Rudy Van Gelder

[Hardbopjazz]

Rudy earlier this year at Dizzy's Club Coca Cola celebrating Prestige Record's 65th Anniversary.

 

 

 

[JSngry]

I wonder how much he loved of what he recorded, not as recordings, but as music.

[Hardbopjazz]

[Hardbopjazz]

I wonder how much he loved of what he recorded, not as recordings, but as music.

I sure he loved the music as it was being created.

[Hardbopjazz]

Does anyone know if Prestige released anything in their vaults for the 65th anniversary?

[JSngry]

Not sure if an engineer is best served by getting emotionally involved in their work while it's going on, the need for objectivity is pretty intense...also, I mean, yeah, you can "love" something but that love will not really be "equal", I don't now that Rudy (or anybody) would've walked away from a Lou Donaldson 50s date and a 60s Trane date with the same sentiment, I would hope not, actually.

[Leeway]

Rudy was in love with SOUND, music itself was secondary. 

[Hardbopjazz]

Yeah, but to be a part of some of the greatest recordings made in jazz should have made him come to love the music.

[Michael Weiss]

When I recorded at Rudy's he was all business. Fortunately he didn't make any editorial comments about the music itself, unlike other engineers I've had - that's the last thing you need. I will say that Rudy's volume of play-backs was ear-splitting loud, I don't know why.

[mjzee]

God bless him.

[Chuck Nessa]

Rudy mentioned to me that Coltrane, Dolphy and Desmond were "special artists" as if he was in awe of their talent.

[king ubu]

God bless him.

all that and more, sure ... but why did he not get a better piano? And where did they cast the hipsters behind RvG?

[JSngry]

There are hipsters behind everybody everywhere at all times. They have us surrounded. So don't go and die casually, or anything like that. Evacuate the premises first. Or else...you know the rest.

[Larry Kart]

God bless him.

all that and more, sure ... but why did he not get a better piano? And where did they cast the hipsters behind RvG?

Could be wrong on this, but I don't think that the quality of RVG's piano was the problem -- if problem there was -- but rather his taste for miking the piano very closely in order to control or shape its sound -- if control or shape are the right terms here. OTOH, I pretty much grew up with RVG's piano sound and generally like it; OTOH there are a number of non-stupid people, including some pianists who were miked by RVG, who felt otherwise. Bill Evans IIRC was one of them. Yes, RVG could be an interventionist at times -- as in the way Hank Jones sounds toward the end of "Autumn Leaves" on "Something Else," almost like a celeste -- but I love the way Jones sound there.

[JSngry]

Think of all the man-made colors we have come to accept as part of nature, even though they occur nowhere in nature. Rudy's piano sound is like that for me. Cannot begin to count how many times it's wrapped me in its narcotic-ish cocoon of aural/mental warmfuzzyfingernailsJUSTsorunningdownspine.

Shit started getting weird in the 70s and beyond though. Sometimes.

[Larry Kart]

BTW, I think those hipsters are not people but statues permanently installed at Club Coca Cola.

[JSngry]

Hipster implants? Is that what you're saying?

[jazzbo]

I remember RVG quoted as saying that Coltrane's "Lush Life" material was the favorite of his recordings.

I dig that piano sound.

[StarThrower]

Rudy was in love with SOUND, music itself was secondary. 

I don't think he likes pianos. He always got a lousy piano sound on all of those 50s and 60s albums. But the drums and horns sound great. I was listening to Etcetera recently and thinking wow, Herbie Hancock is playing all of this amazing stuff while accompanying Wayne, but all you can hear is Shorter and Joe Chambers. You have to listen past Wayne and Joe to hear Herbie and Cecil McBee.

[Michael Weiss]

Think of all the man-made colors we have come to accept as part of nature, even though they occur nowhere in nature. Rudy's piano sound is like that for me. Cannot begin to count how many times it's wrapped me in its narcotic-ish cocoon of aural/mental warmfuzzyfingernailsJUSTsorunningdownspine.

Believe me, there is nothing more surreal than sitting at THAT piano, with headphones on and hearing yourself as if you are actually INSIDE a groove of a BN 4000 series LP.

[ArtSalt]

He carries the burden of being the most hated man in the art of CD remastering rather well, me thinks.

[erwbol]

He carries the burden of being the most hated man in the art of CD remastering rather well, me thinks.

I'm sure he thinks he did a splendid job.

[CJ Shearn]

The "Rudy Van Gelder yelled at me" thread on the SH forums is pretty funny.  Not quite as epic as the whole Lou Donaldson sammich call, but personally, as much as I admire RVG for all the amazing albums he's captured, I'd have zero interest in approaching the guy.

Edited July 4, 2015 by CJ Shearn

[Mark Stryker]

In the "Sidran on Record" interview that Ben did with Rudy (and reprinted in the book "Talking Jazz") Rudy doesn't really remember specific sessions but does say the impression that everyone had -- musicians, producers, himself -- was that the records they were making had real and lasting significance, more important than the politics of the day or anything else. https://books.google.com/books?id=m1zs6lpr5SkC&pg=PA310&lpg=PA310&dq=rudy+van+gelder+and+ben+sidran+and+sidran+on+record&source=bl&ots=x7ViqJcGvO&sig=pu4MJ9iueR9kwk7_v2F6ra_2WYQ&hl=en&sa=X&ei=i0mbVfyrNoSXyQTdl4IQ&ved=0CCsQ6AEwAg#v=onepage&q=rudy%20van%20gelder%20and%20ben%20sidran%20and%20sidran%20on%20record&f=false

[ArtSalt]

The "Rudy Van Gelder yelled at me" thread on the SH forums is pretty funny.  Not quite as epic as the whole Lou Donaldson sammich call, but personally, as much as I admire RVG for all the amazing albums he's captured, I'd have zero interest in approaching the guy.

That thread is a classic! He's never struck me as someone who would be approachable, nor does he come across as a great raconteur. But he must have some interesting anecdotes, perhaps he's too professional to ditch the dirt.