Label Guide: Concord Jazz

Concord Jazz was the original name and predecessor of today's Concord Music Group.

The history of Concord dates back to 1969 when local car dealer and jazz fan Carl Jefferson established the annual Concord Jazz Festival in Concord, California. The success of the festival inspired Jefferson to start "the jazz label I can never find in record stores," and he named it after his festival. The young label quickly achieved international recognition and plenty of awards for its recordings.

A subsidiary for Latin Jazz named Concord Picante was established in 1980, followed by Concord Concerto for classical music. When Carl Jefferson died in 1995 he had produced more than 500 sessions for Concord Records. The company was sold in 1999 and its headquarters were moved to Beverly Hills. But this was far from the end for the Concord label.

In 2004, Concord merged with Fantasy Records to become today's Concord Music Group. With the merger, the company acquired the back catalogues of some of the most significant jazz and black music labels that were owned by Fantasy, including Prestige, Riverside, Milestone, Pablo, Stax and Specialty.