Tag Archives: Ahmet Ertegun

July 31: The late Ahmet Ertegun founder and president of Atlantic Records was born in 1923

ahmet ertegunn

“Few people have had a bigger impact on the record industry than Ahmet, and no one loved American music more than he did.”
– David Geffen

Ahmet Ertegün ( July 31, 1923 – December 14, 2006) was a Turkish American musician and businessman, best known as the founder (with Herb Abramson) and president of Atlantic Records, and for discovering or championing artists like Eric Clapton, Phil Collins, Genesis, the Rolling Stones, Led Zeppelin, Crosby, Stills, Nash, and Young, Aretha Franklin, Ray Charles, Dusty Springfield, Yes, and more.

“When I was about 8 or 9 years old, in 1932, Nesuhi (his brother) took me to hear Cab Calloway and later Duke Ellington at the Palladium in London. I had never really seen black people except I had seen pictures of great artists like Josephine Baker—whom I spent a few days with before she died. And I had never heard anything as glorious as those beautiful musicians, wearing great white tails playing these incredibly gleaming horns with drums and rhythm sections unlike you ever heard on records. In those days, they recorded the drums and the bass very, very softly so it wouldn’t break the grooves of the 78 rpm records. So I became a jazz fan quite early and never went off the path thereafter.”

– Ahmet Ertegun

ahmet atlantic

He also wrote classic blues and pop songs and served as Chairman of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and museum. Ertegun has been described as “one of the most significant figures in the modern recording industry.”

When not pursuing the aristocracy of British rock’n’roll – for instance making the fabled Dusty In Memphis album with Dusty Springfield – Atlantic became an influential player in homegrown American rock, picking up LA-based Buffalo Springfield, which then starred Stephen Stills and Neil Young. The Allman Brothers, Foreigner, Stevie Nicks, Roberta Flack, Jewel, Sean Paul and Matchbox 20 all joined Atlantic. The company remained a magnet for talent, because of its track record and Ertegun’s in-house production team of Jerry Wexler, Arif Mardin and Tom Dowd. Atlantic also enjoyed a reputation for not systematically fleecing its artists in notorious Tin Pan Alley fashion.
(The Guardian)

The story of Atlantic Records is the story of Ahmet Ertegun. Here is a good documentary telling his story:

Continue reading July 31: The late Ahmet Ertegun founder and president of Atlantic Records was born in 1923

July 31 in music history

July 31: The late Ahmet Ertegun founder and president of Atlantic Records was born in 1923 (read more)

“Few people have had a bigger impact on the record industry than Ahmet, and no one loved American music more than he did.”
– David Geffen

Ahmet Ertegün (July 31, 1923 – December 14, 2006) was a Turkish American musician and businessman, best known as the founder (with Herb Abramson) and president of Atlantic Records, and for discovering or championing artists like Eric Clapton, Phil Collins, Genesis, the Rolling Stones, Led Zeppelin, Crosby, Stills, Nash, and Young, Aretha Franklin, Ray Charles, Dusty Springfield, Yes, and more.

 ahmet_ertegun1

July 31: Bob Dylan: 5th recording session for Desire 1975 (read more)

Studio E
Columbia Recording Studios
New York City, New York
31 July 1975
5th Desire session, produced by Don DeVito
The following night [31 July 1975], Dylan held another session, this time recording three songs. From this session, Dylan recorded the master take for “Isis” as well as master takes for “Abandoned Love” and “Sara.” Dylan’s wife Sara, the subject of the song that bore her name, also accompanied him to this session.

 Bob_Dylan-Desire-Frontal
 “Baby, Stop Crying” is a song written by Bob Dylan, released on July 31, 1978 as a single and on his album Street Legal. It was performed live only during his big-band world-wide tour of 1978. The song charted at #13 in the UK and was a top-ten song in much of Europe, although it failed to chart in the United States.  bob dylan baby stop crying
 James Travis “Jim” Reeves (August 20, 1923 – July 31, 1964) was an American country and popular music singer-songwriter. With records charting from the 1950s to the 1980s, he became well known as a practitioner of the Nashville sound (a mixture of older country-style music with elements of popular music). Known as “Gentleman Jim”, his songs continued to chart for years after his death. Reeves died in the crash of a private airplane. He is a member of both the Country Music and Texas Country Music Halls of Fame.  jim-reeves
 Time (The Revelator) (released July 31, 2001) is the third full length album by Gillian Welch. All songs were written by Welch together with David Rawlings and were recorded in Nashville, Tennessee. “I Want To Sing That Rock and Roll” was recorded live at the Ryman Auditorium as part of the sessions for the concert film, Down from the Mountain, all the rest of the tracks were recorded at RCA Studio B, Nashville, Tennessee.  gillian-welch Time

Spotify Playlist – July 31

Today: The late Ahmet Ertegun founder and president of Atlantic Records was born in 1923

ahmet ertegunn

“Few people have had a bigger impact on the record industry than Ahmet, and no one loved American music more than he did.”
– David Geffen

Ahmet Ertegün ( July 31, 1923 – December 14, 2006) was a Turkish American musician and businessman, best known as the founder (with Herb Abramson) and president of Atlantic Records, and for discovering or championing artists like Eric Clapton, Phil Collins, Genesis, the Rolling Stones, Led Zeppelin, Crosby, Stills, Nash, and Young, Aretha Franklin, Ray Charles, Dusty Springfield, Yes, and more.

“When I was about 8 or 9 years old, in 1932, Nesuhi (his brother) took me to hear Cab Calloway and later Duke Ellington at the Palladium in London. I had never really seen black people except I had seen pictures of great artists like Josephine Baker—whom I spent a few days with before she died. And I had never heard anything as glorious as those beautiful musicians, wearing great white tails playing these incredibly gleaming horns with drums and rhythm sections unlike you ever heard on records. In those days, they recorded the drums and the bass very, very softly so it wouldn’t break the grooves of the 78 rpm records. So I became a jazz fan quite early and never went off the path thereafter.”

– Ahmet Ertegun

ahmet atlantic

He also wrote classic blues and pop songs and served as Chairman of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and museum. Ertegun has been described as “one of the most significant figures in the modern recording industry.”

When not pursuing the aristocracy of British rock’n’roll – for instance making the fabled Dusty In Memphis album with Dusty Springfield – Atlantic became an influential player in homegrown American rock, picking up LA-based Buffalo Springfield, which then starred Stephen Stills and Neil Young. The Allman Brothers, Foreigner, Stevie Nicks, Roberta Flack, Jewel, Sean Paul and Matchbox 20 all joined Atlantic. The company remained a magnet for talent, because of its track record and Ertegun’s in-house production team of Jerry Wexler, Arif Mardin and Tom Dowd. Atlantic also enjoyed a reputation for not systematically fleecing its artists in notorious Tin Pan Alley fashion.
(The Guardian)

The story of Atlantic Records is the story of Ahmet Ertegun. Here is a good documentary telling his story.

The Atlantic Records Story – Hip To The Tip (part1):

The Atlantic Records Story – Hip To The Tip (part2):

Keith Richards (shortly after Ahmet Ertegun died):

I was with Ahmet at the Beacon, ten minutes before he went to the john. He asked me how my head was, after the bang. I said, “Have a feel.” Because I have a big dent on the left side, front lobe. He was rubbing it, and we were laughing our heads off. By the time I got offstage, I’d heard what happened. It’s almost as if I cursed him. So nobody else can rub my head anymore.

I can’t remember exactly when or where we first met. Ahmet sort of insidiously crept into our lives [laughs]. He was both diplomatic and down-home. He was very different from the people who run most record labels. I remember once Mick and I having a meeting with Ahmet. He sat at his desk with his walking cane, balancing it on the top of the desk. Mick and I are trying to have a serious conversation with him, but I looked at him and realized, “Forget it, we’re getting nowhere with him today, baby.”

He knew the meaning of drama. When he came to our sessions, it was usually with a bit of fanfare and some beautiful babe on his arm — he had a bevy. He wouldn’t say much about the music. You’d get little grunts: “Damn good. That’s the shit.” He wouldn’t want to interfere. But he had his ear on everything.

With Ahmet, you weren’t dealing with some hood or lawyer or shyster, which is quite often what you get in the record business. You were talking on level terms with Ahmet. He was intimately involved with what came out under his name.

Ahmet could also get excessive. He liked to hang. And I loved to hang with him, just to hear what came out of the side of his mouth. There would be these little asides: “Screw that @#$%&,” things like that.

He was one of the Stones’ father figures. I looked up to Ahmet the way I did Muddy Waters. Until the day he died, his whole thing was to be involved with musicians. His love of the music, his joy from it, stayed with him. Otherwise, he wouldn’t have been backstage at the Beacon a couple of weeks ago. It was full circle. And that touches me.

Let’s play Dusty in Memphis in Ahmet Ertegun’s honor today:

 

Other 31 July:

James Travis “Jim” Reeves (August 20, 1923 – July 31, 1964) was an American country and popular music singer-songwriter. With records charting from the 1950s to the 1980s, he became well known as a practitioner of the Nashville sound (a mixture of older country-style music with elements of popular music). Known as Gentleman Jim, his songs continued to chart for years after his death. Reeves died at age 40 in the crash of a private airplane. He is a member of both the Country Music and Texas Country Music Halls of Fame.

jim-reeves

– Hallgeir

Sources: The Guardian, Allmusic, Wikipedia

Today: Bob Dylan recorded master version of “Isis” in 1975

Isis, oh, Isis, you mystical child
What drives me to you is what drives me insane
I still can remember the way that you smiled
On the fifth day of May in the drizzlin’ rain

Location: Studio E, Columbia Recording Studios – NYC

What:  5th Desire session, produced by Don DeVito.

Master versions recorded: Isis, SaraAbandoned Love

  • Isis & Sara released on Desire 16 January 1976
  • Abandoned Love released on Biograph 28 October 1985
Bob Dylan (guitar, vocal), Scarlet Rivera (violin), Sheena Seidenberg (tambourine & congas), Rob Stoner (bass), Howie Wyeth (drums).
More detalis from: Olof’s Files 

From Wikipedia:

This song is in a moderately fast 3/4 time, in the key of B-flat major. The arrangement is based on rhythm chords played on acoustic piano, accompanied by bass, drums, and violin. The harmonic progression consists of an ostinato using the chords I-♭VII-IV-I (B♭-A♭-E♭-B♭) throughout. The lyrics are all verses; there is no chorus. The melody is in the style of a modal folk song, emphasizing the tonic and dominant notes in the scale, with leaps of a fifth in between them. The mode is Mixolydian with a major third in the harmony, but Dylan’s delivery of the melody uses a flatted third as in the blues.

The song was written and recorded during a time of separation and reunion in Dylan’s own marriage; consequently, for fans and critics the temptation to interpret it as an allegory of Dylan’s own marital difficulties is irresistible, especially since the Desire album contains the song “Sara” which is openly about their marriage and separation. Since Dylan was known to include autobiographical hints in his previous songs, this interpretation cannot be considered farfetched. “Isis” draws upon mythological themes of a male hero separating from his wife, going on adventures, and returning to the marriage, going back to the Odyssey.

Dylan did an up-tempo live version of this song with the Rolling Thunder Revue, a performance of which was included in the film Renaldo and Clara. A live Rolling Thunder version of the song was included on the compilation album Biograph, which Dylan introduces as “a song about marriage”. Coupled with the name of the album, this introduction further insinuates that the song documents Dylan’s marital tribulations.

Live from Rolling Thunder 1 – Plymouth:

Spotify playlist – Isis, Sara & Abandoned Love:

Album of the day:

Other July-31:

Continue reading Today: Bob Dylan recorded master version of “Isis” in 1975