Norman Granz Quotes

My function at Verve was that of a genuine producer in artists and repertoire.

If I were to put on Barbra Streisand and Duke Ellington, one might say the combination isn’t good.

The public, hearing pop music, is, without knowing it, also soaking up jazz.

You will always find a few people in any area that would like things done completely their way.

If you don’t get substantially what you want, be ready to walk. And don’t look back.

Jazz is America’s own. It is played and listened to by all peoples – in harmony together. Pigmentation differences have no place… as in genuine democracy, only performance counts.

I’m concerned with trend. I don’t know where jazz fans will come from 20 years from now.

You’re probably smarter than you present yourself.

Germany is probably the richest country in Western Europe. Yet they wouldn’t take any television with Duke and Ella, their reaction being that people weren’t interested in it.

I find myself more at peace when I live in Europe.

The record companies are interested in the kind of sales they can get from the rock groups.

There are many artists that I present that I admit I like less than I do others. But I think that they warrant being presented by my own, personal standards.

In 1958, I decided that I was going to live in Europe permanently. So in 1959 I moved to Lugano, Switzerland.

Ella can work nightclubs that Duke might not be able to work, because of having the big band. Where they go now is strictly a matter of their own names and talents.

I’m talking as a professional impresario. I’m not judging anybody at all.

Ellington is a writer and arranger, as well as a musician and leader. He does movie sound tracks.

When I was doing jazz concerts in America, I would use the biggest names I could find.

My juices needed restoring. I needed a sabbatical from the record business.

The whole reason for Jazz at the Philharmonic was to take it to places where I could break down segregation.

I allowed artists to play for as long as they felt they could justifiably continue to create.

As long as we’re in a democracy, I have to give what I think the majority of people will enjoy.

If you look at my audiences, even in Europe, they’re hardly teenagers.

I don’t know who’s 18 years old today that, 20 years hence, is going to be a jazz fan.

I still continue to do at least four concert tours a year, and in many cases, as many as six.