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Orrin Keepnews

Orrin Keepnews is an NEA Jazz Master

"I have been deeply involved in the jazz record world for appreciably more than a half-century, and now that they have gotten around to labeling me a "jazz master" I guess I probably can't count on ending the association any time soon.  Not that I really would want to stop: I remain quite proud of what I have at times accomplished in a varied career — which might perhaps more accurately be considered an overlapping series of careers.  I have primarily thought of myself as a producer, which to me means working with a series of artists to help combine their talents with the realities of recording, editing, promoting, and in various other ways assisting them in achieving a reasonable degree of success and recognition."

Recognized as one of the outstanding record producers in the jazz world, Orrin Keepnews co-founded Riverside Records in the early 1950s, launching or furthering the careers of several of the most notable names in jazz, beginning with such significant artists as Thelonious Monk, Bill Evans, Wes Montgomery, Sonny Rollins, and Cannonball Adderley. He was long been at the forefront of producing reissues of both traditional and modern jazz recordings, and known for his informative, incisive and extensively detailed liner notes.

Graduating from Columbia University in 1943 and then serving in the Air Force for the balance of World War II, Keepnews returned to Columbia for graduate studies in 1946. Two years later, he became editor of The Record Changer magazine, which was newly owned by his former college classmate and noted jazz record collector, Bill Grauer. Beginning in 1951, Grauer and Keepnews produced a series of reissues on RCA Victor?s "Label X". The following year, the two men founded Riverside, which originally focused on reissues of traditional jazz and blues recordings. In 1954, they signed pianist Randy Weston, their first modern jazz artist and a disciple of Thelonious Monk. From that point on, the label began to focus on the burgeoning modern jazz scene, with Keepnews doing the producing. Promising new artists such as Clark Terry, Johnny Griffin, and Jimmy Heath were signed to the label, quickly making Riverside a major force among the New York-based independent labels. But at the end of 1963, Grauer died following a heart attack and Keepnews was unable to save the company from bankruptcy several months later.

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Liner Notes

Raul De Souza: Colors

Read "Raul De Souza: Colors" reviewed by Arnaldo DeSouteiro


Raul De Souza's life can be seen as a one-of-a-kind story. Indeed, it would make a perfect novel or film script. It may not be as big a tragedy as 'Round Midnight or Bird, but it has drama, love, adventure, and great music. Picture this: a poor child grows up in Brazil working as a weaver and practicing trombone in conversations with a buffalo in the jungle, dreaming of someday becoming an internationally famous jazzman. Suddenly, this dream ...

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Radio & Podcasts

The Producers

Read "The Producers" reviewed by Monk Rowe


Helen Dance, George Avakian, Orrin Keepnews and Joel Dorn do their best to describe the role of a jazz producer, the person “behind the glass." ...

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Interview

Orrin Keepnews: Classic Producer of Classics

Read "Orrin Keepnews: Classic Producer of Classics" reviewed by R.J. DeLuke


This interview was originally published in August 2007. As a city boy who took a liking to jazz music and extended it into a budding career as a journalist, Orrin Keepnews may have inadvertently veered into the record-producing arena that generated classic albums from a wide range of unforgettable artists. Maybe it was a fortunate accident. Maybe fate. Maybe it's a word he uses about others: inevitable. Born in jny: New York City eighty-four ...

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Profile

Orrin Keepnews' Collection

Read "Orrin Keepnews' Collection" reviewed by Marc Medwin


"Listen," Orrin Keepnews' no-nonsense delivery tempered by a smile. “I'm 84 years old. I'll take my legacies where I can get them," referring to the Keepnews Collection, a series launched this year by Concord Records. An astonishing study in longevity and ingenuity, the multiple facets and accomplishments of Keepnews' career as label maverick, writer and producer need no rehearsal in these pages. His insight, wit and engagement with the music, its participants and history, so evident in his ...

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Event

Producer Orrin Keepnews To Be Honored At A Memorial Concert At Yoshi's, Oakland, Nov. 29

Producer Orrin Keepnews To Be Honored At A Memorial Concert At Yoshi's, Oakland, Nov. 29

Source: Terri Hinte Publicity

When Orrin Keepnews passed away at his El Cerrito home on March 1, the day before his 92nd birthday, he left behind an unparalleled legacy as a jazz producer, advocate, and entrepreneur. Keepnews’s brilliant career spanned more than 60 years, during which time he founded three forward-thinking labels (Riverside, Milestone, Landmark) and produced hundreds of major jazz artists including Thelonious Monk, Bill Evans, McCoy Tyner, Cannonball Adderley, and Mulgrew Miller. Several of the artists he worked closely with—vocalist Wesla Whitfield, ...

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Obituary

Orrin Keepnews (1923-2015)

Orrin Keepnews (1923-2015)

Source: JazzWax by Marc Myers

Orrin Keepnews, a jazz record producer whose taste in music, integrity and respect for artists resulted in a vast body of legacy recordings by Thelonious Monk, Cannonball Adderley, Wes Montgomery and Bill Evans as well as dozens of other artists, died on March 1. He was 91. His Riverside label operated from 1953 to 1964. What set it apart from the competition was Orrin's devotion to his artists, many of whom repaid his support by finding him new talent. For ...

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Obituary

Orrin Keepnews, RIP

Orrin Keepnews, RIP

Source: Rifftides by Doug Ramsey

The influential jazz producer, record company head and author Orrin Keepnews died today at his home in El Cerrito, California. He would have been 92 tomorrow. Keepnews guided the recording careers of Thelonious Monk, Bill Evans, Wes Montgomery, Sonny Rollins and many other leading jazz artists of the 20th Century. The announcement of his death came from his son Peter Keepnews, who with his brother David had flown from New York to their father’s bedside two days earlier. Keepnews is ...

Recording

Orrin Keepnews' Studio Secrets

Orrin Keepnews' Studio Secrets

Source: JazzWax by Marc Myers

In early 1953, Orrin Keepnews, a magazine editor and writer, and Bill Grauer, a bean-counter, started Riverside Records. Both had had some experience producing jazz reissues for RCA. As Orrin told me when I first interviewed him in 2007, “We were too damn dumb to be scared." The label was named after the office's telephone exchange following unfruitful attempts to come up with something better. At first, Riverside's strategy was to use the new 10-inch LP format as a way ...

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Interview

Orrin Keepnews, Jazz Master

Orrin Keepnews, Jazz Master

Source: JazzWax by Marc Myers

What makes Orrin Keepnews special? As I point out in my Wall Street Journal profile today here, the 87-year-old former Riverside Records producer is arguably responsible for some of jazz's greatest recordings. Through his vision and encouragement, Riverside recorded many of the finest jazz works by Thelonious Monk, Bill Evans, Cannonball Adderley, Wes Montgomery and so many others in the '50s and early '60s. Not to mention his work on his Milestone and Landmark labels in the years that followed. ...

138

Interview

Orrin Keepnews on Bill Evans

Orrin Keepnews on Bill Evans

Source: JazzWax by Marc Myers

In rereading producer Orrin Keepnews' superb book, The View From Within, a collection of his jazz writings and recollections over the years, I came across the following passage on Bill Evans and the recording of Explorations. I've often posted that the years between 1959 and 1965 represent my favorite Bill Evans period, with Explorations being among my favorite recording, primarily for its poetic ideas and bounce. Here's Orrin, a recently named NEA Jazz Master, on the February 2, 1961 session ...

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Radio

Orrin Keepnews, Producer: A New Video Podcast Series, Focuses on Classic Jazz Recordings.

Orrin Keepnews, Producer: A New Video Podcast Series, Focuses on Classic Jazz Recordings.

Source: Jim Eigo, Jazz Promo Services

Veteran Jazz producer Orrin Keepnews and his Keepnews Collection releases from the Concord Music Group are the subject of a new video Podcast series created and produced by Bret Primack. The second chapter of “Orrin Keepnews, Producer" is “Orrin Keepnews Meets The Saxophone Colossus," now available on YouTube and iTunes, as well as the Concord Music Group website.

Keepnews first met Sonny Rollins during Thelonious Monk's “Brilliant Corners" recording session and signed the brilliant young saxman to his Riverside Records ...

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Interview

Legendary Producer Orrin Keepnews Interviewed at AAJ

Legendary Producer Orrin Keepnews Interviewed at AAJ

Source: All About Jazz

As a city boy who took a liking to jazz music and extended it into a budding career as a journalist, Orrin Keepnews may have inadvertently veered into the record-producing arena that generated classic albums from a wide range of unforgettable artists. Maybe it was a fortunate accident. Maybe fate.

Maybe it's a word he uses about others: inevitable.

AAJ contributor R.J. DeLuke caught up with Keepnews recently, to discuss his reissue series, The Keepnews Collection, the state of recording ...

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Music Industry

Orrin Keepnews to Celebrate 80th Birthday "Milestone"

Orrin Keepnews to Celebrate 80th Birthday "Milestone"

Source: All About Jazz

On March 2, producer ORRIN KEEPNEWS will mark a major personal milestone: His 80th birthday. To help him celebrate that “incredible fact," as Orrin terms it, Moose's Restaurant and the San Francisco chapter of the Recording Academy are producing an event on that Sunday afternoon at Moose's Restaurant in San Francisco which will feature live music and tributes from Orrin's friends and surprise guests.

In addition to appreciating his enormous contributions to jazz as a record label head, producer, historian, ...

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