In 1956, producer, promoter and talent manager Norman Granz launched one of jazz’s cornerstone labels, Verve Records—but much led up to its arrival. Firstly, he kicked off his career in earnest by holding the first Jazz at the Philharmonic concert in Los Angeles in 1944. That event—which featured Nat King Cole, Illinois Jacquet, Les Paul and others—not only brought jazz from clubs and dance halls to grand concert auditoriums normally reserved for classical music, but it was one of the earliest large-scale concerts to have both a desegregated band and audience—a bold statement at a time of inequality and injustice. A tour series followed (driven by Granz’s ironclad insistence on racial integration at all shows’ venues), and some of its recordings would eventually end up on Granz’s Norgran, Clef and—eventually—Verve labels, helping to propel the careers of Ella Fitzgerald, Oscar Peterson, Stan Getz, Charlie Parker and plenty other artists we’ve come to know as jazz legends. While Granz sold Verve to MGM in 1960, his legacy remains one of jazz’s most important and robust. Hear his influence on the music through this set of classic works from a range of artists.