Creativity Quote by Norman Granz

Granz isn’t being nostalgic here; he’s diagnosing a market failure with a promoter’s cold clarity. Jazz, in his telling, isn’t losing because the music suddenly got worse or audiences got dumber. It’s losing because the business model got undercut. “The economic picture” is a blunt euphemism for shrinking disposable income, rising travel costs, and the reality that a club-by-club tour demands steady, local demand that can’t be faked.

Then comes the sharper edge: “People now are too used to the Festival.” That “too used to” lands like a sigh and an accusation. Festivals train audiences to shop for quantity over depth: more “names” on a poster, less willingness to pay for a single artist’s full night. It’s not just price sensitivity; it’s a rewiring of taste into bargain-hunting. Granz implies that the festival isn’t merely a venue shift, it’s a cultural shift: jazz becomes an event to sample rather than a relationship to sustain.

The subtext is personal, because Granz built his reputation on the tour circuit and on treating jazz like serious art that deserved serious presentation (and serious pay). Festivals can democratize access, sure, but they also flatten the experience into a lineup, turning musicians into interchangeable attractions. His complaint is really about attention: when the audience comes for “more names,” the music gets consumed like a playlist. Jazz, a form that thrives on long arcs, risk-taking, and room chemistry, is being squeezed into the economics of variety.