Clef Records

An American jazz record label based in Los Angeles, California, founded in June 1947 by impresario/producer Norman Granz, initially as an imprint of Mercury Records, then as an independent record label in 1953.

The label was intended to serve as an outlet for the release of recordings of concerts from Jazz At The Philharmonic (JATP). For Clef, Granz recorded: Stan Getz, Ben Webster, Roy Eldridge, Charlie Parker, Count Basie, Buddy Rich, Teddy Wilson, Buddy DeFranco, Dizzy Gillespie, Art Tatum, Lester Young, Gene Krupa, Woody Herman, and Lionel Hampton.

Granz was previously under contract to Moses Asch's Asch Records then Disc Records, until March 31, 1947, then began seeking return of the original JATP masters, which he did not receive until August 1952. Granz began releasing new recordings on Clef via Mercury, and retained his Clef masters. Clef's licensing agreement with Mercury ended in 1953, at which point it became independent. In 1954, Granz founded Norgran Records to ease distribution bottlenecks at Clef. In 1956, Granz founded the Verve Records label which absorbed Clef, Norgran and Down Home Records. Verve re-releases and licensed releases of Clef recordings would be ta