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RIP Rudy Van Gelder


Scott Smith

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A little OT for this board, but still deserves some recognition.

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/08/27/arts/music/rudy-van-gelder-essential-recordings.html?_r=0

I had the opportunity to meet Mr. Van Gelder on a couple of occasions, and was most impressed by his non-nonsense approach to recording. A fine engineer, and fascinating personality.

-S

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On September 5, 2016 at 0:50 AM, mikewest said:

An interesting man!

Originally a chiropodist and built his first studio in his parents house!

His engineered sound quite neutral.

Many of his "recordings" were simply engineered by his staff 

But hey A for attainment and B for effort

mike

Well, having not been there, I can't speak to anyone else doing his recordings. The only assistant he ever had to my knowledge was Maureen Sickler, who worked with him since about 1987. Never heard of anyone else, except ace tech Rein Narma (of Gotham Audio), who did tech work for him in the 1950's.

RVN was a rather controversial figure though (due in some part to his secrecy regarding his techniques). Some lauded his work, others thought it was nothing too special (personally, I thought the Blue Note and Impulse recordings were better than some of his work for Verve, but what the hell do I know...).

Steve Hoffman, who re-mastered many of his Blue Note and Impulse sides is really the only one I know who is in a position to comment on the masters.

(FYI, he was an optometrist for about 13 years, not a chiropodist).

-S

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