Showing posts with label Verve Records. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Verve Records. Show all posts

June 19, 2023

Dizzy is a state of mind

 ~           
Dizzy Doovay -2023 
photo by Styrous®


BPPV vs. Labyrinthitis!                       
Dizzy Gillespie           
William P. Gottlieb           
Labyrinthitis           
Tommy Roe           
Verve Records           
            
            
            
            
            
           
            
            
            
            
            
            
            
            
            
Styrous® ~ Monday, June 19, 2023          








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November 19, 2021

Sonny Stitt articles/mentions

 ~        
      
     
      
Sarah Vaughan ~ Crazy & Mixed Up       
     
     
     
     
     
     
      
Sonny Stitt     
date & photographer unknown     
     
      
     
      
     
      
     
      
     
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

April 6, 2021

The Inner Sleeve

         
         
         
         
         
         
         
         
         
         
         
         
         
         
         
         
         
         
         
         
         
         
         
         
         
          
 
 ~
 ~
 
 
 
 
 

January 30, 2018

Gene Krupa articles/mentions

~ 
       
       
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
       
       
       
       
Gene Krupa - 1941     
photo by Gjon-Mili                  
 
 
 
 
       
mentions:       
       
"Fats" Domino ~ Blueberry Hill   
Jon Lord - Gemini Suite       
Verve Records & Norman Granz
     
     
       
       
              
    












January 19, 2018

Bud Powell articles/mentions

~    
     
Max Roach     
Verve Records & Norman Granz 
     
    
     
     
    
     
     
    
     
Bud Powell       
photographer unknown   
    
     
     
    
     






















January 13, 2018

William P. Gottlieb articles/mentions

~      
William P. Gottlieb: Jazz photographer
    
      
photographer unknown
mentions:     
Benny Carter       
Billy Eckstine       
Roy Eldridge ~ "Little Jazz" & tritones 
Ella Fitzgerald ~ Queen of Jazz     
Neal Hefti      
Earl "Fatha" Hines   
Stan Kenton ~ City of Glass     
Max Roach    
Artie Shaw       
Sarah Vaughan    
Verve Records & Norman Granz  
       
            
        
        
         
        
       












Coleman Hawkins articles/mentions

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Coleman Hawkins - June 30, 1945
Ad, page 15, Billboard magazine

   
  

      

































December 3, 2017

Cole Porter articles/mentions

~     
  
Sammy Davis Jr. – Six Bridges To Cross      
High Society & Grace Kelly         
Enoch Light ~ Musical Explorations In Sound   
Verve Records ~ The inner sleeve & Norman Granz   
    
    
     
    
    
    
         

photographer unknown 
          
       
     
   
      










August 28, 2017

Anita O'Day articles/mentions

~       
   
Stan Kenton ~ City of Glass        
Verve Records & Norman Granz        
 
   
           
        
   
           
           
             
Anita O'Day - 1940's       
publicity photo      
 


   










August 21, 2017

Stan Getz articles/mentions

  ~     
date & photographer unknown
 
 
Stan Getz ~ Another World         
 
mentions:            
Chicago III             
Jerzy Maksymiuk & Józef Skrzek ~ The War of the Worlds      
Gil Mellé ‎– The Andromeda Strain       
Max Roach     
Adolphe Sax ~ The saxophone & weird wonders     
         
         
         









August 17, 2017

Count Basie articles/mentions

~

Oscar Peterson ~  
      Maharaja of the keyboard            
Sweets Ballroom ~ 
      Jitterbugging in the Forties       
     
      
     
     
     
     
Count Basie - 1945       
photographer unknown       
Associated Press    












June 19, 2017

Dizzy Gillespie articles/mentions

~    
Dizzy Gillespie ~ 
     trumpeter, bandleader, composer & singer 

mentions:         
Louis Armstrong ~ Trumpeter & scat singer   Ella Fitzgerald ~ Queen of Jazz        
The Harlem Renaissance          
William P. Gottlieb: Jazz photographer  
Max Roach        
Gunther Schuller & Third Stream jazz   
Verve Records & Norman Granz    
               
             
       
          Dizzy Gillespie - 1955
photo by Carl Van Vechten

     
    










Billie Holiday articles/mentions

Blood, Sweat & Tears    
Fats Domino ~ Lifetime Achievement Award      
William P. Gottlieb      
The Harlem Renaissance      
Verve Records & Norman Granz        
In Memoriam    
 
      
       
     
           
Billie Holiday - 1949       
photo by Carl Van Vechten     

  
           
















May 20, 2017

Verve Records ~ the inner sleeve & Norman Granz

Verve Records inner sleeve
photo by Styrous®

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. The catalog grew throughout the 1950s and 1960s to include dozens of jazz greats. Granz was a fundamental figure in American jazz, especially from about 1947 to 1960. He was also the founder of Clef, Norgran, Down Home and Pablo.      



Verve Records inner sleeve detail
detail photo by Styrous®



Verve Records inner sleeve detail
detail photo by Styrous®



In the segregated society of the 1940s, Granz insisted on equal pay and accommodation for white and black musicians. He refused to take his hugely popular concerts to places which were segregated, even if he had to cancel concerts, thereby sacrificing considerable sums of money.    

Granz opposed racism and fought many battles for his artists, many of whom were black. In 1955, in Houston, Texas, he removed signs that designated "White" and "Negro" seating areas in the auditorium where two concerts were to be performed by Ella Fitzgerald and Dizzy Gillespie. Between the two shows Fitzgerald and Gillespie were playing cards in the dressing room when they were arrested by local police. After some negotiations, the artists were allowed to perform the second show and later were formally released. Granz nevertheless insisted on fighting the charges, which cost him a $2,000 fine.

Oscar Peterson recounted how Granz once insisted that white cabdrivers take his black artists as customers while a policeman pointed a loaded pistol at his stomach. Granz also was among the first to pay white and black artists the same salary and to give them equal treatment even in minor details, such as dressing rooms.

Granz also spearheaded the fight to desegregate the hotels and casinos in Las Vegas, arguing that it was unfair that black artists could perform on the stages, but could not stay or gamble at the hotels, or even enter through the front doors.        



Verve Records inner sleeve
photo by Styrous®




In 1956 Ella Fitzgerald joined the Norman Granz Verve label. Granz had been her manager for some time, and unified his activities under the common label of Verve Records. Granz became Fitzgerald's manager, and remained so until the end of her career. Fitzgerald's memorable series of eight Songbooks, together with the duet series (notably Armstrong-Peterson, Fitzgerald-Basie, Fitzgerald-Pass and Getz-Peterson) achieved wide popularity and brought acclaim to the label and to the artists. Granz was also the manager of Oscar Peterson, another lifelong friend.    

     
Verve Records inner sleeve detail
detail photo by Styrous®


Granz was born on August 6, 1918, in Los Angeles, California, the son of Jewish immigrants from Tiraspol, in Moldova. Tiraspol was founded in 1792. The toponym consists of the two ancient Greek words: Τύρας, Tyras, the Ancient name for the Dniester River, and polis, i.e., a city (state). Tyras (Τύρας), also spelled Tiras, was a colony of the Greek city Miletus, probably founded about 600 BC, situated some 10 kilometres (6 miles) from the mouth of the Tiras River (Dniester). In the 2nd century BC, it fell under the dominion of indigenous kings whose names appear on its coins. It was destroyed by the Thracian Getae about 50 BC.      



Norman Granz, ca. May 1947
Photo by William P. Gottlieb


      
Granz was acknowledged as "the most successful impresario in the history of jazz". In December of 1960, he sold Verve Records to Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. He founded his last label, Pablo Records, in 1973; in 1987, he sold it to Fantasy Records.

Granz died on November 22, 2001 , in Geneva, Switzerland. He was 83 years old.      


          
Viewfinder links:
      
Louis Armstrong           
Count Basie       
Roy Eldridge         
Herb Ellis         
Ella Fitzgerald          
Stan Getz         
Dizzy Gillespie                 
Billie Holiday         
Gil Mellé ‎– The Andromeda Strain          
Anita O'Day        
Charlie Parker            
Joe Pass        
Oscar Peterson          
Cole Porter       
Art Tatum             
Lester Young       
          
Net links:
     
New York Times obit       
NPR obit      
Jazz Times ~ Goodbye, My Friend           
udiscovermusic ~ The Man Who Made Jazz, Black AND White    
PopMatters ~ The Man Who Used Jazz for Justice       
     
       
   
''You sit where I sit you. 
You don’t want to sit next to a black, 
here’s your money back.'' 
                                                       ~ Norman Granz            



Styrous® ~ Saturday, May 20, 2017