RVG RIP


Gonna go through my jazz collection and see what percentage of them Rudy was attached to. Although it might be easier to count the ones he was not on. The hard part is picking the first item to play.
bianchi27
I will miss him. What a long and very productive life he had. I have many Blue Note, Pablo and Prestige recordings done by him. Although he's recognized more for the Blue Note label I believe that the Prestige recordings were the superior sounding. His later Pablo work was  very good as well. He is a legend amongst recording engineers. 
Charles, 
Indeed a legend in jazz production and a very distinctive sound. What a loss. RIP RVG.
http://www.nytimes.com/2016/08/26/arts/music/rudy-van-gelder-audio-engineer-who-helped-define-sound-of-jazz-on-record-dies-at-91.html?_r=0

Thanks for posting the news, Bianchi.  I had not heard.  Here's a link to the NY Times piece on him.  

I don't think it's exaggeration to say a giant in the industry has passed.

2016 continues as a horrible year of losses in the music world.  
Correction,
I  wrote that RVG recorded for Pablo and this is incorrect. That was Norman Granz's label and he used other recording engineers.
Charles,
Wow!  I was not aware of his recent passing.  Funny thing is that I just recently began adding to my CTI collection where many of the recordings were done by RVG at his studio.  He will be missed.

There's a short story in one of my encyclopedias titled "Waiting For Dizzy" involving Art Farmer, Phil Woods, and Benny Golson, waiting for Dizzy, at Rudy Van Gelders studio, by Gene Lees.

Everyone who had ever recorded there knew Rudy's quirks, and one of them was never touch the equipment. Art Farmer told a story about Jim Hall and Red Mitchell at the studio to do a duo recording. They talked about the sound they wanted with Rudy in the control room, and Red said "You know Rudy, maybe if we just put a little more of this in there" and he touched one of the faders. Rudy said, "That's it. You don't owe me anything. Just pack up and get out"

Although Red went to high school with Rudy, don't touch the equipment still applied. That shows just how meticulous Rudy was about his recording equipment, and that also illustrates why he got such high quality recordings.


Orpheus10,
Thanks for sharing that story. Ruby definitely produced a distinct sound for the various labels he worked with. Blue Note, Impulse and Prestige were quite different from one another even though he used the same recording equipment. SQ wise I enjoy the early stereo Prestige presentation, really good.
Charles,