Arif Mardin

Arif Mardin

Arif Mardin (born March 15, 1932 in Istanbul , † June 25, 2006 in New York City ) was a Turkish music producer living in the USA .

Life

Mardin initially studied economics at the University of Istanbul and at the London School of Economics . In the 1950s, the avid jazz musician met Mardin Dizzy Gillespie and the arranger Quincy Jones . With the help of a music scholarship at Berklee College of Music in Boston , he went to the USA. After completing his studies, he began to work as Nesuhi Ertegün's assistant for the US record label Atlantic Records . Atlantic made a name for itself at this time, especially with the publication of Afro-American music such as soul and jazz . Mardin later became a house producer and vice-president of the label. In the 1960s he was instrumental in the success of the soul singer Aretha Franklin and other musicians, e. B. Stephen Stills involved. As an arranger he also worked with Herbie Mann , Junior Mance , Eddie Harris , Hank Crawford , Little Jimmy Scott , Carmen McRae , Ray Bryant , King Curtis , Freddie Hubbard and Billy Cobham , as a musician (piano, organ) with Esther Phillips . In 1998 he worked in Hamburg with the NDR Big Band .

In his more than 30-year career, he has won the Grammy twelve times . Arif Mardin arranged and produced musicians such as Bette Midler , Norah Jones , Diana Ross , The Manhattan Transfer , Whitney Houston , Phil Collins , Chaka Khan and the Average White Band . He was a guest producer on Queen's album Hot Space . As the producer of the then unsuccessful Bee Gees , he recommended them in 1975 to sing an octave higher, whereupon the success came again.

Mardin died of complications from cancer and was buried in his native Istanbul. He left behind his wife Latife, his two daughters Julie and Nazan and his son Joe-Yusuf, who also works as a producer.

Discographic notes

• Glass Onion (Atlantic, 1968) et al. a. with Bernie Glow , Joe Newman , Herb Pomeroy , Al Porcino , Ernie Royal , Wayne Andre , Jimmy Cleveland , Garnett Brown , Benny Powell , Pepper Adams , King Curtis , Charlie Mariano , Seldon Powell , Frank Wess
• Journey (Atlantic, 1973), et al. a. with Randy Brecker , Marvin Stamm , David Fathead Newman , Jimmy Buffington , Don Butterfield , Joe Farrell , Pat Rebillot , Cornell Dupree , Frank Wess, Seldon Powell, Pepper Adams, Ron Carter , Grady Tate , Urszula Dudziak

Remarks

1. ↑ With Lennart Axelsson, Ingolf Burkhardt, Claus Stotter, Reiner Winterschladen (tp), Joe Gallardo , Nils Landgren , Stefan Lottermann, Ed Partyka (tb), Fiete Felsch , Peter Bolte, Christof Lauer , Lutz Buchner, Stefan Pfeifer (saxes), Vladyslav Sendecki (p), Stephan Diez (git), Lucas Lindholm (kb) and Wolfgang Haffner (dr).

Web links

• Arif Mardin in the Internet Movie Database (English)
• Biography of Arif Mardin (Engl.)
• Tom Doyle: Arif Mardin: Producer. From Aretha Franklin to Norah Jones . In: Sound on Sound , July 2004. (Interview with Mardin)