VERVE
RECORDS

Independent label: Verve Records 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' in 1967; in or around 1968, when MGM adopted pink with a large silver 'A' for its demo label colours, Verve did the same. In 1966 a new fawn-coloured label appeared, running in tandem with the old black one. The first six releases on the fawn label had a new logo, 'Verve Folkways', and had numbers in the VS-1500s.  The material on it generally had a 'contemporary singer / songwriter' slant. After a slight hiatus the Folkways series was relaunched as 'Verve Forecast' , with numbers starting from VS-1510.  This label kept going into the 1970s, and has enough of a discrete identity to deserve its own page.  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 1971 was the only '70s British release on the actual Verve label, and is the record which qualifies the label for a place on this site.  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 Polydor Records. Thanks to Robert Lyons For The Info.

 

70	Richie Havens	There'S A Hole In The Future / Minstrel From Gault	VERVE FORECAST	2009	001
70	Tim Hardin	If I Were A Carpenter	VERVE	2009	002
70	Righteous Brothers	Woman, Man Needs Ya	VERVE	2009	003
70	Richie Havens	Handsome Johnny	MGM	2009	004
70	Not Traced		VERVE	2009	005
70	Tim Hardin	Hang On To A Dream	VERVE FORECAST	2009	006
70	Louis Armstrong	Stormy Weather	VERVE	2009	007
70	Ella Fitzgerald	Summertime / Stompin' At The Savoy	VERVE	2009	008
70	Stan Getz - Charlie Byrd	Desafinado / Samba De Uma Nota So	VERVE	2009	009
70	Stan Getz, Astrud Gilberto	The Girl From Ipanema / Desafinado ?	VERVE	2009	010
70	Ella Fitzgerald	Mack The Knife / The Lady Is A Tramp	VERVE	2009	011
70	Oscar Peterson	Night Train / Liza	VERVE	2009	012
70	Jimmy Smith	The Cat / Respect	VERVE	2009	013
70	Wes Montgomery	Bumpin' / Love Theme From The Sandpiper	VERVE	2009	014
71	Jimmy Smith	Respect / The Cat	VERVE	2009	015
71	Astrud Gilberto	Sing Me A Rainbow	VERVE FORECAST	2009	016
71	Ella Fitzgerald	Manhattan	VERVE FORECAST	2009	017
71	Artie Butler	Feelin' Alright	VERVE	2009	018
71	Astrud Gilberto	La Sombra De Tu Sonrisa / Trenes, Barcos Y Aviones	VERVE	2009	019
72	Nino Tempo Orchestra / April Stevens	The Story Of Love	VERVE	2009	020
72	Not Traced		VERVE	2009	021
72	The Blobs	Son Of Blob / Party Pooper	VERVE	2009	022
72	Not Traced		VERVE	2009	023
72	Not Traced		VERVE	2009	024
72	Lalo	Latin Soul / Dirty Harry	VERVE	2009	025
72	Righteous Brothers	He	VERVE	2009	026
73	Louis Armstrong	Uncle Satchmo'S Lullaby	VERVE	2009	027
73	Ella Fitzgerald	Mr. Paganini	VERVE	2009	028
74	Ellie Greenwich	Luego Me Beso (And Then He Kissed Me)	VERVE	2009	029
74	Not Traced		VERVE	2009	030
74	Not Traced		VERVE	2009	031
74	Not Traced		VERVE	2009	032
74	Not Traced		VERVE	2009	033
74	Not Traced		VERVE	2009	034
74	Not Traced		VERVE	2009	035
74	Not Traced		VERVE	2009	036
74	Not Traced		VERVE	2009	037
74	Not Traced		VERVE	2009	038
74	Spike Jones	Black And Blue Danube Waltz	VERVE	2009	039