April 4, 2024

Spring Membership Drive 2024: We Look Back at Norman Granz's Legacy and Celebrate the 80th Anniversary of Jazz at the Philharmonic

The notoriously cantankerous jazz impresario founded jazz record labels Clef, Norgran, Verve, and Pablo, kept counsel with Pablo Picasso, and was the Machiavellian architect of perhaps the most socially conscious major concert series in history.

We can’t bring you back to the grand auditoriums that hosted installments of Norman Granz’s Jazz at the Philharmonic, but we’ll come closer than anyone else.

By Matt Silver

This July 2nd will mark 80 years since Norman Granz presented the very first Jazz at the Philharmonic (JATP). So named because it was held at Los Angeles's Philharmonic Auditorium, then the 2700-seat home of the LA Phil, JATP was the first, the biggest, the longest running, and the most socially impactful jazz concert series of its kind.