Jazz At The Philharmonic or JATP, as it also was known, began in Los Angeles in 1944 and lasted to 1983. It was a series of Jazz concerts organized by Norman Granz and was held throughout the USA, Canada, throughout Europe, Australia and Japan (From Wikipedia):
JATP Tours – USA and Canada (1945–1957): 1st National Tour: Late Fall/Winter of 1945-46. 2nd National Tour: Spring, 1946. 3rd National Tour: Fall, 1946. 4th National Tour: Spring, 1947. 5th National Tour: Fall, 1947. 6th National Tour: Spring, 1948. 7th National Tour: Fall, 1948. 8th National Tour: Spring, 1949. 9th National Tour: Fall, 1949. 10th National Tour: Fall, 1950. 11th National Tour: Fall, 1951. 12th National Tour: Fall, 1952. 13th National Tour (USA, Canada, Hawaii, Australia and Japan): Fall, 1953. 14th National Tour: Fall, 1954. 16th National Tour (Note: the 15th National Tour, in the fall of 1955, was renamed: 16th National Tour, just weeks before the start of the JATP Tour): Fall, 1955. 17th National Tour: Fall, 1956. 18th National Tour: Fall, 1957.
JATP Tours – Europe (1952–1959): 1st European Tour: Spring, 1952. 2nd European Tour (Only two concerts in the UK: London, March 8): Spring, 1953. 3rd European Tour: Spring, 1954. 4th European Tour: Spring, 1955. 5th European Tour: Spring, 1956. 6th European Tour: Spring, 1957. 7th European Tour (1st UK Tour!): Spring, 1958. 8th European Tour: Spring, 1959.
Jazz at the Philharmonic ceased touring the United States and Canada, after the JATP concerts in the fall of 1957 (One final North American Tour in 1967!), but continued intermittently mainly in Europe and Japan until 1983, with the very last JATP concerts being performed in October, 1983, in Tokyo, Japan.
Recordings held by Verve Records of the first five years (1944–1949) of JATP have been issued in a Deluxe 10 CD Box Set.
I will be featuring the historical 1946 Jazz at the Philharmonic concert, featuring a super Jazz all-star jam session, including Coleman Hawkins, Charlie Parker, Lestor Young, Dizzy Gillespie and many more. Check the schedule link for play times.
About the album:
This 1946 show, a classic gathering of jazz greats, makes for a recording that should be of interest to collectors and newcomers alike. Parker has many moments of sheer brilliance, such as his solo on this now-famous version of “Oh! Lady Be Good” (which apparently was so stunning none of the other instrumentalists wanted to follow him; the piano comps awkwardly afterwards until bassist Billie Hadnott takes a spot). Parker is joined by the likes of Dizzy Gillespie, Coleman Hawkins and Lester Young (whose playing is a more conservative, though no less elegant mirror of Bird’s own, and who also turns in a memorable solo on “Oh! Lady Be Good”). Fine versions of “I Can’t Get Started,” “After You’ve Gone” and “Sweet Georgia Brown,” (in which Bird, who was apparently late to the gig, can be heard walking onstage to applause mid-song, with one of the other musicians asking him “Hey man, where you been?”). The last three numbers, recorded at a later date, feature the killer trio of Parker, Hawkins and Young………Read More
