R.I.P. Jerry Wexler

[Michael Johnstone]

http://music.msn.com/music/article.aspx ... &GT1=28102

[Jon Light (deceased)]

Yep. Huge.

[Glenn Suchan]

Not meaning to diminish Jerry Wexler and partner Ahmet Ertgun's impact on the history of recorded music, but to put things in perspective, Atlantic Records recording engineer, Tom Dowd (died October 27, 2002) was THE ONE that made that company so innovative in the 50's and 60's. Not only was Tom an accomplished musician who had studied at City College of New York, and a musician/conductor at Columbia University. He also was a student of physics at Columbia University. At the age of 18 he was drafted into the military where his physics back round allowed him to remain at Columbia University to work on the Manhattan Project. After completing his military obligation, he planned to return to Columbia to obtain his Phd. in physics only to find that the classified knowledge he gained though the Manhattan Project was well beyond any of the conventional academia at Columbia U or any other university of the day. At that point he abandoned his pursuit of a doctorate in physics and decided to focus his energies into the field of music.

About that time, Tom apprenticed for the fledgling Atlantic Records. One fateful day he was given the nod to engineer a recording. The rest is history.
Among his accomplishments are the first ribbon controllers on mixing boards (as opposed to large knobs). These allowed Mr. Dowd to manipulate multitple controls with his fingertips, simultaneously. Although he wasn't the first to experiment with multi-track recording (that honor goes to Les Paul), he was the first to incorporate an 8-track system in a professional recording studio. That feature is what attracted Ray Charles, and in fact, kept Ray Charles at Atlantic Records for quite a few years. Ray's ears were sensitive enough to be able to, for the first time, hear the discrete separation of voices and instruments provided by multi-track recording. Beyond Tom Dowd's technical genius, he was a skilled producer/engineer. His back round as a gifted musician helped him guide raw talent into superstardom. Among these were Aretha Franklin and Rufus Thomas. He's also responsible for mentoring and recording the first Allman Brothers Band and Lynrd Skynyrd Band recordings. As well as renown recordings such as Derek and the Dominoes, "Layla" album. It was the mutual respect for Tom Dowd's engineering artistry that brought Eric Clapton and Dwayne Allman together for that album.

Honestly, it was the amazing things that Tom Dowd was doing at and for Atlantic Records that helped Wexler and Ertgun attract the vast pool of talent that came to them to record.

The major attribution that Wexler and Ertgun are to be honored for is the fact that their labels, Atlantic, in New York and Stax in Memphis provided black R&B, pop and jazz musicians with nationally recognized and respected recording companies. As opposed to regional or local "race" record companies.

RIP: Jerry Wexler, and Tom Dowd, too.


Keep on pickin'!
Glenn

[John Macy]

Dusty in Memphis (Dusty Springfield)--one of my all time favorite records--produced by Jerry and arranged by Dowd--awesome piece of work...RIP

[robert kramer]

“I asked him (Jerry Wexler) once,” said Mr. Thurman, the filmmaker, “ ‘What do you want written on your tombstone, Jerry?’ He said, ‘Two words: More bass.’ ”

New York Times obituary 7/15/08:

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/08/16/arts/ ... ?ref=music

[Mike Winter]

What Glenn said. Tom Dowd was huge...he was the man. A true wunderkind.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tom_Dowd

http://www.thelanguageofmusic.com/

[Glenn Suchan]

Here's a link to an interview with Tom Dowd, from "MIX Professional Audio And Music Production". It gives some insight into Tom's genius and enginuity:

http://mixonline.com/mag/audio_tom_dowd ... ndex.html/

If you get a chance to see the documentary on Tom Dowd called "Tom Dowd & The Language of Music", see it. It's great.

Keep on pickin'!
Glenn