Pacific Jazz Records was a

Los Angeles Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...

–based record company and label best known for cool jazz or West coast jazz. It was founded in 1952 by producer Richard Bock (1927–1988) and drummer Roy Harte (1924–2003). Harte, in 1954, also co-founded Nocturne Records with jazz bassist Harry Babasin (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,

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

, Joe Pass,

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. He arranged music for D ...

, the Jazz Crusaders,

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 ...

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 doctorat ...

, Jim Hall, Groove Holmes, Les McCann,

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

, and

Art Pepper Arthur Edward Pepper Jr. (September 1, 1925 – June 15, 1982) was an American jazz musician, most known as an alto saxophonist. He occasionally performed and recorded on tenor saxophone, clarinet (his first instrument) and bass clarinet. Active ...

. In 1957, Pacific Jazz Records changed its name to World Pacific Records to expand into a full-line label, with the Pacific Jazz imprint 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 sitar, sitarist and composer. A sitar virtuoso, he became the world's best-known expert of Hin ...

, 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 Alvin Bennett as president and Theodore Keep as chief engineer. It was reactivated in 2001 in the United Kingdom and had two previous rev ...

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 1958 ...

in 1971; UA in turn was bought by EMI 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 (masonry), mortar, and covering a surface. Mosaics are often used as floor and wall decoration, and ...

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

Blue Note Blue Note Records is an American jazz record label now owned by Universal Music Group and operated under Capitol Music Group. Established in 1939 by German-Jewish emigrants Alfred Lion and Max Margulis, it derived its name from the blue no ...

when it gained control of the catalog in the 1990s. Releases from Pacific Jazz Records are distributed digitally on streaming platforms through

Universal Music Group Universal Music Group N.V. (often abbreviated as UMG and referred to as Universal Music Group or Universal Music) is a Netherlands, Dutch–United States, American multinational Music industry, music corporation under Law of the Netherlands, ...

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 1952 establishments in California 1970s disestablishments in California Defunct companies based in Greater Los Angeles Defunct record labels of the United States American jazz record labels Record labels based in California Record labels established in 1952 Record labels disestablished in 1972 Blue Note Records EMI United Artists Records Universal Music Group West Coast jazz