Ahmet Ertegun (1923-2006)



The Greatest Record Man Of All Time by Robert Greenfield

"I think it's better to burn out than to fade away... it's better to live out your days being very, very active - even if it destroys you - than to quietly... disappear.... At my age, why do you think I'm still here struggling with all the problems of this company - because I don't want to fade away."
-Ahmet Ertegun

More than most in the $5 billion-a-year global industry he helped build from scratch, Ahmet Ertegun loved the rhythm and the blues. He loved the rock and the roll, jump and swing, and all forms of jazz. More than anything, he loved the high life and the low. When he died at the age of eighty-three on December 14th, about six weeks after injuring himself in a backstage fall at a Rolling Stones concert at the Beacon Theater in Manhattan, the world lost not only the greatest "record man" who ever lived but also a unique individual whose personal and professional life comprised the history of popular music in America over the past seventy years. On every level, the story of that life is just as rich, varied and exotic as the music that Ahmet brought the world through Atlantic Records, the company he founded in 1947 and was still running at the time of his death.

http://www.pbs.org/wnet/a...antic.html (for the rest of the article)
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Airs tonight @ 9pm on PBS affiliate KCET in Los Angeles


tA

Tribal Disorder

http://www.soundclick.com...dID=182431

oh, excellent i can't wait.

thanks for the heads up.....I'll check it out...

Neil, you are the man. Thanks for lookin out, gotta see this.

oh my god, that was WONDERFUL. really fantastic. American Masters always is, but this one was exceptional.

I caught the last hour or so of it, when he started talking to and about Aretha when she signed to Atlantic.

Dayspring said:

Co-Sign

So damn good. I just love the Rock Stars all sitting with him talking about the past. I forgot about Creem being on Atlantic.

Thanks again t/A, I would've had no idea.

Slave2daGroove said:

Yes indeed! I gave up my regular Wednesday night viewing to watch it! It WAS a wonderful show. I, too, had forgotten some of the acts that Ertegun was responsible for. He had an amazing life!

excellent show, as always. i really love American Masters. (and American Experience)

Finally got to watch this.

I really felt sorry for Jerry Wexler who clung so emphatically to the classic R&B music he loved.
He must be beside himself observing what that music has become.


tA

Tribal Disorder

http://www.soundclick.com...dID=182431