Carl Jefferson

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Carl E. Jefferson (born December 10, 1919 in Alameda (California) , † March 29, 1995 in St. Helena (California) ) was an American jazz producer, the founder of Concord Records .

Jefferson went to school in Atascadero and graduated from the University of California, Berkeley . He moved to Concord, California in 1958 as President and General Manager of Montclair Motors , which he took over in 1960 and renamed Jefferson Motors . He made it to a millionaire in California as a used car dealer and auto dealer (with a dealer network for Lincoln and Mercury cars ).

He then founded a jazz festival in Concord in 1969 ( Concord Summer Festival , the later Concord Jazz Festival , which he had an amphitheater with 8500 seats, the Concord Pavilion , built in 1975 ) and in 1973 founded the jazz label Concord Records (originally Concord Jazz ) to his preferred mainstream jazz musicians. He began with a recording of the guitarists Herb Ellis and Joe Pass , who were often present at his festival and who had inspired him to produce a long-playing record in 1973.

He later produced big band albums by Woody Herman , jazz albums by Rosemary Clooney and established musicians such as Stan Getz , Marian McPartland , George Shearing , Bud Shank , Dave Brubeck , Mel Tormé , Al Cohn , Joe Venuti, among others . He also started a salsa series, classical guitarists and jazz pianists at Concord, which he recorded in the Maybeck Hall built for this purpose. Until his death, he received numerous awards for this, including artists on his label for recordings there received eight Grammys and over 40 other Grammy nominations and he was responsible for over 600 recordings as a producer.

In 1982 he and Giovanni Bonandrini won the Down Beat Critics Poll for jazz producers.

literature

  • Alexander Schmitz: Carl Jefferson and CONCORD JAZZ. A record label and its history. In: Guitar & Laute 8, 1986, issue 3, pp. 31–33.

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Jefferson, Carl
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Jefferson, Carl E.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American jazz producer
DATE OF BIRTH December 10, 1919
PLACE OF BIRTH Alameda (California)
DATE OF DEATH March 29, 1995
Place of death St. Helena (California)