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Norman Granz

 
Artist: Norman Granz
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Norman Granz

Followers:

Hans Nagel-Hayer, Makoto Kimata, Creed Taylor, Michael Cuscuna

Worked With:

Ray Brown, Oscar Peterson, Joe Pass, Dizzy Gillespie, Ella Fitzgerald, Herb Ellis, Count Basie

Formal Connection With:

David Stone Martin, Charlie Parker with Strings
  • Born: August 06, 1918, Los Angeles, CA
  • Died: November 22, 2001, Geneva, Switzerland
  • Active: '40s, '50s, '60s, '70s, '80s, '90s
  • Genres: Jazz
  • Instrument: Producer
  • Representative Albums: "The Charlie Parker Sides," "The Jazz Scene," "Jazz Concert 1"

Biography

At the height of his career, Norman Granz was one of the most powerful nonmusicians in jazz. He always fought for the music he believed in (having a love for freewheeling jam sessions), for his artists (who he accurately considered to be among the greatest in the world) and against racism, forcing many hotels and concert venues to become integrated in the 1940s and 50s. He studied at UCLA, served in the Army and then in 1944 began to make an impact on jazz. Granz supervised the award-winning film short Jammin' the Blues (which featured Lester Young) and put on a concert at the Philharmonic Auditorium in Los Angeles that he dubbed Jazz at the Philharmonic. The latter was such a big success that soon Granz was able to take the all-star jam sessions on domestic and eventually worldwide tours. The producer loved to team together top artists from the bop and swing worlds in "battles" and, although these rousing concerts were often criticized by conservative and somewhat humorless jazz critics, the jams resulted in a great deal of rewarding music. Not content with merely presenting concerts, Granz often recorded the performances even though, at 10-15 minutes, they were too long for a conventional three-minute '78. Granz founded Clef (1946) and Norgran (1953), eventually consolidating his music when he founded Verve in 1956. The rise of the LP in the early '50s was perfect timing and Granz was able to release many JATP performances on records. In addition to his work as a record company head and a concert promoter, Granz managed Ella Fitzgerald and in 1956 he largely started Verve as a label to feature her recordings. Among the many other artists who prospered in the 1950s due to Granz were Oscar Peterson (who he discovered and managed), Lester Young, Roy Eldridge, Dizzy Gillespie, Art Tatum, Count Basie and Ben Webster. By the late '50s JATP was drastically slowing down and in 1960 Granz sold Verve to MGM. He functioned mostly as a concert promoter and the manager of Ella and O.P. in the 1960s but in 1973 he returned full force to the record business, founding the very successful Pablo label. Many of Granz's favorite artists had had erratic recording careers in the 1960s (including Ella, Basie, Roy Eldridge and Dizzy Gillespie) but the rise of Pablo resulted in their discographies being uplifted and greatly expanded. Granz extensively recorded his artists (including Joe Pass who soon found fame, Zoot Sims, Sarah Vaughan, Eddie "Lockjaw" Davis and especially Oscar Peterson), emphasizing the spontaneity of jam sessions. The number of Pablo releases slowed down during the 1980s and in 1987 Granz sold the label to Fantasy where most of his sessions were eventually reissued on CD. Norman Granz retired to Switzerland, having greatly helped the music he loves. He died in Geneva from complications of cancer on November 22, 2001. ~ Scott Yanow, All Music Guide
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Wikipedia: Norman Granz
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Home > Library > Miscellaneous > Wikipedia
Norman Granz
Birth name Norman Granz
Born August 6, 1918(1918-08-06)
Origin Los Angeles, USA
Died November 22, 2001 (aged 83)
Geneva, Switzerland
Genres Jazz
Occupations Record producer
Years active 1944–
Labels Clef, Norgran, Down Home, Verve, Pablo
Associated acts Ella Fitzgerald, Cannonball Adderley, Louis Armstrong, Count Basie, Louie Bellson, Ray Brown, Benny Carter, Buck Clayton, Paulinho Da Costa, Buddy DeFranco, Roy Eldridge, Duke Ellington, Herb Ellis, Tal Farlow, Stan Getz, Dizzy Gillespie, Lionel Hampton, Bill Harris, Coleman Hawkins, Johnny Hodges, Billie Holiday, Milt Jackson, Illinois Jacquet, Hank Jones, Barney Kessel, Gene Krupa, Howard McGhee, Thelonious Monk, Bill Evans, Gerry Mulligan, Anita O'Day, Charlie Parker, Joe Pass, Oscar Peterson, Flip Phillips, Bud Powell, Buddy Rich, Charlie Shavers, Sonny Stitt, Art Tatum, Ben Webster, Lester Young, among many others.

Norman Granz (August 6, 1918 in Los Angeles, USA – November 22, 2001 in Geneva, Switzerland) was an American jazz music impresario and producer.

Granz was a fundamental figure in American jazz, especially from about 1947 to 1960. He was the founder of five record labels: Clef, Norgran, Down Home, Verve and Pablo.

Contents

Life and career

Born in Los Angeles, son of Jewish immigrants from Tiraspol, he first emerged into the public view when he organised desegregated jam sessions at the Trouville Club in Los Angeles, which he later expanded when he staged a memorable concert at the Philharmonic Auditorium in Los Angeles on July 2, 1944, under the heading of "Jazz at the Philharmonic."[1]

The title of the concert, "Jazz Concert at the Philharmonic Auditorium", had been shortened by the printer of the advertising supplements to "Jazz at the Philharmonic". Only one copy of the very first concert program, is known to exist. (Ref: Article by JATP Expert Niels Ervill). Norman Granz had organised the first Jazz at the Philharmonic concert with about $300 of borrowed money.

Later known as JATP, the ever-changing group recorded and toured extensively, with Granz producing some of the first live jam session recordings to be distributed to a wide market.

After several similar concerts in Los Angeles, Granz began producing JATP tours in the United States and Canada from late fall/winter of 1945-46 to 1957, and from 1952 in Europe. He recorded many of the JATP concerts, and from 1945 to 1947 sold/leased the recordings to Asch/Disc/Stinson Records (record producer Moses Asch's labels). Granz signed an agreement with Mercury Records in 1948, for the promotion and the distribution of the JATP recordings and other recordings, this agreement expired in 1953. From 1953, he issued the JATP recordings and other recordings on Clef Records (founded 1946) and Norgran Records (founded 1953). Down Home Records was meant to be reserved for traditional jazz works. (Ref: Article by JATP Expert Niels Ervill).

JATP tours

(Ref: Article by JATP Expert Niels Ervill).

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.

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, 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

Many of the names that made history in jazz signed with one of Norman Granz's labels, including Cannonball Adderley, Louis Armstrong, Count Basie, Louie Bellson, Ray Brown, Benny Carter, Buck Clayton, Paulinho Da Costa, Buddy DeFranco, Roy Eldridge, Duke Ellington, Herb Ellis, Tal Farlow, Stan Getz, Dizzy Gillespie, Lionel Hampton, Bill Harris, Coleman Hawkins, Johnny Hodges, Billie Holiday, Milt Jackson, Illinois Jacquet, Hank Jones, Barney Kessel, Gene Krupa, Howard McGhee, Thelonious Monk, Bill Evans, Gerry Mulligan, Anita O'Day, Kenny Kersey, Charlie Parker, Joe Pass, Oscar Peterson, Flip Phillips, Bud Powell, Buddy Rich, Charlie Shavers, Sonny Stitt, Slim Gaillard, Art Tatum, Ben Webster and Lester Young.

Granz became wealthy and he saw to it that his musicians were well paid. In the segregated society of the 1940s, he insisted on equal pay and accommodation for white and black musicians. He refused to take his hugely popular concerts to places which were segregated, even if he had to cancel concerts, losing considerable sums of money thereby.[1]

In 1944, Granz and Gjon Mili produced a famous jazz film which starred Lester Young, Illinois Jacquet, Barney Kessel, Harry Edison, Jo Jones, Sidney Catlett, Marlowe Morris, Marie Bryant a.o. This film, Jammin' the Blues, was nominated for an Academy Award.[1]

It was in 1956 that the popular singer Ella Fitzgerald finally joined Norman Granz's "community", and Granz unified his activities under the common label of Verve Records. Granz became Fitzgerald's manager, and remained so until the end of her career. Fitzgerald's memorable series of eight Songbooks, together with the duet series (notably Armstrong-Peterson, Fitzgerald-Basie, Fitzgerald-Pass and Getz-Peterson) achieved a wide popularity and brought acclaim to the label and to the artists. Granz was also the manager of Oscar Peterson who was another lifelong friend.

In 1959, Norman Granz moved to Switzerland. In December 1960, Verve Records was sold to Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer.

Granz founded his last label (Pablo Records) in 1973. In 1987, he sold Pablo Records to Fantasy Records.

Anti-racism

Norman Granz is generally remembered also for his notable anti-racist position and for the battles he consequently fought for his artists (many of whom were black, perhaps the majority), in times and places where skin color was the cause of open discrimination. In 1955, in Houston, Texas, he personally removed the labels "White" and "Negro" that would have separated the audience in the auditorium where two concerts were to be performed by (among others) Ella Fitzgerald and Dizzy Gillespie; between the two shows they were found playing cards in the dressing room and arrested by local police, but after some nervous negotiations allowed to perform the second show, and only formally released after that. Granz nevertheless insisted on fighting the charges, which cost him the immense sum of $2,000.[1] Oscar Peterson recounted how Granz once continued to insist that white cabdrivers take his black artists as customers even while a policeman was pointing a loaded pistol at his stomach from close range (Granz won). Granz also was among the first to pay white and black artists the same salary and to give them equal treatment even in minor details, like dressing rooms.

Beloved by his artists, not only because he paid more than average, he had three main goals, as he repeatedly and frankly declared: to fight against racism, to give listeners a good product, and to earn money from good music.

See also

References

  1. ^ a b c d Obituary Norman Granz, The Independent, 25 November 2001 Retrieved on 20 November 2008

External links


This entry is from Wikipedia, the leading user-contributed encyclopedia. It may not have been reviewed by professional editors (see full disclaimer)

 
 

 

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