ABSTRACT
Legendary jazz record producer Avakian was born in Armavir, Russia; his parents were Armenian. Avakian was raised in the U.S., and attended Yale University, where, in 1937, he met a fellow jazz enthusiast and future jazz scholar, Marshall Stearns. In 1939, while still attending Yale, he produced sessions for Decca Records featuring Pee Wee Russell and Eddie Condon for what is generally credited as the first jazz album, Chicago Jazz (Decca 121). In 1940, he was hired by Columbia to research their back catalog of jazz recordings to reissue as 78-rpm albums in a series that was called “Hot Jazz Classics.” In 1951, many of these reissues were themselves reissued on early LPs, including the famous Louis Armstrong Story series of albums, which remained in print through the CD era. Avakian joined Columbia’s production staff in 1946, and remained there for 11 years, overseeing many of the firm’s classic jazz recordings of the 1950s, and signed new artists including Dave Brubeck and Miles Davis. He also pioneered live recordings of jazz performances, including Duke Ellington’s famous 1956 appearance at the Newport Jazz Festival. In 1957, Avakian moved to Pacific Jazz Records (later renamed World Pacific), and then moved to the new Warner Bros. label in 1959, where he signed comedian Bob Newhart. Three years later, he moved to RCA, where he signed Sonny Rollins. However, he decided in 1963 to strike out on his own, continuing to produce independently, as well as manage a few jazz artists. When Sony developed the Legacy label to reissue earlier Columbia recordings, it hired Avakian to oversee reissues of many of the albums that he produced during the 1950s.
