Concord Jazz

The label grew directly out of the Concord Summer Music Festival, which was founded in 1969 in Concord, California, by local car dealer and jazz enthusiast Carl Jefferson. The festival showcased swing and straight-ahead jazz, laying the foundation and providing the initial talent pool for the future record company.

Concord Jazz was founded in 1973 by Carl Jefferson, with a mandate to document and record the under-represented swing and traditional straight-ahead jazz artists performing at his festival. The primary focus was on Swing, Bop, and Vocal jazz. Landmark albums include Seven, Come Eleven (Herb Ellis, Joe Pass, 1974) and Soular Energy (Ray Brown Trio, 1985).

This period marked the label’s peak output, with hundreds of new releases issued, contributing to a total catalog of over 946 titles under Jefferson’s tenure. Concord broadened its scope to include Post Bop and Contemporary Jazz, notably with albums like Stan Getz’s The Dolphin (1981) and successful vocal collaborations like An Evening With George Shearing And Mel Tormé (1982).

Carl Jefferson sold the company to Alliance Entertainment in December 1994 (he passed away in 1995). The label became the foundation for the larger Concord Records launched in 1995. After being acquired by Norman Lear and Hal Gaba in 1999, the headquarters moved to Los Angeles. Today, Concord Jazz continues as a prestigious imprint of the global Concord music group, still releasing new material and managing its historic catalog.