[Dixielandjazz] "How Verve Records Got Gutted" from The Daily Beast. Norman comments.

[Norman Vickers]

To:  DJML and Musicians and Jazzfans list

From:  Norman Vickers

Jazz Society of Pensacola

 

I  applaud Bob Ringwald for posting this article " How Verve Records Got
Gutted"  by  jazz educator/authorTed Gioia. Sad to read.  A couple of years
ago, I had opportunity to review Tad Hershorn's book on Norman Granz.
Hershorn is a researcher at Rutgers Institute.  If was well researched and
gave fascinating details of Granz's life.  The review, should anyone be
interested, is posted on the Jazz Society of Pensacola's website.
www.jazzpensacola.com    Click News and then reviews and then search back a
couple of years.  Also Verve, a few months ago,   put out a commemorative
volume of posters and other memorabilia as well as a collection of CDs from
Verve and the other two companies that Granz started, including NorGran
Records.  Review of those is also posted on the JSOP website.  (The Granz
book and the Verve Book and CDs now are part of the permanent collection in
the Jazz Room of downtown Pensacola public library and are available to
circulate to  library cardholders.)

 

Thanks,  Bob.  The Daily Beast is not on my regular reading list.  So, I'd
have missed it, otherwise.

 

I didn't delete Bob's review for the DJML group, in case you missed it first
time.  Of course, some on Musicians and Jazzfans list would  not have seen
it.  Too good not to pass along!

 

Norman

 

 

 

 

Date: Sat, 14 Mar 2015 06:48:48 -0700

From: "Robert Ringwald" <rsr at ringwald.com>

To: "DJML" <dixielandjazz at ml.islandnet.com>

Cc: Dixieland Jazz Mailing List <dixielandjazz at ml.islandnet.com>

Subject: [Dixielandjazz] Further demise of Verve - How Verve Records

      Got   Gutted

Message-ID: <97D746496B8045D08C39D65425FD3005 at BobPC>

Content-Type: text/plain;     charset="UTF-8"

 

How Verve Records Got Gutted

The record label of Billie Holiday and Ella Fitzgerald just got swallowed by
a hip-hop business... and no one even noticed!

by Ted Gioia

The Daily Beast, March 14, 2015

The announcement could hardly have been hidden any better. Slipping the news
into the second paragraph of a press release about a management change,
Universal Music disclosed last week that most of the day-to-day
responsibility for the once great Verve label has been absorbed by its
hip-hop and pop operations. Interscope Geffen A&M, the home of Eminem and
Lady Gaga, ?is now responsible for Verve?s sales, marketing and film and TV
licensing.?

What a strange turn of events! Interscope, founded in 1989 by Jimmy Iovine,
first made its mark in the music world as the in-your-face label of gangsta
rappers -- although later corporate moves have broadened its catalog to
include a range of pop and rock acts. Verve, in contrast, started out as a
posh home for jazz stars who played the classic songs of George Gershwin,
Irving Berlin, Cole Porter, and other craftsman tunesmiths of the Golden Age
of America popular music. Even the most optimistic jazz fan must cringe at
the prospects of a shotgun marriage between these different organizations
with their contrasting traditions.

My sources tell me that the organizational shake-up took place quietly some
weeks back. David Foster, head of Verve, is still in place, and can rely on
newly-appointed general manager Mike Rittberg to help him maintain some
independence for the label.

But the rank and file of the Verve team have been dismissed. The sales and
marketing push behind whatever remains of Verve?s jazz mission -- if
anything -- will be handled by the same folks who are pushing Maroon 5 and
Imagine Dragons. Anyone want to guess how much they care about jazz?

Oh, yes, in the fourth paragraph of the press release, we learn that Verve
will ?redevelop its brand in the coming year.? I think this is corporate
speak for ?we don?t quite know what we are doing.?

Frankly, I am not surprised at this turn of events. Norman Granz, who
founded Verve Records in 1956, would be horrified by the recent history of
his iconic label. Granz worked with most of the major jazz artists of the
middle decades of the 20th century.

At one time or another, Granz recorded Duke Ellington, Louis Armstrong,
Charlie Parker, Dizzy Gillespie, Art Tatum, Stan Getz, Ella Fitzgerald,
Billie Holiday, Count Basie, Oscar Peterson and dozens of other now
legendary jazz figures.

What would Granz think of Verve?s Donny Osmond album ?tracing the high and
low points of both his professional and personal life?? Or the recent Barry
Manilow album on Verve, which finds the pop crooner collaborating with a
host of dead musicians? It?s a long path from Billie Holiday to Donny
Osmond, and the trajectory is definitely downward.

Granz was a tenacious businessman, but he also knew that some things were
more important than money. He fought against racial discrimination at every
juncture, and refused to compromise in situations where others would have
folded. He once confronted an armed policeman trying to plant drugs in Ella
Fitzgerald?s dressing room. ?I ought to kill you,? threatened the cop, who
pointed a gun at the producer?s stomach. Granz responded, ?Well, if you?re
going to shoot me, I mean, shoot me.? Granz showed similar courage when
insisting that a taxi driver operating a ?whites only? vehicle give a ride
to Fitzgerald, or tearing down the signs for white and black patrons at a
jazz concert. Nat Hentoff has called Granz the '?the most stubborn and
brusque man I have never known? -- but only someone with such fierce
determination could have overcome the obstacles facing a music impresario
committed to civil rights in the ?40s and ?50s.

Verve would benefit today from someone with Granz?s vision and stubbornness.
As I look back at Verve?s output in recent years, the most striking aspect
is the lack of any consistent guiding principles. Some albums are better
than others, but too many decisions seem driven by marketing concepts rather
than a commitment to artistry.

Even Diana Krall, one of the few high caliber jazz artists still affiliated
with Verve, is presented in the crassest way. Her 2012 release, Glad Rag
Doll, looked more like an excuse for a lingerie photo shoot than a jazz
album. Her latest recording, Wallflower, has a few inspired musical moments,
but the focus on tired top 40 pop material from a second-rate oldies
playlist -- ?Alone Again (Naturally),? ?Desperado,?

?I?m Not in Love? -- is cheesy in the extreme. Krall succeeds here despite
the song choices; a lesser artist might have lost all credibility in jazz
circles with an album of this sort.

How could Universal fix Verve? Perhaps they should look back to the steps
Norman Granz took to revitalize Ella Fitzgerald?s career in the ?50s -- the
greatest success story in the history of the Verve label. While under
contract to Decca (ironically, now part of the Universal Music empire that
controls Verve), she was prodded into recording embarrassing songs such as
?Santa Claus Got Stuck in My Chimney? and ?Little Man in a Flying Saucer.?
But when Granz brought her on board the new Verve label, he packaged and
promoted her as the leading jazz interpreter of classic American songs. The
resulting ?Songbook? albums -- featuring the music of George Gershwin, Cole
Porter, Duke Ellington and others composers of the highest caliber -- still
serve as the foundation of Verve?s catalog and reputation.

That kind of commitment to quality is still the best recipe for long-term
success in the jazz field. Throw out the gimmicks. Forget about clever press
releases. Instead, back the finest talent and give them a platform to make
the best music possible.

If Universal Music wants to see how this is done, they should check out the
jazz offerings from ECM, Nonesuch, and other labels that have flourished,
even during tough times, with a commitment to artistry that starts at the
top of the organization.

Or, if that is too much to ask from the new team at Interscope, perhaps the
best thing for all parties would be to find a new owner for this historic
label. Maybe with a different boss, Verve could once again live up to
promise embodied by its name.

-30-

 

-Bob Ringwald

Bob Ringwald Solo Piano, duo, Trio, Quartet Fulton Street Jazz Band 916/
806-9551 Amateur (ham) Radio station K 6 Y B V