Jazz Producer to the Greats
Full article behind the link above.George Avakian probably has done more to influence the way jazz has been heard over the past 70 years than anyone else alive. Mr. Avakian, who celebrated his 90th birthday in March, may not have single-handedly invented the jazz album, but in 1939 and 1940 he got the concept off the ground. He is responsible for essential albums by Louis Armstrong, Duke Ellington, Miles Davis, Dave Brubeck and other jazz greats -- a list much too long for this column. And he ran the first jazz reissue program...The legacy of recorded jazz would be substantially poorer without him.