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| Ten Thousand Motels |
'American Masters' celebrates Atlantic Records founder
By Gail Pennington
POST-DISPATCH TELEVISION CRITIC
04/30/2007
Ahmet Ertegun
The name Ahmet Ertegun may not immediately ring a bell. But consider these bell ringers, just a few of the musicians discovered by Ertegun or signed to his Atlantic Records label:
Ray Charles. Big Joe Turner. The Drifters. Ben E. King. The Coasters. John Coltrane. Bobby Darin. Aretha Franklin. The Rolling Stones. Led Zeppelin. Phil Collins. Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young. Cream. Foreigner. AC/DC. And even, oddly, Kid Rock.
A small, dapper man, the son of a Turkish ambassador, Ertegun fell in love with black American music when he was a child in Europe. In 1947, in his early 20s, he talked his dentist into handing over $10,000 to start an independent record label that would celebrate and nurture jazz and R&B artists and their music.
The PBS series "American Masters" reflects on Ertegun's colorful life and distinguished musical legacy in a two-hour documentary assembled from many conversations.
Ertegun's friends recall that he began every meeting with, "Let me tell you a story." He sat down with many of his artists and Atlantic colleagues, including partner Jerry Wexler and legendary songwriters Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller, over the course of four years for the film, written and directed by Susan Steinberg.
The result is a lively, anecdotal and absorbing — if chaotic and not completely satisfying — portrait not just of a unique individual, but of a half-century of American popular music.
Whether Ertegun is reminiscing about sneaking away, as a seventh-grader, to a jazz club in Harlem or joking with Mick Jagger about falling asleep while trying to sign the Rolling Stones, his passion is loud and clear.
"Ahmet said that if he could be remembered for one thing, it would be for bringing dignity and recognition to African-American music in this country," "American Masters" creator Susan Lacy said in introducing the documentary to TV critics early this year in Los Angeles.
After participating so actively in making the film, Ertegun was supposed to be at the press conference and had looked forward to it, Lacy said. But just as the interviews were wrapping up, he fell backstage at a Rolling Stones concert and died Dec. 14, at age 83 — an end that Bette Midler, who narrates the documentary, says might seem like fate.
In the Ray Charles biopic "Ray," Ertegun was played by Curtis Armstrong, but Ertegun didn't care for the wimpy portrayal, he is heard telling director Taylor Hackford.
When he first saw Midler perform, he says, he was most impressed by the crowd's reaction.
Stories like this are interesting enough, but the real lure of "Atlantic Records: The House that Ahmet Built" is the music, especially the archival footage that shows it being made.
In one bit of film, Aretha Franklin tears up the stage during a 1967 concert at the Hammersmith Odeon in London. The first 20 rows, Ertegun recalls, were filled with the royalty of British rock 'n' roll, including the Beatles and the Stones.
In another clip, with young Ray Charles at the piano, Ertegun, who toyed with songwriting, sings a ditty he had just penned, a number that Charles would later turn into "What'd I Say."
Crank up the volume and appreciate Ahmet Ertegun.
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PBS To Broadcast Documentary On Ahmet Ertegun
Published: 4/30/200 / TurkishPress.com
NEW YORK - U.S. PBS channel will broadcast a documentary film about Turkish producer Ahmet Ertegun who passed away in 2006.
The documentary movie titled "Atlantic Records: The House that Ahmet Built", which was shot under the channel`s "American Masters" series, will be broadcast on May 2nd.
The documentary tells four years of Ertegun`s life as well as the interviews with him.
Ahmet Ertegun, founder of Atlantic Records, died in December 2006. The prominent producer of Turkish descent lost his life at the age of 83 after he slipped and fell at a Rolling Stones concert at the Beacon Theatre on October 29th 2006. Ertegun suffered a severe brain injury and passed away in December 2006.
-AHMET ERTEGUN-
Ertegun was born in Istanbul, Turkey on July 31st, 1923. The son of the Turkish Ambassador to the United States, he was raised and educated in Switzerland, Paris, London, and Washington, D.C.
A passionate music fan and collector, Ertegun borrowed 10,000 USD from his dentist and founded Atlantic Records in New York City in the fall of 1947. He signed artists, produced records, wrote songs, and supervised the fledgling label.
Under Ertegun`s direction, Atlantic evolved from a groundbreaking, independent R&B and jazz label into one of the world`s preeminent music companies. The artists he discovered and the music he pioneered led a revolution in R&B, soul, and rock music that reshaped the modern cultural landscape forming a legacy that includes such seminal artists as Ray Charles, Big Joe Turner, Ruth Brown, LaVern Baker, The Clovers, The Drifters, John Coltrane, Ben E. King, Bobby Darin, Sonny & Cher, Aretha Franklin, Otis Redding, Solomon Burke, Wilson Pickett, Led Zeppelin, Eric Clapton, Crosby Stills Nash & Young, The Rolling Stones, Bette Midler, Roberta Flack, Phil Collins, and many others.
In 1991, Ertegun received an honorary doctorate in music from the Berklee College of Music in Boston, and in 1993 he was presented with a Trustees Award from the National Academy of Recording Arts & Sciences. In 2000, he was honored as a "Living Legend" by the United States Library of Congress, on the occasion of the Library`s Bicentennial.
In June 2006, he was honored with the opening night concert at the 40th Montreux Jazz Festival.
Ertegun never retired and remained active at Atlantic until his death, serving as founding chairman of the company he started six decades ago.
[Edited by Ten Thousand Motels]
[Edited by Ten Thousand Motels] |
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| pdog |
remind me when it airs.... should be good... |
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| Ten Thousand Motels |
Ertegun bio barely scratches the surface
By Maureen Ryan
Tribune television critic
Chicago Tribune
The "American Masters" documentary "Atlantic Records: The House that Ahmet Built" (9 p.m. Wednesday, WTTW-Ch. 11) reminds me of a greatest-hits collection assembled by a marketing team rather than a rabid music fan. The retrospective hits most of the expected points, but its lack of depth and fresh insight is ultimately frustrating.
True, a dozen books could be (and have been) written about Ahmet Ertegun, who died in 2006, and the history of Atlantic Records, the legendary music label he co-founded in 1947. So you can't really expect a two-hour documentary to give context to every part of Ertegun's life, from his cosmopolitan childhood as a Turkish diplomat's son to his 60-year career as a record executive.
But this documentary, much of it drawn from interviews that Ertegun conducted with Atlantic's most famous artists, is often too trifling and superficial to be of much value.
It has its good moments (there's a story about Ertegun falling asleep in the midst of contract negotiations with Mick Jagger), but the stories feel like well-worn anecdotes that have been trotted out for decades.
The more interesting recollections include Ertegun and Ray Charles talking about the genesis of the revolutionary "What'd I Say," and Eric Clapton remembering his terror at walking into an Aretha Franklin recording session -- the skinny English kid felt he was trespassing among musicians he idolized.
"We had a romping, stomping good time," Franklin remembers of her years with Atlantic. And that's really the theme of this film -- that Ertegun simply loved music, and won over artists by his encyclopedic knowledge of -- and key role in promoting -- the music they also adored.
The main reason Ertegun signed Led Zeppelin, he and singer Robert Plant recall, was due to their shared obsession with R&B music. And it's hard to imagine a contemporary record executive emulating Ertegun's response to the band's desire to put out a record with no title. "Let's give it a shot," Plant recalls Ertegun saying.
But much of the documentary slides by on superficial reminiscences and predictable, plodding voice-over narration (by a somber Bette Midler). Mick Jones of Foreigner recalls having seen an Atlantic Records touring review in London in the '60s, which Jones tells Ertegun was "absolutely amazing." Yes, but why? We never find out.
And why not ask Jagger, Jones and Clapton why the R&B that labels such as Atlantic produced had such a huge impact on them and their generation -- and thus on the history of music?
You won't find that answer here, but we do get lots of filler about Ertegun's affinity for Studio 54, and we also get a glimpse at Ertegun's shoe closet, complete with 100 pairs of handmade shoes. Sheesh.
But "The House That Ahmet Built" is like that: For every meaty musical insight from Ertegun, Atlantic executive and producer Jerry Wexler or any of a number of famous artists, there are two or three banalities that don't really amount to much of anything.
The late Ertegun, a man with impeccable taste, deserved better than this well-intentioned yet flabby and meandering film.
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[email protected]
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| Martha |
Thanks for the reminder. It's on tonight in my neck of the woods. I'll be glued to the tube 9pm MT. |
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| glencar |
Was it any good? I recorded it but I'm too wiped to watch it right now. |
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| Martha |
Hey glencar,
I thoroughly enJoyed it. Only one part that I thought was not done well, the juxtapositioning between Steve Winwood and Ray Charles singing Georgia...I didn't like the way they edited this piece (was distracting to me) the rest was really great. Loved all the Stones footage and interviews. I would purchase this one. :-)
xxoo,
Martha |
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| glencar |
Martha, I haven't watched it yet but I'll get around to it at some point on this lazy day off...PM me if you'd like a copy. |
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| texile |
it was good,
but man, poor mica...
no wonder he got along so well with mick.
i'm glad they gave props to stax -
i was afraid atlantic was going to take full credit for otis and pickett.. |
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| texile |
quote:
Martha wrote:
Hey glencar,
I thoroughly enJoyed it. Only one part that I thought was not done well, the juxtapositioning between Steve Winwood and Ray Charles singing Georgia.
xxoo,
Martha
me either -
it only showed the pale imitation...
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| Martha |
quote:
texile wrote:
me either -
it only showed the pale imitation...
Yes extremely pale! LOL
I'd LOVE a copy GC. Thank you!!!
I'll PM you straight away.
xxoo,
Martha |
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| Jumping Jack |
GC - please e-mail me at sfenner1 at bellsouth.net |
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