| GRP Records | |
|---|---|
 |
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| Parent company | Universal Music Group |
| Founded | 1982 |
| Founder | Dave Grusin and Larry Rosen |
| Distributing label | Verve Records (In the US) |
| Genre | Jazz |
| Country of origin | US |
| Official Website | Official website of GRP Records |
GRP Records is an American jazz record company, owned by Universal Music Group and operates through its Verve Music Group. The company's name has had different meanings. In its early days, it stood for "Grusin/Rosen Productions," after the founders. By the middle 1990s, after Grusin and Rosen left the company, GRP used the marketing slogan "Great Records Period."
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History
Beginnings
GRP Records was founded in New York by Dave Grusin and Larry Rosen in 1982. Previously, the duo had formed Grusin/Rosen Productions as a freelance production team in 1972, producing records for labels such as RCA, Blue Note and CTI with artists like Jon Lucien, Noel Pointer, Earl Klugh and Patti Austin. Between 1978 and 1982, Grusin/Rosen Productions operated under a label agreement with Clive Davis at Arista, which was known as '"Arista/GRP." They achieved success with a number of artists during this period, most notably trumpeter Tom Browne and his jazz-funk hit 'Funkin' for Jamaica'. Embracing an all-digital recording philosophy, GRP made early use of Soundstream's digital recording technology, resulting in Dave Grusin's 'Mountain Dance' (1979), one of the earliest all-digital recordings outside of classical music. Dave Valentin was the first act signed to the label.[1]
Independence
In 1982, GRP broke away from the Arista umbrella and began operating as an independent label. They quickly became one of the first U.S. labels to release all of their titles on compact disc under the moniker 'The Digital Master Company'. The label achieved success at radio in the New Adult Contemporary (NAC) format on stations like CD101.9 in New York and The Wave in Los Angeles.
Acquisition by MCA
In 1987, GRP Records signed a distribution deal with MCA Records; GRP was distributed throughout Europe during this time by a coalition of independent distributors coordinated by the label's Zurich office. MCA Music Entertainment (later renamed Universal Music Group) bought GRP in February 1990 for approximately $40 million. After the acquisition, the label was temporarily rebranded "MCA-GRP Records," and handled all of MCA's own jazz operations; reissuing numerous classic jazz titles from MCA's Impulse, Chess and Decca catalogs. As Billboard's #1 Contemporary Jazz label for five consecutive years, GRP Records was the major forerunner for the success of the 'smooth jazz' format. Founders Grusin and Rosen left in 1995 and were replaced by producer Tommy LiPuma.
Upon the Universal Music Groups acquisition of PolyGram in 1998, GRP became one of a series of labels managed by the Verve Music Group. Its output today is primarily smooth jazz.
Discography
References
External links
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