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Jazz Articles about Rudy Van Gelder
The Van Gelder Sound: A Legacy of Jazz Recordings
by Brian Eaton
Rudy Van Gelder (a.k.a. RVG) was one of the most influential recording engineers in jazz. Largely self-taught, he was a true industry pioneer as one of the first well-known examples of an engineer operating a home recording studio and even constructing his own custom-built audio mixer in the early years. As an innovator and perfectionist, he was always looking to improve the sound of his recordings, not just as a technician but as an artist with his techniques. Yet, he ...
read moreThe Giant Legacy of Rudy Van Gelder
by Greg Simmons
Recording Engineer Rudy Van Gelder died at home of natural causes on August 25th at the age of 91. His legacy--and it's a big one--is the countless recordings he made during modern jazz's greatest period of innovation. Almost any jazz musician of note who was making records--especially if they were working on the east coast--was captured at some point with Van Gelder at the controls. Be-boppers, hard-boppers, post-boppers, soul jazz, free jazz, fusion--pick a sub category. If you want to ...
read moreRudy Van Gelder
by C. Andrew Hovan
This interview was originally published in June 1999.For many decades now, the name Rudy Van Gelder has been synonymous with recorded jazz music. The number of sessions he's done over the years easily numbers in the tens of thousands. He's been actively involved in the recording work of such quintessential jazz labels as Prestige, Impulse, Verve, CTI, and of course, Blue Note. In more recent times, Van Gelder has cut sessions for Highnote, Milestone, Reservoir, Venus, and N2K, ...
read moreBlue Note and Recording Master Re-Present RVG's Heritage
by Chris M. Slawecki
If you're a jazz fan--not even a serious jazz fan but just casual, just about any type of fan of jazz at all--there's a good chance that you own some of Rudy Van Gelder's best work. Working with such legendary entrepreneurs / producers as Alfred Lion (Blue Note), Creed Taylor (Verve, A&M, CTI) and Bob Weinstock (Prestige), Rudy Van Gelder served as recording engineer for some of the greatest jazz records ever made. His work is as respected ...
read moreRichard Cook, Author Of "Blue Note Records: The Biography"
by Victor L. Schermer
Richard Cook is an Englishman who resides in West London. He is the author of the recently-published Blue Note Records: The Biography and the co-author of The Penguin Guide to Jazz on CD. Although he frequently comes to New York, it was necessary for practical reasons to conduct the interview via email correspondence. As one more sign of his artistry with words, Cook provided such a finely crafted response to my questions, that the interview reads like an 'in person' ...
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