He died of complications of diabetes, said his daughter-in-law, Barbara Weinstock.
Mr. Weinstock produced and released some of the most important jazz recordings in the beginning years of the LP era. Prestige releases - and those of its related imprints, including Par, Swingville, Moodsville, Bluesville and Tru-Sound - weren't known for perfection. Mr. Weinstock generally set up recording sessions with no rehearsal time. (One of the exceptions to this rule was the Modern Jazz Quartet, whose pianist, John Lewis, insisted on rehearsals before making the albums “Django" and “Concorde.")
But Mr. Weinstock did a remarkable job of flooding the market with the work of many of the greatest small-group jazz bandleaders during an exceptionally fertile time for jazz in New York. They ranged from King Pleasure's “Moody's Mood for Love" - a national hit that saved the label from financial ruin when it was released as a 78 single in 1952 - to two all-day sessions with Miles Davis's quintet in 1956, with no second takes, a stockpiling of material Mr. Weinstock demanded in return for letting Davis out of a contract. It resulted in four separate important LP's: “Cookin' With the Miles Davis Quintet" and its companion volumes, “Relaxin'," “Workin'," and “Steamin'." Mr. Weinstock's label also released hundreds of recorded sessions by John Coltrane, Sonny Rollins, Eric Dolphy, Gene Ammons, Red Garland, Coleman Hawkins and Annie Ross and others before it was finally sold to Fantasy Records.
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