How Rudy Van Gelder Shaped the Sound of Jazz as We Know It
When a musical hero of towering influence dies, the urge is to go straight to the tape: recordings, footage, a captured moment that stands in for the unwieldy fullness of a life. Mr. Van Gelder, who died on Thursday at 91, was the most revered recording engineer in jazz — the man behind the curtain on thousands of albums and the chief architect of the storied “Blue Note sound.” He shaped the way we hear the music and the way we want it to be heard.
Mr. Van Gelder was a hero of mine. When he was teamed up with Don Sebesky it was pure magic. Add Creed Taylor to the mix as producer pure magnificence.