Orrin Keepnews (1923-2015)

Reprinted from http://jazzwax.com

Orrin Keepnews, a jazz record producer whose taste in music, integrity and respect for artists resulted in a vast body of legacy recordings by Thelonious Monk, Cannonball Adderley, Wes Montgomery and Bill Evans as well as dozens of other artists, died on March 1. He was 91. [Above, Orrin Keepnews with Cannonball Adderley]

His Riverside label operated from 1953 to 1964. What set it apart from the competition was Orrin's devotion to his artists, many of whom repaid his support by finding him new talent. For example, guitarist Mundell Lowe was the first to call Orrin about Bill Evans in the mid-1950s while Cannonball Adderley and his brother Nat found Montgomery in an Indianapolis club and called Orrin that night.

What Orrin lacked in musical training he more than made up for in critical judgment. His fearless ability to chart new courses came from serving as a navigator on a bomber in the Pacific during World War II, while his judgment was sharpened as a manuscript reader at Simon & Schuster in the late 1940s.

After co-founding Riverside with Bill Grauer, a grad-school acquaintance, Orrin ran the talent while Grauer manged the business. At first, the label shortsightedly viewed the 10-inch LP as a way to re-issue dusty jazz recordings from the pre-war era. By 1954, it became apparent to Orrin that Riverside could do better by recording modern jazz artists who were eager to record.

Throughout the decade, independent labels tended to reflect the taste of their owner. As a result, Blue Note developed a rigid, successful model using many of the same great musicians in different configurations while Prestige went after brand-name musicians like Miles Davis, Sonny Rollins, Art Farmer and John Coltrane. By contrast, Orrin specialized in discoveries and artists who hadn't been fully maximized. [Above, Orrin Keepnews with James Moody]

When Riverside went bankrupt in 1964 following Grauer's fatal heart attack and other labels began cherry-picking his discoveries, Keepnews struggled. In 1966, he co-founded Milestone with pianist Dick Katz. Fantasy bought the label in 1972 and Keepnews worked for the label before leaving in 1980 to start Landmark.

I interviewed Orrin twice, once for JazzWax just after I started this blog in 2007 and again in 2011, when I traveled to his home just outside San Francisco for a Wall Street Journal profile. My first conversation with Orrin was a cold call that didn't go well. I made the terrible mistake of asking him to tell me what he loved about his five favorite Riverside albums.

Admittedly it was a quick-and-dirty way to produce a post given my tight schedule back then. Orrin would have none of it and he took my head off. There were no short-cuts with Orrin. I waited Orrin out and then asked him if yelling at me made him happy. I admitted that my original request was stupid and that I'd much prefer to do a full-blown career-spanning interview. Orrin liked that idea and settled down. The result was the birth of the five-part interview series, which became standard at JazzWax. [Above, from left, Orrin Keepnews, Bill Evans, Scott LaFaro and Paul Motian at the Village Vanguard, 1961]

When I visited Orrin three years later in December 2010, much had changed. What had started as a random call gone bad was now a formal interview for the country's largest newspaper. We had a wonderful conversation at Orrin's kitchen table, after which he took me on a tour of his office space. He showed me all the awards and framed letters on the wall. Orrin was most proud of correspondence from Prestige's Bob Weinstock to Monk acknowledging a check for $108.27 that Monk had provided thanks to Orrin, releasing Monk from his Prestige contract and freeing him to sign with Riverside.

The joy of Orrin, for me, was always in his articulation. Reading his liner notes and essays provided special insights, since Orrin was a critic, first and foremost. But listening to him speak was even more rewarding. Through his observations, there was cogent analysis and eloquent phrasing. Words spoken off the top of his head emerged like an improvised solo, cutting to the chase and providing a finer delineation and understanding of why something was so and how it came to be. He used language beautifully. What he never could achieve on a musical instrument Orrin was more than able to accomplish with words, and his "spoken solos" were magnificent and, above all, illuminating. [Above, Orrin Keepnews with Jimmy Heath]

Before I left Orrin's house in 2010, I took out my first-edition copy of his The View From Within: Jazz Writings 1948-1987 and asked him to sign it. Yesterday, I totally forgot about that when I reached for the book. Upon opening it, there was Orrin's handwriting: "To Marc, a man who sure can play a mean interview." At least he didn't take my head off.

Here's a list of my 20 favorite Riverside albums:

Sonny Rollins—The Sound of Sonny (1957)

Thelonious Monk Quartet (1958)

Thelonious Monk—Thelonious in Action (1958)

Cannonball Adderley Quintet—In San Francisco (1959)

Bill Evans—Explorations (1961)

Used with permission by Marc Myers