Jazz at the Philharmonic

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,^[1] including Louie Bellson, Ray Brown, Benny Carter, Buddy DeFranco, Harry "Sweets" Edison, Roy Eldridge, Herb Ellis, Ella Fitzgerald, Stan Getz, Dizzy Gillespie, Lionel Hampton, Bill Harris, Coleman Hawkins, J.C. Heard, Billie Holiday, The Modern Jazz Quartet, Illinois Jacquet, Hank Jones, Jo Jones, Barney Kessel, Kenny Kersey, Gene Krupa, Charlie Parker, Oscar Peterson, Flip Phillips, Buddy Rich, Charlie Shavers, Willie Smith, Sonny Stitt, Slim Gaillard, Tommy Turk, Ben Webster, Lester Young, Nat King Cole, J.J. Johnson, Lee Young, Meade Lux Lewis, Helen Humes, Fats Navarro, Shelly Manne, Sonny Criss, Lou Levy a.o.

Concerts

The first concert was held on July 2, 1944 at the Philharmonic Auditorium, Los Angeles, and featured Illinois Jacquet, Jack McVea, J. J. Johnson, Shorty Sherock, Nat King Cole, Les Paul, Johnny Miller, Meade Lux Lewis, Bumps Myers, Joe Sullivan, Buddy Rich, Randall Miller, Bud Hatch, Marie Bryant, Red Callender, Lee Young, Carolyn Richards a.o. 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 "Jazz Concert at the Philharmonic Auditorium" to "Jazz at the Philharmonic". Norman Granz organised the concert with about $300 of borrowed money. Only one copy of the very first concert program is known to exist.[2]

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 recordings to Mercury Records, and later reissued/issued them on Norgran (founded 1953), from 1953 on Clef (founded 1946), and from 1956 on Verve (founded 1956), at the time, his own labels.[2] In 1973, Granz founded his last label (Pablo Records). In 1987, he sold Pablo Records to Fantasy Records.

In the 1970s, Granz kept the spirit of the JATP alive on his many jam session style records for his Pablo label, also used for previously unissued JATP concerts.

Jazz at the Philharmonic ceased touring the United States and Canada, after the JATP concerts in the fall of 1957, but continued intermittently (mainly in Europe and Japan) until 1983, with the very last JATP concerts being performed in October, 1983, in Tokyo, Japan.[2]

Recordings held by Verve Records of the first five years (1944 - 1949) of JATP have been issued in a 10 CD Box Set, and less comprehensively by European labels.

Tours and Recordings

(Ref: Article by JATP Expert Niels Ervill).

After several JATP concerts in Los Angeles (In 1944 and 1945), Granz began producing JATP concert tours, in USA and Canada, from late fall/winter of 1945-46 to 1957, and from 1952 in Europe. These 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.^[2]

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.

Tours - Europe (1952-1959)

• 1st European Tour: Spring, 1952.
• 2nd European Tour (Only two concerts in the UK: London, March 8): 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.

Recordings

(Ref: Article by JATP Expert Niels Ervill).

• July 2, 1944 : "Blues", "Lester Leaps In", "Body and Soul", "Rosetta", "Bugle Call Rag" a.o. with Nat King Cole, Illinois Jacquet, Jack McVea, Lee Young, Les Paul a.o. The very first JATP concert. The recordings were issued on Disc, Mercury, Clef and Verve.
• 1946 : "JATP Blues", "I Got Rhythm" a.o. with Buck Clayton, Coleman Hawkins, Charlie Parker, Lester Young, Kenny Kersey, Irving Ashby, Buddy Rich a.o. "I Can't Get Started" (featuring Lester Young).
• 1947 : "Perdido" (famous JATP concert recording featuring Flip Phillips).
• 1949 + 1950 : "Norgran Blues", "Lady Be Good" a.o. with Harry "Sweets" Edison, Flip Phillips, Bill Harris, Lester Young, Hank Jones, Ray Brown and Buddy Rich, and "Stuffy" a.o. (featuring Coleman Hawkins), and "Repetition", "Easy To Love", "April In Paris" a.o. (featuring Charlie Parker with Strings), and The Oscar Peterson Set (featuring OP and Ray Brown, Oscar Peterson's JATP debut! - recorded on September 18, 1949 at Carnegie Hall, New York): "Norman Granz' Jazz Concert # 1" (i.e. Jazz at the Philharmonic), Norgran MG JC # 1. Vinyl Box Set (two 12" LP's). Reissued as "Midnight Jazz At Carnegie Hall" on Verve (Clef series) MGV-8189-2 (two 12" LP Set).
• 1952 : "Jam Session Blues", "The Trumpet Battle", "The Ballad Medley", "Cottontail", and "Perdido" with Lester Young, Flip Phillips, Roy Eldridge, Oscar Peterson, Barney Kessel, Buddy Rich a.o., and "The Drum Battle" (featuring Gene Krupa and Buddy Rich), and "C Jam Blues", "Tenderly", "Seven Come Eleven" a.o. with The Oscar Peterson Trio (OP, Barney Kessel and Ray Brown): Mercury vol. 15. Vinyl Box Set (three 12" LP's + 12th JATP tour program). Reissued as Clef vol. 15. Vinyl Box Set (three 12" LP's + 12th JATP tour program). Reissued as Verve vol. 8. Vinyl Box Set (three 12" LP's, NO JATP tour program).
• 1953 : "Cool Blues", "The Ballad Medley", "One O'Clock Jump", "Flying Home" a.o. with Lester Young, Ben Webster, Roy Eldridge, Charlie Shavers, Benny Carter, Flip Phillips, Oscar Peterson, Herb Ellis, Ray Brown, J.C. Heard a.o., and The Oscar Peterson Trio Set with OP, Herb Ellis and Ray Brown: Clef vol. 16. Vinyl Box Set (three 12" LP's and one 10" LP + an envelope with 13 photo reprints). Reissued as Verve vol. 9. Vinyl Box Set (three 12" LP's, NO 10" LP, NO photo reprints).
• 1954 : "Jazz Concert Blues", "The Challengers", The Ballad Medley" a.o. with Roy Eldridge, Bill Harris, Oscar Peterson, Herb Ellis, Louie Bellson, Dizzy Gillespie a.o., and The Oscar Peterson Trio Set with OP, Herb Ellis and Ray Brown, and "Flying Home", "How High the Moon" a.o. with Buddy DeFranco, Lionel Hampton a.o.: Clef vol. 17. Vinyl Box Set (three 12" LP's + an envelope with 12 photo reprints). Reissued as Verve vol. 10. Vinyl Box Set (three 12" LP's, NO photo reprints).
• 1955 : "The Blues", "The Modern Set", "The Swing Set", "The Ballad Medley", and "Buddy Rich's Explosion" with Illinois Jacquet, Lester Young, Flip Phillips, Roy Eldridge, Dizzy Gillespie, Oscar Peterson, Herb Ellis, Ray Brown and Buddy Rich; and The Oscar Peterson Trio Set with OP, Herb Ellis and Ray Brown: Clef vol. 11! (Clef vol. 18 was never issued): two 12" LP Set. Reissued as Verve vol. 11 (two 12" LP Set). Exciting Drum Battle: JATP Stockholm '55 (with Roy Eldridge, Dizzy Gillespie, Bill Harris, Flip Phillips, Oscar Peterson, Ray Brown, Louie Bellson, and Herb Ellis). LP: Pablo Records (p)74 - 2310713 - CD: Concord PACD-2310-713-2.
• 1956 : "Honeysuckle Rose", "Jumpin' at the Woodhouse", "When the Saints..." a.o.: "Jazz at the Hollywood Bowl" (i.e. Jazz at the Philharmonic), recorded august, 1956, with Louis Armstrong, Ella Fitzgerald, Art Tatum, Illinois Jacquet, Flip Phillips, Harry "Sweets" Edison, Oscar Peterson, Herb Ellis, Ray Brown, Buddy Rich a.o., and The Oscar Peterson Trio Set with OP, Herb Ellis and Ray Brown: Verve (Clef series) MGV-8231-2 (two 12" LP Set). Jazz At The Philharmonic -- Hamburg, Germany -- February 29, 1956 (with Dizzy Gillespie and Roy Eldridge on trumpets, Flip Phillips and Illinois Jacquet on tenor saxes, Ella Fitzgerald, vocals, Oscar Peterson, piano, Herb Ellis, guitar, Ray Brown, bass, and Gene Krupa, drums). Fresh Sound Records FSRCD 441.
• 1957 : "The Slow Blues", "Merry Go Round" with Lester Young, Illinois Jacquet, Flip Phillips, Sonny Stitt, Oscar Peterson, Herb Ellis, Ray Brown and Jo Jones, and "Stuffy" with Stan Getz, Coleman Hawkins, Roy Eldridge, J.J. Johnson, Connie Kay a.o.: "The JATP All-Stars at the Opera House", Verve (Clef series) MGV-8267. "Billie's Bounce" (featuring J. J. Johnson and Stan Getz).
• 1983: To commemorate the 30th anniversary of JATP's first visit to Japan, Granz put together a new Jazz at the Philharmonic group featured on the live album: Jazz at the Philharmonic - Yoyogi National Stadium, Tokyo 1983: Return to Happiness.^[3]

References