
Norman Granz
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 [Jazz at the Philharmonic] performances on records. ~ Allmusic: Norman Granz ~ retrieved July 30, 2013 © Allmusic
Continued right after these…
Honoring musicians. Celebrating birthdays. Remembering death days.
August 6, 1994 ~ Billboard Hot 100 ~ #3 (3) Coolio, Fantastic Voyage ~ #2 (1) All-4-One, I Swear ~ #1 (2) Lisa Loeb, Stay (I Missed You)
Continued…
Norman Granz is generally remembered also for his notable anti-racist position and for the battles he consequently fought for his artists (many, perhaps the majority, of whom were black), 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. […] 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. ~ Wikipedia: Norman Granz ~ retrieved July 30, 2013 © Wikipedia
Norman Granz ~ Inducted in the 2003 Big Band And Jazz Hall Of Fame.
As a Producer or co-producer
Art Tatum ~ The Genius Of Art Tatum, No.1 (1953) ~ Ranked #77 Jazzwise 100 Jazz Albums That Shook The World in 2006 ~ For decades Tatum was every jazz pianist’s first choice as the greatest piano of all but by the early 1950s his public profile was still minute compared with some of his contemporaries. Norman Granz decided to fix that: between 1953 and Tatum’s death in 1956 Granz recorded well over 200 selections and issued them on Clef and Verve. Tatum’s popular and critical reputation has been secure ever since, his baroque creations simultaneously exciting and terrifying the listener. ~ 2006 © Jazzwise