ArtistInfo

Norman Granz

1918-2001 US, Los Angeles
Producer of Jazz
A.k.a. Norman Shrdlu

Influential American jazz label founder. Born August 6, 1918, in Los Angeles, of a Ukrainian-Jewish ancestry, Granz was a fundamental figure in American jazz music, especially of the 1950s and the 1960s. In 1946 he established Clef Records and in 1953 Norgran Records which he ran alongside the smaller brand Down Home Records. In 1956 he fused his label activities into Verve Records which he sold to MGM in 1960. In 1973 he established his fifth and last label, Pablo Records. With the releases on these labels Granz has supervised the recordings of a significant number of jazz classics. He started the Jazz At The Philharmonic (JATP) concert tours which were perhaps the first marketed "jam" sessions to be distributed. The concerts were widely recorded and distributed under the Norman Granz Presents Jazz At The Philharmonic banner. Granz died 22 November 2001 in Geneva, Switzerland aged 83.

Genres

• Jazz
• Rock
• Blues