Pacific Jazz Records was a

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' ...

-based record company and label best known for

cool jazz Cool jazz is a style of modern jazz music that arose in the United States after World War II. It is characterized by relaxed tempos and lighter tone, in contrast to the fast and complex bebop style. Cool jazz often employs formal arrangements and ...

West coast jazz West Coast jazz refers to styles of jazz that developed in Los Angeles and San Francisco during the 1950s. West Coast jazz is often seen as a subgenre of cool jazz, which consisted of a calmer style than bebop or hard bop. The music relied rela ...

. It was founded in 1952 by producer

Richard Bock Richard W. Bock (July 16, 1865 – 1949) was an American sculptor and associate of Frank Lloyd Wright. He was particularly known for his sculptural decorations for architecture and military memorials,Lorado Taft''The History of American Sculptur ...

(1927–1988) and drummer

Roy Harte Roy S. Harte (May 27, 1924 – October 26, 2003) was an American jazz drummer and co-founder of Nocturne Records and Pacific Jazz Records. In partnership with Remo Belli, the founder and namesake of internationally famous drumhead manufacturer ...

(1924–2003). Harte, in 1954, also co-founded

Nocturne Records Nocturne Records was an American jazz record company and label founded in 1954 by Roy Harte, a drummer, and Harry Babasin, a bassist. Based in Hollywood, California, Nocturne concentrated on West Coast jazz. On March 28, 1955, Nocturne merged with ...

with jazz bassist

Harry Babasin Yervant Harry Babasin, Jr. (19 March 1921 – 21 May 1988) was an American jazz bassist. His nickname was "The Bear". Biography Babasin was born in Dallas, Texas to an American mother and an Armenian father. He attended North Texas State Universit ...

(1921–1988). Some of the musicians who recorded for Pacific Jazz included

Chet Baker Chesney Henry "Chet" Baker Jr. (December 23, 1929 – May 13, 1988) was an American jazz trumpeter and vocalist. He is known for major innovations in cool jazz that led him to be nicknamed the "Prince of Cool". Baker earned much attention and ...

Paul Desmond Paul Desmond (born Paul Emil Breitenfeld; November 25, 1924 – May 30, 1977) was an American jazz alto saxophone, alto saxophonist and composer, best known for his work with the Dave Brubeck Quartet and for composing that group's biggest hit, " ...

Gerry Mulligan Gerald Joseph Mulligan (April 6, 1927 – January 20, 1996), also known as Jeru, was an American jazz saxophonist, clarinetist, composer and arranger. Though primarily known as one of the leading jazz baritone saxophonists—playing the instrum ...

Joe Pass Joe Pass (born Joseph Anthony Jacobi Passalaqua; January 13, 1929 – May 23, 1994) was an American jazz guitarist. Pass is well known for his work stemming from numerous collaborations with pianist Oscar Peterson and vocalist Ella Fitzgerald, an ...

Gerald Wilson Gerald Stanley Wilson (September 4, 1918 – September 8, 2014) was an American jazz trumpeter, big band bandleader, composer, arranger, and educator. Born in Mississippi, he was based in Los Angeles from the early 1940s. In addition to being a ...

, the

Jazz Crusaders The Crusaders (formerly known as The Jazz Crusaders) were an American jazz group that was successful from the 1960s to the 1990s. The group was known as the Jazz Crusaders from their formation in 1960 until shortening their name in 1971. The Cru ...

Don Ellis Donald Johnson Ellis (July 25, 1934 – December 17, 1978) was an American jazz trumpeter, drummer, composer, and bandleader. He is best known for his extensive musical experimentation, particularly in the area of time signatures. Later in his lif ...

Clare Fischer Douglas Clare Fischer (October 22, 1928 – January 26, 2012) was an American keyboardist, composer, arranger, and bandleader. After graduating from Michigan State University (from which, five decades later, he would receive an honorary doctorate ...

, Jim Hall,

Groove Holmes Richard Arnold "Groove" Holmes (May 2, 1931 – June 29, 1991) was an American jazz organist who performed in the hard bop and soul jazz genre. He is best known for his 1965 recording of "Misty". Career Holmes's first album, on Pacific Ja ...

Les McCann Leslie Coleman McCann (born September 23, 1935) is an American jazz pianist and vocalist.Feather, Leonard, and Ira Gitler (2007), ''The Biographical Encyclopedia of Jazz'', p. 448. Oxford University Press. Early life Les McCann was born in ...

Wes Montgomery John Leslie "Wes" Montgomery (March 6, 1923 – June 15, 1968) was an American jazz guitarist. Montgomery was known for an unusual technique of plucking the strings with the side of his thumb and his extensive use of octaves, which gave him a dist ...

, and

Art Pepper Arthur Edward Pepper Jr. (September 1, 1925 – June 15, 1982) was an American alto saxophonist and very occasional tenor saxophonist and clarinetist. Active in West Coast jazz, Pepper came to prominence in Stan Kenton's big band. He was known ...

. In 1957, Pacific Jazz Records changed its name to World Pacific Records to expand into a full-line label, with the Pacific Jazz label retained for jazz releases. In 1958 Richard Bock and World Pacific were instrumental in introducing Indian traditional music to the West via

Ravi Shankar Ravi Shankar (; born Robindro Shaunkor Chowdhury, sometimes spelled as Rabindra Shankar Chowdhury; 7 April 1920 – 11 December 2012) was an Indian sitarist and composer. A sitar virtuoso, he became the world's best-known export of North Ind ...

, who also recorded for World Pacific. Bock sold the label to

Liberty Records Liberty Records was a record label founded in the United States by chairman Simon Waronker in 1955 with Al Bennett as president and Theodore Keep as chief engineer. It was reactivated in 2001 in the United Kingdom and had two previous revival ...

in 1965, although he remained as an adviser until 1970. Liberty was merged into and discontinued by

United Artists Records United Artists Records was an American record label founded by Max E. Youngstein of United Artists in 1957 to issue movie soundtracks. The label expanded into other genres, such as easy listening, jazz, pop, and R&B. History Genres In 1959, ...

in 1971; UA in turn was bought by

EMI EMI Group Limited (originally an initialism for Electric and Musical Industries, also referred to as EMI Records Ltd. or simply EMI) was a British transnational conglomerate founded in March 1931 in London. At the time of its break-up in 201 ...

in 1979.

Mosaic A mosaic is a pattern or image made of small regular or irregular pieces of colored stone, glass or ceramic, held in place by plaster/mortar, and covering a surface. Mosaics are often used as floor and wall decoration, and were particularly pop ...

reissued some Pacific Jazz material in the late 1980s, as did

Blue Note In jazz and blues, a blue note is a note that—for expressive purposes—is sung or played at a slightly different pitch from standard. Typically the alteration is between a quartertone and a semitone, but this varies depending on the musical co ...

when it gained control of the catalog in the 1990s.

Partial discography

Pacific Jazz Ten Inch LP series

Pacific Jazz released 20 10-inch LPs between 1953 and 1954 before the label moved to 12-inch albums in 1955Edwards, D., Eyries, P. and Callahan, M
Pacific Jazz/Pacifica Album Discography
Bsnpubs.com, accessed January 9, 2016

Pacific Jazz/World Pacific 1200 Twelve Inch LP Series

Commencing in 1955 a total of thirty-one 12 inch albums were released on the Pacific Jazz label before the name was changed to World Pacific.

Mark Four Series

From 1956 to 1958 the Mark Four Series released twelve albums with the PJM prefix.

Pacific Jazz 10000/20000 Series

In 1960 a new series of Pacific Jazz was launched with the PJ prefix with initial catalogue numbers increasing numerically for the first 91 releases before the 10000 numbering system was put into effect.

World Pacific 1400 Twelve Inch LP Series

Commencing in 1960 the World Pacific label began releasing a range of world music recordings on the 1400 Series.Edwards, D., Eyries, P. and Callahan, M

Bsnpubs.com, accessed January 25, 2016

World Pacific 1800 Twelve Inch LP Series

From 1962 until 1970 the World Pacific label released a range of popular music recordings on their 1800 Series.

References

External links

Pacific Jazz and World Pacific label discographies

Pacific Jazz singles labels

World Pacific singles labels

World Pacific Jazz singles labels

Pacific Jazz
on the Internet Archive'
Great 78 Project
{{Authority control Jazz record labels Record labels based in California Defunct record labels of the United States Defunct companies based in Greater Los Angeles Blue Note Records EMI Record labels established in 1952 Record labels disestablished in 1972 1952 establishments in California 1970s disestablishments in California . West Coast jazz