samba" or Oscar Peterson's "I'm In the Mood For Love" from his album "Girl Talk" also come across as relaxed and light. Shirley Horn released "You Won't Forget Me", an absolute top album, recorded with Miles Davis and Toots Thilemans
"I Get A Kick Out Of You" by the incomparable Billie Holiday - "Lady Sing The Blues" is the title of her touching biography, which is well worth reading. Listening to her blues "Fine and Mellow", which could not be interpreted in a more emotionally charged way, gives you an approximate idea of Billie Holiday's artistic ability. And of her soul.
Verve-Music, the jazz company, has brought them all together: Duke Ellington and Count Basie, Bill Evens and Ben Webster, Garry Mulligan and Coleman Hawkins, Carmen McRay and also Bing Crosby, whose "White Christmas" became the best-selling song of all time worldwide and who sang "True Love" from the film "High Society" with Grace Kelly and made it an absolute world hit.
The Verve label had made artistic forays into other popular music genres, changed hands several times and, after a creative break, repositioned itself as a renowned jazz label under the umbrella of Universal Music. Today, Jamie Cullum, Till Brönner, Diana Krall, Lucy Woodward, Bruce Hornsby & The Noisemakers, Natalie Cole, Loreena McKenitt and many other sparkling stars produce here.
