Customer Reviews

Verve Story 1944-1994

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
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For his tireless, effective, and classy promotion of first-rate musicians, Norma Granz must surely be one of the great cultural influences of our century, even if no one but jazz types know of him. More admirable (because courageous and selfless)is that he absolutely forbade racial segregation in his audiences and for his musicians. Granz was famous for making sure that ALL his musicians received first-class treatment, without distinction.

And what first-class music his people made! From the "Jazz at the Philharmonic" series to his long tenure with Verve (which he founded), Granz brought together the very, very best jazz musicians, under the best conditions, and let them play what moved them.

This collection is a fine, fine introduction to what Granz accomplished--and extraordinarily fun to hear.

If you're looking for a great intro to jazz, you could do worse than to start here. (For pedagogical purposes, Ken Burns' five-CD set, "The Story of America's Music," is more comprehensive, and it has much to commend it. Listening to that set, though, requires an interest in being educated, as much as an interest in listening to jazz--some of the discs are jarringly uneven in tone, mood, style, and sound quality.)

What is jazz? Dixieland? Big-band? Kenny G? (Perish the thought!
Forgive me for such heresy!)

I write this review about halfway
through the stunning Ken Burns "Jazz" chronicle on PBS
(January 2001) - I felt compelled to get this set out for my
late-night listening, and am glad I did!

This 4-CD set contains
almost 5 hours of great jazz performances by the giants - Louis
Armstrong, Charlie Parker, Dizzy Gillespie, Stan Getz,
Ella Fitzgerald, Oscar Peterson... well, you can read the
list.

Sound quality is awesome, especially considering that some of
these recordings are over 50 years old. Verve obviously wanted this
to be a quality product, to commemmorate their golden anniversary.
And the performances - if you have NOT heard them before, you will be
alternately slack-jawed with amazement and grinnin' like a possum
eatin' a sweet potato!

Jazz aficionados will probably already have
most of this material - none of it is new or unissued, all of it is
classic jazz. If you're like me - you've had some exposure to jazz
and want to add some good stuff to your collection - you can't go
wrong with this set. If you get picked to be on Survivor Island, you
just might want to take it with you... I would!

I scored this at a used "rock&roll shop for 20 bucks. Little did they no the value. This is totally awesome. The best part is the "assortedness" of it. I was leary of sound quality, but it is very good. The version of Dizzy's "Manteca" is almost worth the price. The only person missing is Kenton, but as we know, he wasn't a verve man. BUy it, its worth it.

We were at a friend's house last summer and he was playing great old jazz tunes and they went on for a long time. I asked what it was and it is "The Verve Story". I wrote it down and just recently went to Amazon to order it, finding Verve no longer makes it. However, Amazon linked me to several dealers who had both used and new copies available and I bought one of the latter. If you like Dizzy, Bird, Pres, Ben Webster, Coleman Hawkins, Stan Getz, etc, and the jazz of the late 40s and 50s this album is great. Almost all of the songs are before jazz went all free form and improvisational, which I do not care for. My favorite on the four discs is "La Rosarita", a beautiful tenor sax duet with Coleman Hawkins and Ben Webster.
This album is a must-have if you like jazz from this period.

I spotted this album in a friend's jazz collection. It has become a favorite of mine. Its perfect to give as a gift. Great listening, and a wonderful intro to Jazz.

the best compilation of jazz music ever! this is a must for all music lover and you'll know after you've listened