Rudy Van Gelder, the New Jersey-based recording engineer who (as a New York Times headline put it recently) “shaped the sound of jazz as we know it,” died earlier this week at 91. Van Gelder was an optometrist by day -- and avid sound-and-electronics hobbyist by night -- when he started recording jazz performances in his parents’ living room in the 1940s; he would eventually become the most respected recording engineer in jazz history and an NEA Jazz Master. His work for Blue Note, Prestige, CTI, Verve, Savoy, and other indie jazz labels over the decades was prolific and fastidious; he documented literally thousands of sessions with a warmth and naturalness that was quite special -- and quite rare for its time. He was a true standard bearer, and he remains such; he captured a great many classic jazz recordings.
On the next All This Jazz -- beginning at 9pm on Saturday the 27th, right here on Public Radio 89.5 KWGS, and online by way of streaming audio at PublicRadioTulsa.org – we’ll remember Rudy Van Gelder by listening to several different tracks that he engineered. Thus “RVG,” as he was sometimes known, will be the theme in the third and final hour of our forthcoming program, from 11pm to midnight. Also, earlier in the show, we will remember two other jazz greats who recently left the planet: Toots Thielemans and Connie Crothers.
For those uninitiated: All This Jazz delivers three hours of modern jazz -- across a wonderfully wide range of styles -- each and every Saturday night, from 9 o'clock till midnight. (We also offer a 7pm re-airing of ATJ on Sunday evenings, on Jazz 89.5-2, which is Public Radio Tulsa's all-jazz HD Radio channel.)
From Duke Ellington to Duke Jordan, Art Tatum to Art Blakey, and John Coltrane to John Zorn, All This Jazz is delighted by modern (and post-modern!) jazz in its many forms, and we dig sharing the same with our listeners.
Join us! If you're a jazz fan, then please look no further -- you’ve arrived. (Two final points: ATJ playlist data can be found...if you scroll down a bit...right here. And we also maintain a Facebook page for our show. Thank you.)
