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

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