Former President of Atlantic Records Remembers Jerry Wexler
08/20/2008
.
(Submitted) Jerry Greenberg former President of Atlantic Records speaks about his Days With Jerry Wexler. "I joined Atlantic Records in 1967 as Jerry Wexler's assistant. All I can say is if you wanted to become a doctor you went to Yale, a lawyer to Harvard, the Armed Services the Marines and in the record business, join Atlantic Records.
"Working with Jerry was an incredible experience because he was truly an all around record man. During those days he would call radio stations to promote his records. He would talk to music publishers about finding songs for his artists. He would call the distribution centers to check on sales. He would still have time to do what he loved the most, produce records.
"Jerry had a fabulous right hand and left hand in the studio with Tom Dowd as his engineer and Arif Mardin as his musical arranger. However, Jerry was the producer. I remember spending months with Jerry to find songs for one of my favorite albums, Dusty in Memphis. Jerry loved working with Dusty Springfield. It was actually Dusty who told Jerry about John Paul Jones and Jimmy Page forming a new band, which Jerry signed, called Led Zeppelin.
"Jerry was truly the soul of Atlantic. He worked with all of the rhythm and blues artists very closely. When the company was sold in 1969, Jerry spent much of his time in Florida working at Criteria Studios. Jerry was my mentor, my teacher and a friend. His music and legacy will live on forever."
Click here to read today's full Day in Rock report
Preview and Purchase Jerry Wexler CDs
Jerry Wexler MP3 Downloads
.
