Montreux Jazz Festival founder Claude Nobs talks about Marvin Gaye

The Genius of Marvin Gaye

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The Montreux Jazz Festival started in 1967. It is one of the oldest Festival in the world, celebrating its 44 years in 2010. Discover each week a new ‘behind the scene’ story told by Claude Nobs, director and founder of the event. This week : The Genius of Marvin Gaye.

“As part of our joint venture, the Mayor of Detroit helped us to persuade Marvin Gaye to come and play at the Festival in Montreux. The show was absolutely stupendous, and after he’d come off stage Marvin came up to me and said ‘Claude, I want you to be my manager. I’m between contracts right now, and I’d like to sign with Atlantic.’ So I phoned them up, and the person I spoke with told me ‘No, no, no. We don’t want to sign Marvin, he’s just too crazy and unpredictable.’ This about a man who was an absolutely consummate professional!

I believe that the reason was that Marvin had the music, the songs, the arrangements, he knew the musicians and back line singers that he wanted, as well as exactly how it should be produced - I mean I don’t think anyone else at Motown even had very much to do with what Marvin created. He was a genius, that was it. He was really like a king, and the record companies, just at that time especially, had no idea how to deal with that kind of talent or with him as an artist.”

LINK: http://www.montreuxjazz.com/2011/en/news/news/99