VERVE
RECORDS

 Independent label: Verve was started by Norman Grantz; he sold it to MGM in the mid '60s, and in the '70s it settled down with that company to become part of the Polydor family.  The Verve single which most people remember is the Stan Getz and Astrud Gilberto version of 'The Girl from Ipanema', which was a hit in Britain as well as in the States.  Verve was always more of an albums label than a singles one; the few singles it put out in the '70s tended to be reissues of past hits by people such as Ella Fitzgerald.  Throughout the '60s Verve's records were handled by EMI in this country.  At first the name appeared merely as a logo on EMI's HMV label but in October 1962 it appeared as a label in its own right.  At this point its singles began to be numbered in a VS-500 series.  Demos for this VS-500 series followed the standard EMI pattern for the most part, being white with a large red 'A' until 1966, and green with a large white 'A' in1967.  In the summer of 1967 MGM set up its own UK operation and went independent from EMI, its agreement with that company changing from a licensing one to a pressing and distribution one.  The change was marked by an alteration in the wording at the top of the Verve label, from  'EMI Records' to 'MGM Records'; demos became pink with a large silver 'A', following the lead set by those of the parent label.   In 1966 an offshoot label appeared, 'Verve Folkways' , the fruit of an agreement between MGM and Moses Asch's 'Folkways' company.  Singles on the new label were numbered in the VS-1500s, and the material on it generally had a 'contemporary singer / songwriter' slant.  After a slight hiatus in the autumn of 1967 the Folkways series was relaunched as 'Verve Forecast', with numbers starting from VS-1510.  This label kept going into the 1970s,  When MGM moved to Polydor, which happened in late 1970 or early 1971, Verve went with it.  At that point the catalogue numbers changed: Polydor family labels came with seven-figure catalogue numbers, the first digit of which was always a '2'; the series allotted to Verve's singles (standard and Forecast alike) for Britain and the rest of Europe, was 2009-000.   In the following year, however, the Verve label seems to have been shelved in Britain, as far as singles are concerned, though it continued on the continent.  The very occasional single came out over here in the '70s, '80s and '90s, but releases were few and far between and they appear to have been reissues rather than new recordings.  Though there were several 1970s issues on Verve Forecast the Ella Fitzgerald single 'Ev'ry Time We Say Goodbye' (2009-017) which came out in March 1976 was the only '70s British release on the actual Verve label, Originally released in 1957 - which explains the date on the label - it had also been re-released in 1971 on Verve Forecast with the same catalogue number but with 'Manhattan' as the 'A' side. Distributed By EMI and Polydor Records.

   
A FULL DISCOGRAPHY OF MAJOR VERVE VS 500 SERIES 1967-1970 CAN BE FOUND HERE
  
  

66	Lind Bob	Hey Nellie Nellie	VERVE FOLKWAYS	VS	1501
66	Nyro Laura	Wedding Bell Blues	VERVE FOLKWAYS	VS	1502
66	Ian Janis	Society'S Child	VERVE FOLKWAYS	VS	1503
66	Hardin Tim	Hang On To A Dream	VERVE FOLKWAYS	VS	1504
67	Blues Project	I Cant Keep Crying	VERVE FOLKWAYS	VS	1505
67	Ian Janis	Society'S Child	VERVE	VS	1506
67	Not Issued		VERVE	VS	1507
67	Not Issued		VERVE	VS	1508
67	Not Issued		VERVE	VS	1509
67	Hombres	Let It Out	VERVE FORECAST	VS	1510
67	Hardin Tim	The Lady Came From Baltimore	VERVE FORECAST	VS	1511
69	Richie Havens	Three Day Eternity	VERVE FORECAST	VS	1512
68	Ian Janis	Sunflakes Fall Snow Rays Call	VERVE FORECAST	VS	1513
68	Paupers	Think I Care	VERVE FORECAST	VS	1514
68	Friend & Lover	Reach Out Of The Darkness	VERVE FORECAST	VS	1515
68	Hardin Tim	Don'T Make Promises	VERVE FORECAST	VS	1516
68	Macdermot Galt	Hare Krishna	VERVE FORECAST	VS	1517
69	Caravan	A Place Of My Own	VERVE FORECAST	VS	1518
69	Havens Richie	Lady Madonna	VERVE FORECAST	VS	1519
69	Paupers	Southdown Road	VERVE FORECAST	VS	1520
69	Richie Havens	Rocky Raccoon	VERVE FORECAST	VS	1521
69	Laura Nyro	Wedding Bell Blues	VERVE FORECAST	VS	1522
69	Richie Havens	There'S A Hole In The Future	VERVE FORECAST	VS	1523
69	Richie Havens	Handsome Johnny	VERVE FORECAST	VS	1524

  

71	Tim Hardin	Hang On To A Dream	VERVE FORECAST	2009	006
71	Gilberto Astrud	Sing Me A Rainbow	VERVE FORECAST	2009	016
76	Fitzgerald Ella	Everytime We Say Goodbye	VERVE FORECAST	2009	017

61	Ella Fitzgerald	In Person	VERVE	VEP	5001
61	Gerry Mulligan The Concert Jazz Band	The Concert Jazz Band	VERVE	VEP	5002
61	Ella Fitzgerald	Ella Fitzgerald Sings The Harold Arlen Songbook Vol.1	VERVE	VEP	5003
61	Ella Fitzgerald	Ella Fitzgerald Sings The Harold Arlen Songbook Vol.2	VERVE	VEP	5004
62	Ella Fitzgerald With Nelson Riddle	Ella Swings Brightly With Nelson	VERVE	VEP	5005
62	Ella Fitzgerald	Ella Fitzgerald Sings Great Standards With Nelson Riddle	VERVE	VEP	5006
62	Oscar Peterson Trio With Milt Jackson	Oscar Peterson / Milt Jackson	VERVE	VEP	5007
62	Jimmy Smith	Walk On The Wild Side	VERVE	VEP	5008
62	Stan Getz And Charlie Byrd	Stan Getz And Charlie Byrd Play Desafinado	VERVE	VEP	5009
62	Count Basie	On My Way And Shoutin' Again	VERVE	VEP	5010
62	Ella Fitzgerald	Hello Dolly	VERVE	VEP	5011
63	Louis Armstrong	Hello Louis	VERVE	VEP	5012
63	Ella Fitzgerald And Count Basie	Ellie And Basie !	VERVE	VEP	5013
64	Stan Getz	The Girl From Ipanema	VERVE	VEP	5014
64	Oscar Peterson	Night Train	VERVE	VEP	5015
64	Jimmy Smith	Jimmy Smith Plays The Blues	VERVE	VEP	5016
64	Jimmy Smith	A Cool Yule With Jimmy Smith	VERVE	VEP	5017
64	Davis, Sammy & Count Basie	New York City Blues	VERVE	VEP	5018
65	Astrud Gilberto With Antonio Carlos Jobim	And Roses And Roses	VERVE	VEP	5019
65	The Oscar Peterson Trio	A Jazz Portrait Of Frank Sinatra	VERVE	VEP	5020
65	Jimmy Smith	The Creeper	VERVE	VEP	5021
65	Jimmy Smith	Swinging With The Incredible Jimmy Smith	VERVE	VEP	5022
66	Ella Fitzgerald	Ella In Hamburg	VERVE	VEP	5023
66	The Righteous Brothers	The Righteous Brothers	VERVE	VEP	5024

 

62

Stan Getz

Jazz Theme From Dr. Kildare

HMV

POP

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