Harold Battiste

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Harold Battiste (2012)

Harold Raymond Battiste Jr. (born October 28, 1931 in New Orleans , Louisiana , † June 19, 2015 ibid) was an American saxophonist, music producer, arranger and songwriter. The most important stages of his career include his involvement with Specialty Records in the 1950s and the operation of his own record label AFO Records .

Career

Battiste was a saxophonist by training when he played in Joe Jones' bands and Ray and Plas Johnson's bands in the mid-1940s . He gave up his plan to become a music teacher and wanted to devote himself to a career in modern jazz first . Together with other musicians from New Orleans, Alvin Batiste , Ellis Marsalis and Ed Blackwell , with whom he in the original American Jazz Quintet played and recorded an album, he went in 1956 to Los Angeles to a friend, saxophonist Ornette Coleman to visit . Battiste initially decided to stay on the west coast.

In the mid-1950s, Art Rupe was able to celebrate increasing success with his Los Angeles-based label Specialty Records. As early as 1952 he was able to record a selling performer with Lloyd Price in New Orleans . The neighboring competitor Imperial Records had in Dave Bartholomew an enterprising representative in the city on the Mississippi Delta who had a good eye on the talents of the local market. When Bartholomew was increasingly busy with his workhorse Fats Domino , Rupe saw the opportunity to be more present by having his own office on site. He therefore hired Harold Battiste in 1957, whose job it was to search for potential rock 'n' roll stars in a branch in New Orleans and to bind them to Specialty. His work motto was: “Specialty Records is here to stay, and Harold Battiste is there to work with you.” (German: Specialty Records is here to stay, and Harold Battiste is there to work with you .) So produced he Jerry Byrne and Art Neville , but also took on successful label artists from the Californian parent company, such as Larry Williams and Sam Cooke , for whom he wrote an arrangement for his first pop song You Send Me . He took turns with the Los Angeles-based label producer Sonny Bono . Another assignment was to oversee Joe Banashak , the executive director of the major record distribution company A-1 . A-1 sold many independent labels in the region nationwide. In order not to scare off Specialty competitors, it was kept secret that A-1 was actually owned by Art Rupes as well.

Around 1960 Battiste moved to Joe Ruffino's label Ric and Ron Records as an A&R manager , where he helped his former band leader Joe Jones achieve a national number three hit with You Talk Too Much . However, Joe Jones had already recorded a version for Roulette Records , the manager of which extorted all rights to Joe Jones' recordings from little Ric Records.

Harold Battiste, who was close to the Black Muslim Movement , finally put his idea into action in 1961 to found a collaborative record label under African American management. The founder and musical backbone of AFO Records (short for all for one ) was the band consisting of Melvin Lastie on cornet , Roy Montrell on guitar, Chuck Badie on bass, Alvin Tyler and Battiste on saxophones and John Boudreaux on drums. For the distribution of AFO one joined Juggy Murrays Sue Records in New York City . Prince La Las She Put a Hurt on Me , Lee Dorsey's Ya Ya and Barbara Georges I Know were produced in the first recording sessions . While the former was contracted to Murray past Bobby Robinson for distribution, Sue Records recruited Barbara George, so that the young collective quickly came under pressure and separated from Sue Records. In 1963 Battiste and his colleagues went to Los Angeles, where they wanted to work again with Sam Cooke, who in the meantime successfully recorded with RCA Records , but also had his own SAR Records running. After his unexpected death, the next chance was to revive the career of Dr. John with the album Gris-Gris (1968). But here, too, Battiste lost contact with the musician before he achieved worldwide success. Eventually Battiste joined his former Specialty colleague Sonny Bono and his Sonny & Cher project . Among other things, he arranged the world hit I Got You Babe and was musical director in their television series. In 1978 Battiste played the piano on Tom Waits ' album Blue Valentine .

Since 1989 Battiste has taught jazz with Ellis Marsalis at the University of New Orleans . AFO Records has been transformed into a foundation dedicated to the education and documentation of the musical heritage of his hometown. In addition, he was active in many committees of organizations with similar goals. In 2010 his autobiography Unfinished Blues was published .

Discography

  • The Original American Jazz Quintet In the Beginning (1956)
  • Harold Battiste The Sounds of Harold's Horn (1960s-1990s)
  • Harold Battiste Lagniappe: The 2nd 50 Years (1976-1998)
  • The American Jazz Quintet From Bad to Badder (1987)
  • Harold Battiste The Next Generation Big Band

literature

  • John Broven: Record Makers and Breakers. Voices of the Independent Rock 'n' Roll Pioneers . University of Illinois Press, Urbana, Chicago 2010, ISBN 978-0-252-03290-5 , Harold Battiste: Specialty Records Branch Manager, New Orleans, Harold Battiste: AFO Records, p. 306 f., 353-357 (American English).
  • Harold Battiste Jr. (& Karen Celestan): Unfinished Blues. Memories of a New Orleans Music Man .
  • Historic New Orleans Collection, New Orleans 2010, ISBN 978-0-917860-55-3

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. Sam Roberts: Harold Battiste, Musician, Mentor and Arranger, Dies at 83. In: The New York Times, June 25, 2015 (English, accessed June 26, 2015).
  2. a b c John Broven: Record Makers and Breakers. Voices of the Independent Rock 'n' Roll Pioneers . University of Illinois Press, Urbana, Chicago 2010, ISBN 978-0-252-03290-5 , Harold Battiste: AFO Records, p. 353-357 (American English).
  3. John Litweiler: Ornette Coleman: A Harmolodic Life. William Morrow and Company, New York 1992, p. 81
  4. John Litweiler: Ornette Coleman: A Harmolodic Life. William Morrow and Company, New York 1992, pp. 51f.
  5. John Broven: Record Makers and Breakers. Voices of the Independent Rock 'n' Roll Pioneers . University of Illinois Press, Urbana, Chicago 2010, ISBN 978-0-252-03290-5 , Harold Battiste: Specialty Records Branch Manager, New Orleans, pp. 306 f . (American English).