Jerry Wexler passed away on Friday, August 15th at his home in Sarasota, Florida. The legendary producer was 91. Working with such great stars as Ray Charles, Aretha Franklin, and Wilson Pickett, Wexler helped give birth to soul music and turned Atlantic Records from a small indie imprint into an industry powerhouse.
A lifelong music fan, Jerry Wexler studied journalism at Kansas State University following World War II and managed to combine his love of jazz and blues with a writing career at Billboard Magazine in New York City. There he famously coined the term "rhythm & blues" to describe discs that had previously been called "race records." It was also while working at Billboard that Wexler struck up a fortuitous friendship with Ahmet Ertegun, a fellow roots record buff who'd started his own label. By 1953, they were partners at Atlantic Records.
At the time, Atlantic was just six years old and growing rapidly, and the partners had to juggle many roles to keep the fledgling label up and running. Businessman, talent scout, songwriter, engineer - Jerry, Ahmet and his brother Nesuhi Ertegun did whatever it took to get the sound in the grooves and the records into the marketplace. Wexler's savvy creative instincts and unusual rapport with artists soon became hallmarks of Atlantic recording sessions. By the mid-1960s, they would change musical history.
Aretha Franklin had an undistinguished career as a pop singer for Columbia Records before Wexler put her in a Muscle Shoals, Alabama studio and encouraged her to connect to her roots in gospel. The resulting album I Never Loved A Man The Way I Loved You and its single "Respect" turned Franklin into "The Queen Of Soul" and put Wexler (who would produce many more hits for the singer) at the forefront of Southern R&B. In addition to Aretha Franklin, Jerry Wexler cut a deal with the Memphis-based Stax label to bring soul stars like Otis Redding, Carla Thomas, and Booker T & The MGs into the Atlantic fold.
Southern country and rock also caught Wexler's ear, and Willie Nelson, Dr. John, (and through the Atlantic-distributed Capricorn Records, the Allman Brothers) did some of their best work for Atlantic. British rockers were drawn to the label as well; Dusty Springfield recorded her classic In Memphis album for Wexler, and turned her producer on to another U.K. artist -- a band called Led Zeppelin.
After Warner Bros. purchased Atlantic in 1967, Wexler continued at his old label for several years as Vice Chairman, and in 1977 moved to Warner, where he worked with such diverse groups as Dire Straits, Allen Toussaint, and The B-52s. Jerry's reputation also drew artists from beyond the WMG circle as the likes of Bob Dylan and Carlos Santana sought him out to produce new albums. And when Rhino began mining the Atlantic vaults, he compiled or annotated dozens of reissues - most recently last year's 2-CD set of rare and unreleased Aretha Franklin recordings.
Jerry Wexler didn't just get his start in the early days of the music business - he helped invent it. That so many of the hits he produced remain memorable decades later is a testament to the taste, talent, and determination of an original "record man."
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