I don't say that the supposed Civil Rights development is a myth, but it's a matter of dealing with reality. It's purely peripheral and, in many cases, it's just a facade.

I don't want to sound as if I'm doing something tremendously special. But I am a jazz fan.

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

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

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.

As long as we're in a democracy, I have to give what I think the majority of people will enjoy.

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.