Today we remember the passing of Jerry Wexler who Died: August 15, 2008 in Sarasota, Florida
Gerald “Jerry” Wexler (January 10, 1917 – August 15, 2008) was a music journalist turned music producer, and was one of the main record industry players behind music from the 1950s through the 1980s. He coined the term “rhythm and blues”, and was integral in signing and/or producing many of the biggest acts of the time, including Ray Charles, the Allman Brothers, Chris Connor, Aretha Franklin, Led Zeppelin, Wilson Pickett, Dire Straits, Dusty Springfield and Bob Dylan. Wexler was inducted to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1987 and in 2017 to the National Rhythm & Blues Hall of Fame.
Wexler was born in The Bronx, New York City, the son of a German Jewish father and a Polish Jewish mother; he grew up in the Washington Heights neighborhood of Upper Manhattan. Despite graduating from George Washington High School at age 15, he dropped out of the City College of New York after two semesters. In 1935, Wexler enrolled at what is now Kansas State University, where he studied intermittently for several years. Following his service in the Army, Wexler became a serious student, and he graduated from Kansas State with a B.A. in journalism in 1946.
During his time as an editor, reporter, and writer for Billboard Magazine, Wexler coined the term “rhythm and blues”. In June 1949, at his suggestion, the magazine changed the name of the Race Records chart to Rhythm & Blues Records. Wexler wrote, “‘Race’ was a common term then, a self-referral used by blacks…On the other hand, ‘Race Records’ didn’t sit well…I came up with a handle I thought suited the music well – 'rhythm and blues.’… It was a label more appropriate to more enlightened times.”
Wexler became a partner in Atlantic Records in 1953. There followed classic recordings with Ray Charles, the Drifters and Ruth Brown. With Ahmet and Nesuhi Ertegun, he built Atlantic Records into a major force in the recording industry.
In the 1960s, he recorded Wilson Pickett and Aretha Franklin, and oversaw production of Dusty Springfield’s highly acclaimed Dusty in Memphis and Lulu’s New Routes albums. He also cultivated a tight relationship with Stax Records, was an enthusiastic proponent of the then-developing Muscle Shoals Sound and launched the fortunes of Muscle Shoals Sound Studios and the Muscle Shoals Rhythm Section. In 1967 he was named Record Executive of the Year for turning Aretha Franklin’s career around. In November 1966, Franklin’s Columbia recording contract expired; at that time, she owed the company money because record sales had not met expectations. Working with Wexler and Atlantic, Franklin was “the most successful singer in the nation” by 1968. His work in this decade put Atlantic at the forefront of soul music.
In 1968, he and Ahmet Ertegun signed Led Zeppelin to Atlantic Records on the recommendation of singer Dusty Springfield and from what they knew of the band’s guitarist, Jimmy Page, from his performances with the Yardbirds. With its strong catalog, Atlantic Records was purchased by Warner Bros. Records in 1968. In 1975, Wexler moved from Atlantic to its parent Warner Records.
In 1979, Wexler produced Bob Dylan’s controversial first “born again” album, Slow Train Coming at Muscle Shoals; a single from that album, “Gotta Serve Somebody”, won a Grammy Award in 1980. When Wexler agreed to produce, he was unaware of the nature of the material that awaited him. “Naturally, I wanted to do the album in Muscle Shoals - as Bob did - but we decided to prep it in L.A., where Bob lived”, recalled Wexler. “That’s when I learned what the songs were about: born-again Christians in the old corral… I like the irony of Bob coming to me, the Wandering Jew, to get the Jesus feel… But I had no idea he was on this born-again Christian trip until he started to evangelize me. I said, 'Bob, you’re dealing with a sixty-two-year-old confirmed Jewish atheist. I’m hopeless. Let’s just make an album.’”
In 1983, Wexler recorded with UK pop star George Michael. The most famous out-take of these sessions would prove to be a rare early version of “Careless Whisper”, recorded in Muscle Shoals.
In 1987, Wexler was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. He retired from the music business in the late 1990s.
For most of the 1990s, Wexler lived on David’s Lane in East Hampton, New York, where he shared living space with a Chinese family who aided him with daily functions and kept him company.
He died at his home in Sarasota, Florida, on August 15, 2008, from congestive heart failure. Asked by a documentary filmmaker several years before his death what he wanted on his tombstone, Wexler replied “Two words: 'More bass’.”
Q: “‘Ballad Of Sir Frankie Crisp (Let It Roll)’ was inspired by the eccentric gardener [Sir Frank Crisp] who used to own Friar Park, which was bought by George.”
Olivia Harrison: “I love that song. George was a young man — aged 27 — when he bought it. The garden was derelict and overgrown. It would take a rare person to look at that and say, ‘This is great.’ But he just set about restoring it. It’s really a beautiful, beautiful place and it was just about doing it for the love of it.” - The Sun, June 12, 2009
“He used to say in Liverpool at six they would close the parks [and would be kicked out], and his father told me, he said, ‘When [George] was small he said, “One day I’m going to get my own park.”’ [laughs] And so ‘The Ballad of Sir Frankie Crisp’ is just… I think about it all the time.” - Olivia Harrison, BBC Radio 4, November 2020 (x)
RAM, Paul McCartney’s second post-Beatles album, was largely disparaged by critics at the time of its 1971 release. Blending his classic rock roots with a fresh indie-pop sound (heavily influenced by his newfound creative freedom at his farm in Scotland), RAM is perhaps Paul’s most musically inventive album. Paul credits the album to “Paul & Linda McCartney” - him and his now-late wife. While Paul was undoubtedly the musical commander-in-chief of the album, Linda’s airy, enthusiastic backing vocals provide a refreshing depth and tone that Paul could not have achieved alone. Linda’s more important role, however, took place far away from the microphone. Then-29-year-old Paul had fallen into a deep depression after the highly publicized and bitter breakup of The Beatles in 1970, turning to heavy drinking as a coping mechanism. Paul has revealed that Linda’s pateint encouragement and unwavering support saved his life, and credits her as the reason he started writing music again. Tender moments between the couple on their farm in Scotland, seen here, were used for the album’s promotional material - signalling to the public a new domestic life for the seemingly perennial bachelor of The Beatles. Ultimately, RAM’s biggest downfall was that it was released decades ahead of its time. Today, the album is heralded by critics as a masterpiece, firmly cemented as a cult favorite, and even claimed by some as the first “true” indie-pop record.
“Listen, look, very simply, musicologically and ethnically The Rutles were essentially empirical mélanges, so they’re rhythmically radical yet verbally passé and temporarily transcended lyrical content welded with historically innovative melodical material, transposed and transmogrified by the angst of the Rutland ethic experience, which elevated them from essentially alpha exponents of, in essence merely beta potential harmonic material into the prime cultural exponents of Aeolian codensic cosmic stanza form.” - Stanley j. Krammerhead III jr.
Oldsmobile Toronado, 1970. This was the final version of the first generation Toronado. The Toronado had pioneered the Unitised Power Package (UPP), combining a Rocket V8 with Turbo-Hydramatic 400 transmission and a transaxle driving the front wheels. It was the first US made front-wheel drive automobile since the demise of the Cord in 1937.
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“George Harrison, Friar Park, 1970; photo by Barry Feinstein, © Barry Feinstein Photography, Inc.
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