My juices needed restoring. I needed a sabbatical from the record business.

Sponsors and networks will really go all out and simply evaluate people on the basis of talent.

The history of all big jazz bands shows was, first they played for dancing, and then they played for singing.

My juices needed restoring. I needed a sabbatical from the record business.

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.

At Verve, my bookkeeper would invariably say, 'Well, why do you want to put out Roy Eldridge?' Or 'Why do you want to put out Ben Webster? They don't sell.' And I'd say, 'Well, whether they sell or not, they're important, they should be recorded and they're what Verve stands for, so we don't have to discuss that any further.

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