Norman Granz: The Man Who Helped Create The Music Biz

Norman Granz is likely one of the most essential names within the music enterprise that you simply’ve doubtless by no means heard of. Granz’s story is just like that of so many individuals who labored within the music and leisure business that blossomed between the wars. He, like lots of his contemporaries, was eager to embrace the intense new future supplied by the music enterprise. What made him distinctive, nevertheless, was his sense of justice, equity, and equality, and – in fact – his unbelievable ardour for jazz.

Early days

Because the final main German offensive on the Western Entrance was coming to its shut on August 6, 1918, two Russian Jewish immigrants who had arrived in the US individually, moved to Los Angeles, met and married, have been having their first son. They named him Norman.

Norman’s father, Morris, labored within the clothes enterprise, and the religious Hebrew household lived in an built-in space of Los Angeles, near Central Avenue. Norman’s first language was Yiddish. It was solely as soon as he had gone to high school that he realized to talk English.

The household had moved south from Los Angeles to Lengthy Seashore as a result of Morris managed a division retailer. Norman obtained his first perception into America’s racial tensions whereas residing in Lengthy Seashore – he watched the Ku Klux Klan marching by the streets of town.

Across the time Norman graduated from junior excessive in 1932, the household moved to Boyle Heights, a neighborhood east of Downtown Los Angeles, after the shop wherein Morris labored closed in the course of the Despair. On returning to Los Angeles, Morris Granz discovered work as an itinerant clothes salesman, however by all accounts, his profession by no means actually acquired out of first gear.

Norman enrolled within the Theodore Roosevelt Excessive College in Boyle Heights, and amongst his contemporaries was Herb Klein, who would grow to be Richard Nixon’s Director of Communications, and Archie Inexperienced (previously Greenstein), one other son of Russian immigrants who, though born in Canada, turned one among America’s foremost folklorists. Norman was tall, sporty, an excellent tennis participant, and was quickly launched to extra critical issues by his buddy Archie who inspired him to learn political magazines, particularly, The New Republic, a publication with an agenda that centered on the serfdom of inequality. Whereas most individuals are inclined to grow to be much less radical as they become older, for Granz this was not the case.

Granz labored in a clothes retailer on Saturdays whereas nonetheless in highschool, and continued to flirt with politics, exhibiting indicators of embracing Communism, one thing he did extra totally later when he joined the musicians’ department of the Los Angeles Communist Social gathering. Previous to the struggle, he had the view {that a} socialist world supplied folks far higher hope. In 1935, Granz graduated from highschool and virtually instantly began work within the Los Angeles Inventory Change with a view to coming into UCLA in 1936 – he was there for 2 years earlier than dropping out.

An introduction to jazz

Granz’s curiosity in music and fervour for jazz, particularly, got here because of a recording session on October 11, 1939 in a studio in New York Metropolis, wherein Coleman Hawkins and his Orchestra put down 4 titles. The tenor saxophonist had solely simply returned from a few years in Europe and among the many sides he recorded was “Body and Soul.” Shortly after it was launched, it made it onto the Billboard bestsellers checklist on January 27, 1940. In keeping with Granz, a few years later, “I heard ‘Body and Soul’! That introduced me to real jazz.”

At that time limit, white and black folks, by and enormous, went to see totally different bands and loved a really totally different type of leisure. Central Avenue in central Los Angeles had since 1920 been the epicenter of the black group within the metropolis, with jazz at its coronary heart. In keeping with Wynton Marsalis, “Central Avenue was the 52nd Street of Los Angeles.” Granz knew the golf equipment within the space effectively, and it was his rising curiosity in jazz that drew him to the night time spots which definitely had many much less white prospects than black. Granz was additionally listening to jazz on the radio in an period when nightly reveals have been broadcast from golf equipment in Chicago and New York. The thought was beginning to type in Granz’s thoughts: What if folks have been capable of go and hearken to jazz in environment that did justice to the music?

Granz had a second, year-long spell at UCLA that ended within the early summer season of 1941, nevertheless it didn’t earn Granz a level. He left with out incomes the required credit, and rapidly volunteered for the Military Air Corps in the summertime of 1941 because it turned clear that the US was doubtlessly going to enter the struggle.

His entrée into Los Angeles jazz circles

One musician who did impress Granz round this time was Lester Younger, who had moved to Los Angeles and was showing together with his brother Lee’s band on the Capri nightspot. Granz additionally met Nat King Cole and, virtually instantly, the 2 males turned shut mates. Cole was Granz’s entrée into Los Angeles jazz circles, whether or not these of resident musicians or visiting ones. By Cole he met each Depend Basie and Artwork Tatum, two extra musicians who would play a major half in his future.

Granz noticed Duke Ellington’s band on the Apex, subsequent to the Dunar Resort on Central Avenue the place the band stayed. It was, in line with the Los Angeles Occasions, “the gathering spot for the crème de la crème of black society, the hotel for performers who could entertain in white hotels but not sleep in them.” He additionally met Billie Vacation, trumpeter Roy Eldridge, and singer Anita O’Day briefly order. These musicians – and nearly each different artist he encountered round this time – would finally play a major half in his skilled life.

In the meantime, Granz failed his flight take a look at, so he left the Military Air Corps at the beginning of 1942. He instantly took a bus throughout the nation to go to New York Metropolis and particularly 52nd Avenue – the most popular place to see the very best jazz in the US. He stayed for a number of months, getting some non permanent work on Wall Avenue and hanging out with musicians, particularly Roy Eldridge, the person nicknamed “Little Jazz,” who would stay one among Granz’s closest musician mates. (He additionally met Ellington saxophonist Johnny Hodges on this journey.)

By the early summer season of 1942 Granz was organizing Sunday afternoon jam classes on the Trouville on Beverly and Fairfax, a membership owned by Billy Berg. Among the many hurdles Berg and Granz needed to overcome was understanding a deal between the native black and white musician’s union branches. As soon as they’d ironed issues out, the classes that includes Lee and Lester Younger, and Nat King Cole’s Trio turned a powerful success.

Every thing got here to a halt

For various weeks they went forward with members of whichever band was on the town, together with native musicians. Cole was just about the home pianist and plenty of extra of the artists who wound up recording the Clef, Norgran and Verve labels performed these classes. Most notable of all was the truth that the classes have been fully built-in. A month after the primary jam session, Norman Granz supervised the primary of what can be many hundreds of recording classes, though this one, that includes Lee and Lester Younger was actually meant to be a non-public affair. They reduce “Indiana,” “Body And Soul,” “I Can’t Get Started,” and “Tea For Two.” Nat King Cole performed piano – they’re merely chic recordings. Nevertheless, in August 1942 when Granz was drafted, every little thing got here to a halt.

Nonetheless, jam classes have been began at various totally different golf equipment, particularly Monday nights on the 331 Membership the place Nat King Cole’s Trio was the home band and Billy Berg’s Swing Membership on Tuesdays. Shortly after Granz’s discharge from the military, Cole was signed to Capitol Information and had his first hit in December 1943 with “All For You.”

It was round this time that Granz additionally turned ever extra radical in his views on race, and commenced to consider that music had a component to play in breaking down the partitions of segregation. By October, Granz was that includes white musicians enjoying with black musicians and these extra high-profile gigs have been attracting consideration from the bosses of the non-integrated black and white musician’s unions.

By 1944, Granz was trying to upscale his membership jam classes. The outcome took form in Music City, a small corridor on Jefferson and Normandie, near the College of Southern California. By staging these concert events in a corridor – albeit not a really huge one – with seating and lighting, Granz was trying to take jazz out of the dimly lit, smoke-filled golf equipment into a really totally different enviornment. Music City may maintain not more than 200 folks and the primary session in February featured Illinois Jacquet, Barney Kessel on guitar, and J. C. Heard on drums together with the ever-present Nat King Cole. Key to Granz’s plans for presenting jazz in a brand new and progressive means was the truth that he paid the musicians at ‘scale’ – the accepted charge for a three-hour session being $11. Regardless of the place being full and the viewers paying a greenback a head to get in, Granz nonetheless misplaced cash.

By July 2, 1944, issues have been again on observe, however on a a lot bigger scale. Granz had employed the Philharmonic Auditorium, the standard house of symphony concert events, to stage a jazz live performance. On West fifth Avenue and Olive Avenue, it was opened in 1906 because the Temple Auditorium with a manufacturing of Aida, turning into the Philharmonic Auditorium in 1920 when the Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra made it their house. For Granz’s live performance, in line with DownBeat, “kids went wild over screaming high notes produced by Illinois Jacquet’s tenor sax. They squirmed with glee as guitarist Les Paul produced novelty sound effects.” The live performance was in help of The Sleepy Lagoon Protection League, a combating fund for the twenty-four alleged gang members who had taken half within the ‘Zoot Suit Riots’ of 1943, a indisputable fact that attracted some high-profile media protection.

Jazz on the Philharmonic

The second Jazz on the Philharmonic live performance adopted on July 30 and earlier than the 12 months was on the market have been two extra. There have been common concert events all through 1945 and a ultimate live performance came about in January 1946. Whereas these concert events have been happening, Granz additionally organized a brief tour for the JATP. What made these reveals particular was the range of gamers. By welcoming musicians that have been stylistically at odds, Granz ignored the jazz wars that have been raging on the time. He gave no heed to traditionalists versus swing versus the be-boppers. In so doing, he helped jazz transfer to a spot the place these labels turned much less essential.

Within the spring of 1946, a extra formidable tour was organized, and amongst these collaborating was Charlie Parker, who had already carried out on the Philharmonic, regardless of some erratic conduct introduced on by his heroin dependancy. Others who joined the spring tour that included a gig at Carnegie Corridor in New York Metropolis have been Billie Vacation, Lester Younger, Coleman Hawkins, Buddy Wealthy, Sarah Vaughan and the stride pianist, Meade Lux Lewis.

The publicity that the JATP was getting elevated as among the reveals have been broadcast on the radio. But in addition central to Granz’s technique was the way in which he promoted his concert events. He left nothing to probability; there have been radio advertisements, newspaper advertisements, billboards, and press releases extolling the advantage of the JATP. It’s truthful to say that Norman Granz did a lot to pioneer the enterprise of recent music touring. What we now take without any consideration when an artist or band excursions might not have been solely right down to Granz, however his operation had a degree of refinement that few others achieved.

Granz’s masterstroke was to file the concert events. He was additionally starting to provide different artists within the studio on a contract foundation for some Los Angeles file labels. It was all a part of the twenty-six-year-old Norman Granz studying the craft that may change the face of jazz in the US and, in the end, the world.

His first file label

In June 1947, Granz based Clef Information. His first file label was initially an imprint inside Mercury Information, which was itself solely a few years outdated. Clef started releasing 78-rpm information of newer JATP concert events, amongst them the unofficial anthem of JATP, “How High The Moon,” plus “JATP Blues” and “Perdido.” Most essential of all, Granz retained possession of the JATP recordings; they didn’t belong to Mercury, which meant that wherever he had a label deal he may launch the recordings, one thing that proved profitable when he arrange Verve Information in 1956.

In addition to his method on issues of race, Granz was feisty in his dealings with nearly everybody. This included Joe Glaser, Louis Armstrong and Billie Vacation’s supervisor and agent. Granz wished to stage a Carnegie Corridor live performance in November 1947 as a profit present for Billie, who was serving a jail sentence on narcotics costs on the time. Glaser flatly refused, saying she didn’t want the cash. Threats have been issued between the 2 males, and finally the live performance turned a fundraiser for the NAACP – The Nationwide Affiliation for the Development of Coloured Folks.

Ella Fitzgerald joined the JATP in February 1949 at Carnegie Corridor, marking the start of her decades-long involvement with Norman Granz, a relationship that was not at all times straightforward, however one which definitely benefited each of them, professionally and financially. Through the latter a part of the 12 months, Oscar Peterson entered Granz’s life – he and Ella turned two of the most important attracts on the JATP concert events. On the recording entrance, in 1949 Mercury started issuing JATP recordings on long-playing information.

Taking jazz to the world

In 1950, Granz’s technique for bringing jazz to the remainder of the world took a transatlantic leap ahead when he started plotting to take the JATP to Europe. Getting Ella on the JATP was straightforward in contrast with Granz’s need to imagine management of her recording contract. Ella had been with Decca Information since her days with Chick Webb and his Orchestra, and whereas Granz felt that their recording decisions weren’t at all times finest for her, they, like different file firms, wished hit information. There was no denying that Ella’s days of massive hit singles have been far behind her by 1950. Nonetheless, Granz wished to signal Ella to his label, however his efforts have been thwarted by her long-time supervisor Moe Gale who had energy of lawyer over Ella’s recording deal and re-signed her to Decca in October 1951 for an additional 5 years. Granz was in for a protracted wait.

It was in 1950 that Granz launched his 78-rpm limited-edition album entitled The Jazz Scene. It was a exceptional concept that he retailed at $25; each one was numbered, and it included lovely images by Gjon Mili. It was an innovation means forward of its time, provided that at present limited-edition field units are the norm for file firms.

Spring 1951 was when JATP was presupposed to hit Europe. Nevertheless, attributable to arguments relating to the musicians’ charges, the tour didn’t happen. Europe needed to wait an entire 12 months earlier than the JATP arrived. When it did finally occur, the tour opened in Stockholm, earlier than enjoying cities like Gothenburg, Copenhagen, Malmö, Paris, Amsterdam, Zurich, Lausanne, Brussels and The Hague. There have been no dates within the UK, because the Musician’s Union wouldn’t sanction a charity efficiency.

By 1953 the long-playing file was turning into ubiquitous, significantly in the US, and Granz appeared extra snug with it as a medium for his jazz message than many different producers. The truth that lots of the jam classes went on means longer than the common size of a aspect of a 78-rpm file meant that solely now may file consumers hear them of their uninterrupted glory. In addition to issuing JATP information on Clef, Granz recorded – amongst others – Stan Getz, Ben Webster, Roy Eldridge, Charlie Parker, Depend Basie, Buddy Wealthy, Teddy Wilson, Buddy DeFranco, Dizzy Gillespie, Artwork Tatum, Lester Younger, Gene Krupa, Woody Herman, and Lionel Hampton – a digital who’s who of jazz.

In November 1953, Granz took JATP to Japan, enjoying over 20 concert events in Tokyo and Osaka. Regardless of this being simply eight years from the tip of the struggle, the tour was embraced by audiences. Amongst these showing have been Ella Fitzgerald, Ben Webster, Benny Carter, Oscar Peterson, Herb Ellis, and the Gene Krupa Trio. The JATP lastly performed in London in 1953; the Musicians Union relented and so they performed a profit live performance for the victims of the horrible floods that had killed over 300 folks.

Turning into Ella Fitzgerald’s supervisor

The next 12 months, Granz lastly turned Ella Fitzgerald’s supervisor and it heralded the start of probably the most glittering physique of labor by any jazz artist – partly right down to Granz’s astute judgment and canny dealing with of his star’s profession. Granz additionally shaped Norgran Information within the spring of 1954 with the label’s first albums coming from Dizzy Gillespie, Stan Getz, Buddy DeFranco, and Johnny Hodges, who had not too long ago gone solo, having been with the Duke Ellington Orchestra for 20 years. In keeping with Granz: “Clef was too full of talent and was unable to handle the releases adequately.” To distinguish the 2 labels Granz mentioned: “Clef was to handle jazz in the swing tradition, whereas Norgran was to handle the cooler crowd.”

As Ella’s supervisor, Granz’s first activity was to extricate her from her Decca contract. His concepts as to the best way to file and current Ella various very a lot from what Decca felt was the precise means. In the long run, in line with Mo Ostin, who was Verve’s monetary controller and who would later grow to be probably the most highly effective and well-respected figures within the music enterprise: “Signing Ella was a fluke. Decca had recorded the soundtrack to The Benny Goodman Story and among the musicians on it were Gene Krupa and Stan Getz, both of whom were under contract to Norman. He just forced them to give him Ella’s contract as Decca was desperate to put out the movie soundtrack.” Granz would have finally secured her recording contract, however due to this maneuver, he acquired Ella eighteen months early.

The start of Verve

With Ella’s contract safe, Granz determined there was just one factor to do. Begin a brand new label to grow to be the car for her information. On the similar time, he deliberate to fold his present two labels into the brand new enterprise. Granz made the announcement that he was beginning Verve on Christmas Eve 1955.

Firstly of 1956, Granz started recording Ella in her first session away from Decca in 20 years. Their first go to to the studio was on the finish of January when she did some sides that turned singles. The next week, Ella was again within the studio with Buddy Bregman arranging and conducting, with Granz producing what was to grow to be the template for the center and soul of Ella’s Verve recordings – the Songbook Collection. On February 7 at Capitol Information studio in Los Angeles, the identical studio wherein Frank Sinatra recorded all his traditional albums, Ella recorded ten songs for what would grow to be Ella Fitzgerald Sings The Cole Porter Songbook. It’s important listening, a file that no jazz fan needs to be with out.

Central to Granz’s technique to show Ella into an even bigger star was to get her out of the golf equipment and into higher venues. He moved her onto the lodge circuit, enjoying such prestigious dates because the Starlight Room of New York Metropolis’s Waldorf Astoria. This mixed with Granz’s decided method to her recording profession earned him the repute of a Svengali-like supervisor. It was justified, and so have been the outcomes. Not everybody appreciated what Granz did; definitely some performers – amongst them Mel Tormé who recorded for Verve – noticed Granz as extra dictator than Svengali, however even those that disliked him definitely couldn’t argue together with his success.

Earlier than the 12 months was out, Granz had additionally pulled off the masterstroke of recording Ella alongside Louis Armstrong in what have grow to be among the best-loved albums within the Verve catalogue. Ella And Louis (1956) and Ella And Louis Once more (1957) together with Porgy And Bess (1957) – the primary two with Oscar Peterson and the final one with Russ Garcia’s Orchestra – are jazz masterpieces.

In June 1956, Granz recorded Billie Vacation for the autobiographical album Woman Sings The Blues. In that 12 months, there have been over 100 classes at which many a whole lot of sides have been recorded from a various vary of artists that included Blossom Dearie, Sonny Stitt, Stuff Smith, Tal Farlow, Harry Edison, and, in fact, Oscar Peterson. There have been additionally classes with non-jazz artists that included Pete Seeger, Huge Invoice Broonzy, The Ink Spots, and actress/singer Jane Powell. Verve was already on its strategy to turning into a powerhouse within the American recording business, with even handed and profitable abroad offers serving to to unfold the phrase.

Round this time, the FBI interviewed Granz about his alleged Communist previous. Whereas the McCarthy witch hunts had largely ended, the scourge of Communism was by no means removed from America’s and J. Edgar Hoover’s thoughts presently, and regardless of Granz’s clearly capitalist rules, the FBI have been anxious to make sure that there was not a Crimson lurking among the many jazz fraternity, which nonetheless had a repute as a wayward world. Initially, the State Division withdrew Granz’s passport, however quickly returned it after he sued them. For the remainder of his life, the problems surrounding these incidents resonated with Granz.

The top of an period

One other important change in Granz’s life was the cessation of JATP excursions in the US in 1957. Occasions had modified, not least due to George Wein’s Newport Jazz Pageant that had begun in 1954. It meant that the 18th nationwide tour of JATP was the tip of an period. Nevertheless, it was nonetheless an unbelievable lineup of musicians, together with Ella, Oscar, The Pres, The Hawk, and Stan Getz, nevertheless it additionally included trombone participant J. J. Johnson and the Fashionable Jazz Quartet.

In 1959, Norman Granz moved to Lugano in Switzerland. His abroad JATP excursions have been nonetheless going sturdy and he may simply do his work from Europe. (His rising curiosity in artwork and European tradition additionally drew him to Switzerland.)

A 12 months earlier, Granz had begun working extra carefully with Duke Ellington and ended up managing him for many of the subsequent decade. It was a practical transfer on Ellington’s half; he wanted to maneuver his profession alongside, as altering tastes in music have been clear for all to see. Even Verve had signed a younger rock ’n’ roll artist by the identify of Ricky Nelson. (Though to be truthful, this had nothing to do with Granz.)

Following his transfer to Switzerland, Granz started branching out in his live performance work. He not solely put collectively the JATP packages, however he additionally acted because the live performance’s promoter in some situations. On the musical entrance, the demise of each Lester Younger and Billie Vacation signaled a change within the jazz panorama. Charlie Parker had additionally died in 1955, and it was clear that a few of what Granz had been doing was constructed on his private preferences. A number of the artists recording for Verve by the tip of the last decade have been to not his liking – not that he ever turned down anybody who may earn cash for the corporate. For Granz, there was no dichotomy in being profitable and being principled. The cash from the early concert events had helped develop the file labels, and cross-promotion between his two actions made full sense. In the meantime, Ella’s persevering with journey by the Nice American Songbook was proving a success with file consumers and critics alike – a novel and uncommon synergy.

Saying goodbye to Verve

Then in 1960, on the top of his success, Norman Granz made what to some was a stunning choice. He determined to promote Verve Information. His causes have been exhaustion and a falling out of affection with the file business. Maybe as a measure of the respect for Granz as a file govt, the take care of MGM Information stipulated that Granz couldn’t file artists for seven years. The worth for promoting Verve was $2.5 million, which might be the equal of round £25 million at present; considerably, Granz was the corporate’s sole proprietor.

Freed from the day-to-day operating of a file firm, Granz targeting managing each Ella and Oscar Peterson and organizing the JATP European excursions. Having made some huge cash from the sale, Granz was additionally free to pursue a few of his pursuits away from music, particularly artwork. In 1968, Granz met Pablo Picasso and finally collected quite a few works by the artist; he even named his house in Switzerland “The House of Picasso.” Then in 1972 Granz shaped Pablo Information to launch recordings by artists that he managed, together with Ella Fitzgerald, Oscar Peterson and Joe Move, in addition to Duke Ellington, Depend Basie, Dizzy Gillespie, and Sarah Vaughan.

5 years earlier, Granz had put JATP again on the street in the US with a 25 metropolis tour headlined by Ella, Duke Ellington, Oscar Peterson, Coleman Hawkins, Benny Carter, Zoot Simms, and Clark Terry. All through the intervening years, the JATP excursions of Europe continued; these included a JATP live performance in London that starred Dizzy Gillespie, Clark Terry, Zoot Sims, Benny Carter, Louis Bellson, Coleman Hawkins, and blues legend T-Bone Walker.

Other than his pursuits in jazz and artwork, Granz was additionally fascinated by literature, particularly the author P. G. Woodhouse. Add to {that a} persevering with love of tennis and a ardour for meals and wine, and the picture of an actual Renaissance man is evident for all to see. In his early fifties, Granz was as busy as ever – he additionally in 1974 married his third spouse, Grete Lyngby, a Danish graphic artist. Throughout a lot of the subsequent decade, he recorded numerous concert events on the Montreux Jazz Pageant, which got here out on Pablo Information. Granz additionally frolicked in the US, when the chance arose to make information with the artists he most admired.

A person who modified the way in which we hearken to music

In 1987, Fantasy Information acquired Pablo and with it over 300 information, together with many beforehand unissued recordings of Granz’s. Following the sale of Pablo, Granz continued to handle each Ella Fitzgerald and Oscar Peterson, however their careers weren’t as busy as they was. In 1995, Granz produced Improvisation, a movie retrospective of lots of the artists he had labored with; it contains unseen footage of Charlie Parker that he and Gjon Mili filmed in 1950. The next 12 months Ella Fitzgerald died.

Throughout his lifetime, Granz obtained few honors. He was supplied a lifetime achievement award from the Nationwide Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences in 1994, however in a attribute gesture, he declined it, saying merely, “I think you guys are a little late.” Then in 1999, he obtained a Lifetime Achievement Award from Jazz on the Lincoln Middle. Oscar Peterson accepted the award on Granz’s behalf.

Granz proved to be a campaigner to the tip. In 1996 he despatched a handwritten fax to President Clinton, complaining that, “For someone who professes to love jazz as much as you do, it’s sad that you didn’t name a jazz musician to your Arts Award; especially when Benny Carter the last of the giants of jazz who, at 88 years of age is still actively playing beautifully… All this talk of jazz being the only truly uniquely American art form apparently has gone right by you. Pity.” He by no means obtained a reply, however in 2000 Benny Carter gained that medal. Granz by no means did get such an award.

On November 21, 2001, two years after his lifetime achievement award, Norman Granz died from most cancers in Switzerland. He was distinctive, arduous to get near, arduous for many individuals to love, however he single-handedly modified the way in which we hearken to music, whether or not in a live performance corridor or on file. He was an unique who cared for America’s one true artwork type, serving to to make Verve the sound of America.

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