If I were to put on Barbra Streisand and Duke Ellington, one might say the combination isn't good.

I don't think that jazz, as any kind of an art form, has any permanence attached to it, apart from the practitioners of it.

If you don't get substantially what you want, be ready to walk. And don't look back.

My function at Verve was that of a genuine producer in artists and repertoire.

There are very few groups that really stay together. The leaders of groups make enough money to be able to afford to work a maximum of 35-40 weeks a year.

Jazz is America's own. It is played and listened to by all peoples - in harmony together. Pigmentation differences have no place... as in genuine democracy, only performance counts.

I allowed artists to play for as long as they felt they could justifiably continue to create.