Wes Montgomery

Verve Records is an American jazz record label now owned by Universal Music Group. It was founded by Norman Granz in 1956, absorbing the catalogues of his earlier labels, Clef Records and Norgran Records , and material which had been licensed to Mercury previously. The Verve catalog grew... throughout the 1950s and 1960s to include most of the major figures in jazz. It also recognized the potential of comedy albums, producing Spike Jones' first LP, Dinner Music For People Who Aren't Very Hungry, in 1956 and several best-selling albums featuring live performances by Shelley Berman beginning in 1960. Granz sold Verve to MGM in 1961 for $3 million. Creed Taylor was appointed as producer, and adopted a more commercial approach, cancelling several contracts. Taylor brought the bossa nova to America with the Stan Getz/Charlie Byrd LP Jazz Samba as well as Getz/Gilberto. Several arrangers of note worked for the Verve label too in the 1960s, including Claus Ogerman and Oliver Nelson. Claus Ogerman, by his own admission in Gene Lees' Jazzletter publication, arranged some 60-70 albums for Verve under Creed Taylor's direction from 1963-1967.
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CTI Records was a jazz record label founded in 1967 by producer/A&R manager Creed Taylor. Initially, CTI was a subsidiary of A&M Records, but the label went independent in 1970. Its roster of artists included George Benson, Bob James, Freddie Hubbard, Hubert Laws, Stanley Turrentine and... Deodato. Kudu Records, CTI's sister label, was launched in 1971 and was oriented towards soul jazz, featuring releases by Grover Washington, Jr., Esther Phillips, Hank Crawford, Johnny Hammond, Grant Green and Idris Muhammad. Salvation Records was a subsidiary label which released 10 albums during its existence, including material by Roland Hanna, Johnny Hammond, Gábor Szabó, Airto and New York Jazz Quartet. Greenestreet and Three Brothers were also short-lived affiliated labels. Don Sebesky initially created many of the arrangements for the labels, later joined by Bob James and then, in the mid-70s, David Matthews. Every session featured some of jazz's finest players—bassist Ron Carter, guitarist Eric Gale and organist Richard Tee appeared on many recordings, while Bob James or, in the early years, Herbie Hancock were frequently on piano.
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A&M Records is an American record label owned by Universal Music Group that operates under the mantle of its Interscope-Geffen-A&M division. A&M Records was formed in 1962 by Herb Alpert and Jerry Moss. Their first choice for a name was Carnival Records, under which they released two... singles before discovering another label had taken the Carnival name first. The company was subsequently renamed A&M, after Alpert's and Moss's initials. From 1966 to 1999, the company's headquarters were on the grounds of the historic Charlie Chaplin Studios at 1416 North La Brea Avenue, near Sunset Boulevard in Hollywood. Throughout the 1960s and 1970s, A&M had such acts as Herb Alpert & the Tijuana Brass, Baja Marimba Band, Burt Bacharach, Sérgio Mendes & Brasil ’66, We Five, The Carpenters, Chris Montez, Elkie Brooks, Lee Michaels, The Captain and Tennille, Quincy Jones, Stealers Wheel, Marc Benno, Liza Minnelli, Rita Coolidge, Wes Montgomery, Paul Desmond, Cat Stevens, Bobby Tench, Hummingbird, Toni Basil, and Paul Williams. Folk artists Joan Baez, Phil Ochs and Gene Clark also recorded for the label during the 1970s.
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