Norman Granz Quotes

#1. I don't think that jazz, as any kind of an art form, has any permanence attached to it, apart from the practitioners of it.

Norman Granz

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

Norman Granz

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

Norman Granz

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

Norman Granz

#5. There are very few groups that really stay together. The leaders of groups make enough money to be able to afford to work a maximum of 35-40 weeks a year.

Norman Granz

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

Norman Granz

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

Norman Granz

#8. He's not a performer, he's not a composer, he's not even a musician, but Norman Granz is Mr. Jazz.

Oscar Peterson

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

Norman Granz

#10. You're probably smarter than you present yourself.

Norman Granz

#11. 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.

Norman Granz

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

Norman Granz

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

Norman Granz

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

Norman Granz

#15. I'm talking as a professional impresario. I'm not judging anybody at all.

Norman Granz

#16. 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.

Norman Granz

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

Norman Granz

#18. Sponsors and networks will really go all out and simply evaluate people on the basis of talent.

Norman Granz

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

Norman Granz

#20. I made it easier for many artists to play in certain areas.

Norman Granz

#21. I don't think I will ever do any tours again in the United States. I rather think that that's over with.

Norman Granz

#22. The history of all big jazz bands shows was, first they played for dancing, and then they played for singing.

Norman Granz

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

Norman Granz

#24. For years, Jazz At The Philharmonic albums were the only ones of their kind.

Norman Granz

#25. Amsterdam must have more than a million people. But the only area where jazz is really profitable and successful in an economic sense is in Japan. That's because they haven't been exposed enough.

Norman Granz

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

Norman Granz

#27. Jazz was uplifted by what I did.

Norman Granz

#28. The economic picture in the States today doesn't allow for jazz concerts in a tour fashion. People now are too used to the Festival, which gives them more names for the same price.

Norman Granz

#29. I don't want to sound as if I'm doing something tremendously special. But I am a jazz fan.

Norman Granz

#30. 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.

Norman Granz

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

Norman Granz

#32. To play today in London, next week in Madrid and the week after that in Warsaw is a bit better than playing Newark and Baltimore and Philadelphia. I've been doing that for 20 years.

Norman Granz

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

Norman Granz

#34. 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.

Norman Granz

#35. I don't say that the supposed Civil Rights development is a myth, but it's a matter of dealing with reality. It's purely peripheral and, in many cases, it's just a facade.

Norman Granz

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

Norman Granz

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

Norman Granz

#38. If you look at my audiences, even in Europe, they're hardly teenagers.

Norman Granz