This Jazz Master Is No Musician

[mjzee]

Orrin Keepnews can be prickly. The celebrated co-founder of the Riverside, Milestone and Landmark jazz record labels has been known to scare off the uninitiated with his blunt temperament. But when the 87-year-old greeted me at the front door of his ranch-style home here last month, he was borderline cuddly. "Cranky?" he asked, dismissing my description. "Impatient—I'll go along with that, but not cranky."

On Tuesday, the National Endowment for the Arts will honor the five-time Grammy winner with its Jazz Masters Award. For nearly 60 years Mr. Keepnews has produced a sizable chunk of jazz's most enduring recordings—including classic releases by Thelonious Monk, Bill Evans, Cannonball Adderley, Wes Montgomery and Sonny Rollins.

Mr. Keepnews was the creative force behind Riverside, the influential independent record label where he produced 300-plus LPs between 1954 and 1964. An accidental entrepreneur, he leveraged a simple idea: Find promising jazz musicians and inspire them to be original.

Today, he is keenly aware of his place in jazz history and role in preserving the music of geniuses at the height of their powers. "I have no musical training, which turned out to be my strong point," he said. "When you subtract what I don't know, you're left with my taste, enthusiasm and respect for what jazz musicians were trying to do."

More here:

WSJ

[GA Russell]