Jazz at the Philharmonic
From 1944 onwards, impresario Norman Granz used his considerable talents as an organiser and promoter to put together the definitive musical "package tours" of the day. Starting out with a gig in LA, (and a lineup including Illinois Jacquet, Nat King Cole and J.J. Johnson) Granz booked nationwide concert hall tours that included all of the star jazz soloists of the day, playing in a jam session-style setting. These proved phenomenally popular, despite some critical sniping about the grandstand nature of some of the playing, and the tours were also notable for the racial integration of their lineups. As well as being popular with audiences, the tours were popular with the musicians and this shows in the quality of the issued recordings that originally emerged on Granz's Verve label. This 4CD set presents the cream of the crop from 1946-1952, including nearly every notable soloist of the day, and tells the full story of this pioneering and much-loved institution.