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Jazz at the Philharmonic, or JATP (1944–1983), was the title of a series of jazz concerts, tours and recordings produced by Norman Granz. Over the years, "Jazz at the Philharmonic" featured many of the era's preeminent musicians, including
Louie Bellson Louie Bellson (born Luigi Paulino Alfredo Francesco Antonio Balassoni, July 6, 1924 – February 14, 2009), often seen in sources as Louis Bellson, although he himself preferred the spelling Louie, was an American jazz drummer. He was a composer, ...
, Ray Brown, Benny Carter, Nat King Cole, Sonny Criss, Buddy DeFranco,
Harry "Sweets" Edison Harry "Sweets" Edison (October 10, 1915 – July 27, 1999) was an American jazz trumpeter and a member of the Count Basie Orchestra. His most important contribution was as a Hollywood studio musician, whose muted trumpet can be heard bac ...
, Roy Eldridge,
Herb Ellis Mitchell Herbert Ellis (August 4, 1921 – March 28, 2010), known professionally as Herb Ellis, was an American jazz guitarist. During the 1950s, he was in a trio with pianist Oscar Peterson. Biography Born in Farmersville, Texas, and raised ...
,
Ella Fitzgerald Ella Jane Fitzgerald (April 25, 1917June 15, 1996) was an American jazz singer, sometimes referred to as the "First Lady of Song", "Queen of Jazz", and "Lady Ella". She was noted for her purity of tone, impeccable diction, phrasing, timing, in ...
,
Stan Getz Stanley Getz (February 2, 1927 – June 6, 1991) was an American jazz saxophonist. Playing primarily the tenor saxophone, Getz was known as "The Sound" because of his warm, lyrical tone, with his prime influence being the wispy, mellow timbre ...
,
Dizzy Gillespie John Birks "Dizzy" Gillespie (; October 21, 1917 – January 6, 1993) was an American jazz trumpeter, bandleader, composer, educator and singer. He was a trumpet virtuoso and improviser, building on the virtuosic style of Roy Eldridge but a ...
,
Lionel Hampton Lionel Leo Hampton (April 20, 1908 – August 31, 2002) was an American jazz vibraphonist, pianist, percussionist, and bandleader. Hampton worked with jazz musicians from Teddy Wilson, Benny Goodman, and Buddy Rich, to Charlie Parker, Charles ...
, Bill Harris, Coleman Hawkins, J. C. Heard,
Billie Holiday Billie Holiday (born Eleanora Fagan; April 7, 1915 – July 17, 1959) was an American jazz and swing music singer. Nicknamed "Lady Day" by her friend and music partner, Lester Young, Holiday had an innovative influence on jazz music and pop s ...
, Helen Humes, the
Modern Jazz Quartet The Modern Jazz Quartet (MJQ) was a jazz combo established in 1952 that played music influenced by classical, cool jazz, blues and bebop. For most of its history the Quartet consisted of John Lewis (piano), Milt Jackson (vibraphone), Percy ...
, Illinois Jacquet,
J. J. Johnson J.J. Johnson (January 22, 1924 – February 4, 2001), born James Louis Johnson and also known as Jay Jay Johnson, was an American jazz trombonist, composer and arranger. Johnson was one of the earliest trombonists to embrace bebop. Biograph ...
,
Hank Jones Henry Jones Jr. (July 31, 1918 – May 16, 2010) was an American jazz pianist, bandleader, arranger, and composer. Critics and musicians described Jones as eloquent, lyrical, and impeccable. In 1989, The National Endowment for the Arts honored ...
,
Jo Jones Jonathan David Samuel Jones (October 7, 1911 – September 3, 1985) was an American jazz drummer. A band leader and pioneer in jazz percussion, Jones anchored the Count Basie Orchestra rhythm section from 1934 to 1948. He was sometimes ...
,
Barney Kessel Barney Kessel (October 17, 1923 – May 6, 2004) was an American jazz guitarist born in Muskogee, Oklahoma. Known in particular for his knowledge of chords and inversions and chord-based melodies, he was a member of many prominent jazz groups a ...
, Kenny Kersey, Gene Krupa, Lou Levy, Meade Lux Lewis, Shelly Manne, Fats Navarro,
Charlie Parker Charles Parker Jr. (August 29, 1920 – March 12, 1955), nicknamed "Bird" or "Yardbird", was an American jazz saxophonist, band leader and composer. Parker was a highly influential soloist and leading figure in the development of bebop, a form ...
,
Oscar Peterson Oscar Emmanuel Peterson (August 15, 1925 – December 23, 2007) was a Canadian virtuoso jazz pianist and composer. Considered one of the greatest jazz pianists of all time, Peterson released more than 200 recordings, won seven Grammy Awards, ...
, Flip Phillips,
Buddy Rich Bernard "Buddy" Rich (September 30, 1917 – April 2, 1987) was an American jazz drummer, songwriter, conductor, and bandleader. He is considered one of the most influential drummers of all time. Rich was born and raised in Brooklyn, New York, ...
, Charlie Shavers, Willie Smith,
Sonny Stitt Edward Hammond Boatner Jr. (February 2, 1924 – July 22, 1982), known professionally as Sonny Stitt, was an American jazz saxophonist of the bebop/ hard bop idiom. Known for his warm tone, he was one of the best-documented saxophonists of h ...
,
Slim Gaillard Bulee "Slim" Gaillard (January 9, 1911 – February 26, 1991), also known as McVouty, was an American jazz singer and songwriter who played piano, guitar, vibraphone, and tenor saxophone. Gaillard was noted for his comedic vocalese singi ...
,
Clark Terry Clark Virgil Terry Jr. (December 14, 1920 – February 21, 2015) was an American swing and bebop trumpeter, a pioneer of the flugelhorn in jazz, and a composer and educator. He played with Charlie Barnet (1947), Count Basie (1948–51), Duk ...
,
Tommy Turk Thomas Eugene Turk (1927 – August 4, 1981) was an American jazz trombonist. Early life Tommy Turk was born in Johnstown, Pennsylvania in 1927. His father, Joseph, was a coal miner and self-taught trumpeter.Leonard, Vince, "Trombonist Turk Slai ...
,
T-Bone Walker Aaron Thibeaux "T-Bone" Walker (May 28, 1910 – March 16, 1975) was an American blues musician, composer, songwriter and bandleader, who was a pioneer and innovator of the jump blues, West Coast blues, and electric blues sounds. In 2018 ''R ...
,
Ben Webster Benjamin Francis Webster (March 27, 1909 – September 20, 1973) was an American jazz tenor saxophonist. Career Early life and career A native of Kansas City, Missouri, he studied violin, learned how to play blues on the piano from ...
, Lee Young,
Lester Young Lester Willis Young (August 27, 1909 – March 15, 1959), nicknamed "Pres" or "Prez", was an American jazz tenor saxophonist and occasional clarinetist. Coming to prominence while a member of Count Basie's orchestra, Young was one of the most ...
, and Trummy Young.


Concerts and tours

The very first concert was held on Sunday, July 2, 1944, at the Philharmonic Auditorium,
Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world ...
, and featured Illinois Jacquet, Jack McVea,
J. J. Johnson J.J. Johnson (January 22, 1924 – February 4, 2001), born James Louis Johnson and also known as Jay Jay Johnson, was an American jazz trombonist, composer and arranger. Johnson was one of the earliest trombonists to embrace bebop. Biograph ...
, Shorty Sherock, Nat King Cole,
Les Paul Lester William Polsfuss (June 9, 1915 – August 12, 2009), known as Les Paul, was an American jazz guitarist, jazz, country guitarist, country, and blues guitarist, songwriter, luthier, and inventor. He was one of the pioneers of the solid body ...
, Johnny Miller, Meade Lux Lewis,
Bumps Myers Hubert Maxwell "Bumps" Myers (August 22, 1912, Clarksburg, West Virginia - March 2, 1968, Los Angeles) was an American jazz saxophonist. Known primarily as a tenor saxophonist, he also occasionally played alto and soprano sax. Myers moved to sou ...
, Joe Sullivan,
Buddy Rich Bernard "Buddy" Rich (September 30, 1917 – April 2, 1987) was an American jazz drummer, songwriter, conductor, and bandleader. He is considered one of the most influential drummers of all time. Rich was born and raised in Brooklyn, New York, ...
,
Randall Miller Randall Miller (born July 24, 1962) is an American film director, producer, screenwriter, editor, and occasional actor. He directed ''Bottle Shock'', ''CBGB'', '' Marilyn Hotchkiss' Ballroom Dancing & Charm School'', '' Nobel Son'', '' The 6th Ma ...
,
Bud Hatch In botany, a bud is an undeveloped or embryonic shoot and normally occurs in the axil of a leaf or at the tip of a stem. Once formed, a bud may remain for some time in a dormant condition, or it may form a shoot immediately. Buds may be specia ...
,
Marie Bryant Marie Bryant (November 6, 1919 – May 23, 1978) was an American dancer, singer and choreographer, described as "one of the most vivacious black dancers in the United States". Biography Bryant was born in Meridian, Mississippi, moving with her f ...
, Red Callender, Lee Young, and
Carolyn Richards Carolyn is a female given name, a variant of Caroline. Other spellings include Karolyn, Carolyne, Carolynn or Carolynne. Caroline itself is one of the feminine forms of Charles. List of Notable People *Carolyn Bennett (born 1950), Canadian ...
. Illinois Jacquet, Nat King Cole and Les Paul, in particular, created a sensation. The title of the concert had been shortened by the printer of the advertising supplements from "A Jazz Concert at the Philharmonic Auditorium" to "Jazz at the Philharmonic". Norman Granz organized the concert with about $300 of borrowed money. Only one copy of the first concert program is known to exist. Jazz tenor saxophonist Flip Phillips played at all the JATP concerts from 1946 to 1957. Norman Granz recorded many JATP concerts, and sold or leased (from 1945 to 1947) the recordings to Asch/Disc/Stinson Records (record producer Moses Asch's labels). Later, from 1948 to 1953, Granz leased the Jazz at the Philharmonic recordings to
Mercury Records Mercury Records is an American record label owned by Universal Music Group. It had significant success as an independent operation in the 1940s and 1950s. Smash Records and Fontana Records were sub labels of Mercury. In the United States, it ...
, and later issued/reissued them on Norgran (founded 1953), from 1953 on Clef (founded 1946), and from 1956 on Verve (founded 1956), which at the time, were his own labels. In 1961, Granz sold Verve (which by then had absorbed the catalogues of his earlier labels, Clef Records and Norgran Records, as well as material previously licensed to Mercury Records) to
MGM Records MGM Records was a record label founded by the Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer film studio in 1946 for the purpose of releasing soundtrack recordings (later LP albums) of their musical films. It transitioned into a pop music label that continued into the ...
for $3.1 million. In the 1970s, Granz kept the spirit of the JATP alive on his many jam session style records for his Pablo label (founded 1973), also used for previously unissued JATP concerts. In 1987, he sold Pablo to Fantasy Records. The JATP concerts featured Swing and Bop musicians. They were among the first high-profile performances to feature racially integrated bands, and Granz cancelled some bookings rather than have the musicians perform for segregated audiences.


Tours

JATP Tours - USA and Canada (1945–1957): #1st National Tour: Late Fall/Winter of 1945–46. #2nd National Tour: Spring, 1946. #3rd National Tour: Fall, 1946. #4th National Tour: Spring, 1947. #5th National Tour: Fall, 1947. #6th National Tour: Spring, 1948. #7th National Tour: Fall, 1948. #8th National Tour: Spring, 1949. #9th National Tour: Fall, 1949. #10th National Tour: Fall, 1950. #11th National Tour: Fall, 1951. #12th National Tour: Fall, 1952. #13th National Tour (USA, Canada, Hawaii, Australia and Japan): Fall, 1953. #14th National Tour: Fall, 1954. #16th National Tour (Note: the 15th National Tour, in the fall of 1955, was renamed: 16th National Tour, just weeks before the start of the JATP Tour): Fall, 1955. #17th National Tour: Fall, 1956. #18th National Tour: Fall, 1957. ;JATP Tours - Europe (1952–1959): *1st European Tour: Spring, 1952. *2nd European Tour (Only two concerts in the UK: London, March 8 at Gaumont State Kilburn): Spring, 1953. *3rd European Tour: Spring, 1954. *4th European Tour: Spring, 1955. *5th European Tour: Spring, 1956. *6th European Tour: Spring, 1957. *7th European Tour (1st UK Tour!): Spring, 1958. *8th European Tour: Spring, 1959. After the JATP concerts in the fall of 1957, "Jazz at the Philharmonic" ceased touring the United States and Canada (with the exception of one final North American Tour in 1967), but continued intermittently mainly in Europe and Japan until 1983, with the last JATP concerts being performed in October, 1983, in Tokyo, Japan.


Legacy

Recordings held by Verve Records of the first five years (1944–1949) of JATP have been issued in a Deluxe 10-CD Box Set. The Jazz at the Philharmonic recordings were selected by the
Library of Congress The Library of Congress (LOC) is the research library that officially serves the United States Congress and is the ''de facto'' national library of the United States. It is the oldest federal cultural institution in the country. The libra ...
as a 2010 addition to the
National Recording Registry The National Recording Registry is a list of sound recordings that "are culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant, and/or inform or reflect life in the United States." The registry was established by the National Recording Preservat ...
, which selects recordings annually that are "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant".


References

{{Authority control Jazz events Music of California Culture of Los Angeles Downtown Los Angeles . 1944 establishments in California United States National Recording Registry recordings