Bob Weinstock dies

[brownie]

Very sad news...

From the New York Times

January 16, 2006

BOB WEINSTOCK, FOUNDER OF THE JAZZ LABEL PRESTIGE, DIES AT 77

By BEN RATLIFF

Bob Weinstock, who founded the independent jazz record label Prestige in 1949 and ran it for more than 20 years, died on Saturday at a hospice in Boca Raton, Fla. He was 77 and lived in Deerfield Beach, Fla.

He died of complications of diabetes, said his daughter-in-law, Barbara Weinstock.

Mr. Weinstock produced and released some of the most important jazz recordings in the beginning years of the LP era. Prestige releases - and those of its related imprints, including Par, Swingville, Moodsville, Bluesville and Tru-Sound - weren't known for perfection. Mr. Weinstock generally set up recording sessions with no rehearsal time. (One of the exceptions to this rule was the Modern Jazz Quartet, whose pianist, John Lewis, insisted on rehearsals before making the albums "Django" and "Concorde.")

But Mr. Weinstock did a remarkable job of flooding the market with the work of many of the greatest small-group jazz bandleaders during an exceptionally fertile time for jazz in New York. They ranged from King Pleasure's "Moody's Mood for Love" - a national hit that saved the label from financial ruin when it was released as a 78 single in 1952 - to two all-day sessions with Miles Davis's quintet in 1956, with no second takes, a stockpiling of material Mr. Weinstock demanded in return for letting Davis out of a contract. It resulted in four separate important LP's: "Cookin' With the Miles Davis Quintet" and its companion volumes, "Relaxin'," "Workin'," and "Steamin'." Mr. Weinstock's label also released hundreds of recorded sessions by John Coltrane, Sonny Rollins, Eric Dolphy, Gene Ammons, Red Garland, Coleman Hawkins and Annie Ross and others before it was finally sold to Fantasy Records.

Mr. Weinstock grew up on the Upper West Side of Manhattan. With the encouragement of his uncle, Philip Hunt, who ran a successful chemical business serving the motion picture industry, and his father, Selig Weinstock, known as Sol, a shoe salesman, he began as a jazz-record retailer while a teenager, shipping and selling records out of his home through ads in Record Changer magazine.

He rented retail space inside the Jazz Record Center, a shop on 47th Street near Sixth Avenue, owned by the former prizefighter Big Joe Klauberg. He was beginning to frequent the Royal Roost, a Midtown club that was starting to book more and more bebop groups, and Mr. Weinstock converted from swing and New Orleans music to the newer style.

In January 1949, when he was 20, he made his first recordings, of Lennie Tristano's quintet, releasing them on a label that he called New Jazz. Less than year into his business, he realized that he was recording so many saxophonists that he started a new line, Prestige, with a saxophone logo; eventually Prestige won out as his overall imprimatur. His records, including several by Stan Getz and Sonny Stitt and Annie Ross's "Twisted," were finding success on the radio and in jukeboxes. Phobic about airplane travel, Mr. Weinstock traveled around the country by bus, talking to distributors and disc jockeys, and with his father's help he set up an effective promotion and distribution system.

Mr. Weinstock could not read music or play an instrument, but he had a good ear and a sense of jazz's natural evolution toward the bebop pioneers Dizzy Gillespie and Charlie Parker. "He grew up on King Oliver and Louis Armstrong's Hot Five recordings," said the jazz historian Ira Gitler, who worked with him in the early 1950's. "And he felt that Dizzy and Bird were the equivalent of the Hot Five."

By the late 1950's, Mr. Weinstock was hiring others to sign artists and produce the sessions, and the company's direction changed with the music. By the mid-60's it was moving toward soul-jazz, recording many titles by Richard Groove Holmes, Willis Jackson and Charles Earland.

After selling the company to Fantasy Records in 1972 - which, in turn, was bought by the Concord Music Group in 2004 - Mr. Weinstock moved to Florida.

He is survived by his companion, Roberta Ross; his sons James, of North Lauderdale, Fla., Bruce, of Minneapolis, and Philip, of Tamarack, Fla.; and three grandchildren.

[EKE BBB]

Really sad news!

[brownie]

Hope we will be able to read soon the interview Dan Gould did with Weinstock not long ago!

[mikeweil]

That would probably be the most fitting obituary there is!

R.I.P. Mr Weinstock - thanks much for your efforts!

[Guest]

how sad he passed at the same time his label is dying too. i still have the '02 catalog and lament how all thoe hundreds of prestige reissues are no longer being printed....

[king ubu]

Sad news.

[J.A.W.]

Very sad news.

[The Magnificent Goldberg]

I'm saddened, but I'm astounded as well. Bob was only 43 when he sold Prestige to Fantasy and, effectively, retired to Florida (though he did produce some albums for Fantasy labels in the 90s).

Why?

MG

[White Lightning]

Very sad news. RIP.

[andybleaden]

Again a sad loss for someone who helped release some very beautiful music on the world. I have built up a large collection of Prestige titles over the years and it varies so much from classic hard bop to really cooking soul jazz and then you get the Mal Waldron sides and Jaki Byard and Eric Dolphy

one word for Prestige Records

WOW!

Rest in peace

[catesta]

Thank you Bob, and R.I.P..

[Hardbopjazz]

Thanks for making all those great sessions. RIP.

[JohnS]

Thanks for making all those great sessions. RIP.

My views too. Thanks Bob.

[Dan Gould]

how sad he passed at the same time his label is dying too. i still have the '02 catalog and lament how all thoe hundreds of prestige reissues are no longer being printed....

While no one knows what Concord will do with absolute certainty, I was informed by a friend who owns a predominantly jazz record store in Connecticut that

A] She was told nothing would be done to the back catalog

and

B] Everything she has ordered (and she stocks deeply into the Fantasy catalog) has arrived.

So I have no idea what these "hundreds" of reissues are that are"no longer being printed".

******************************

This is indeed sad news and perhaps I can only hope it will spur me to get my act together and force myself to decipher what Bob is saying on those tapes. I certainly expected to transcribe them a long time ago, but life, and Bob's troublesome dental work (which makes understanding his words even harder beyond the not so great audio quality) kept me from slogging through it all.

RIP, Bob.

[Christiern]

Bob was one of the most interesting people I worked for, a congenial man who never stood in the way of my ideas. I first met him in 1959 when I brought him a tape of Lonnie Johnson and Elmer Snowden. These were recordings I had made at my Philadelphia apartment and tried to interest Columbia and Riverside in (Orrin Keepnews and John Hammond were present at the informal session). Bob immediately said, "Go ahead, do it." I eventually accepted a job at Prestige, in Bergenfield, and it was indeed a memorable experience. We did not often see Bob, for he was very much involved in playing the stock market and pretty much stayed in his office, but I regularly found a memo from him on my desk. I wish I had kept these memos, for, more often than not, they appointed me to a new position. Thus I was, at various times, a Producer, Head of Publicity, Advertising Director, etc. Just having those new business cards printed cost a small fortune! The funny thing was that only my title changed--I continued doing the same things, drawing the same salary, etc.

I can't say that I will miss Bob, because it has been so many years since I last saw him, but we were in touch a couple of times, and each sent the other a "hello" whenever the opportunity arose. I am truly sorry to see Bob go and I only hope that he went peacefully and consoled by the knowledge that he had made a major contribution to the music.

Edited January 16, 2006 by Christiern

[Fer Urbina]

I'm saddened, but I'm astounded as well. Bob was only 43 when he sold Prestige to Fantasy

I'm even more astounded that he founded Prestige when he was what? 20?, 21 years old? Definitely a different era.

RIP and thanks for the records.

F

[porcy62]

RIP and thanks for the records.

F

What he said

[GA Russell]

This sad news touches me more than the usual news of passings.

I am more emotionally attached to the Prestige label than the others, because my first hard core jazz record was on Prestige; my favorite jazz record was on Prestige; my favorite jazz is from the 50s, and my favorite 50s jazz label is Prestige; when I was in college, I purchased mono Prestiges for only $1.99 both in the stores and via mail order from the label, etc. - lots of good memories.

Bob Weinstock put out a huge number of great albums at an unusually young age. I guess he was at the right place at the right time in the 50s, but he also had the good sense to proceed with what he was doing.

RIP

[Alexander]

Certainly one of the greats. I'll have to spin some Prestige sides in Bob's honor today...

RIP

[JSngry]

Such a legacy!

R.I.P.

[sidewinder]

Indeed, what an incredible legacy to hand down ! May he RIP..

Edited January 16, 2006 by sidewinder

[Brad]

A true giant has left our midst. RIP. Nice reminiscence from Chris.

[clifford_thornton]

Wow, sad news.

RIP and thanks for the music.

[Guest]

in this time of sorrow it would be most splendid to hear more tales and accounts of prestige. was it hard to run prestige or was it really cut and dry. what happned after van gelder handed you the tape over?

[The Magnificent Goldberg]

Bob was one of the most interesting people I worked for, a congenial man who never stood in the way of my ideas. I first met him in 1959 when I brought him a tape of Lonnie Johnson and Elmer Snowden. These were recordings I had made at my Philadelphia apartment and tried to interest Columbia and Riverside in (Orrin Keepnews and John Hammond were present at the informal session). Bob immediately said, "Go ahead, do it." I eventually accepted a job at Prestige, in Bergenfield, and it was indeed a memorable experience. We did not often see Bob, for he was very much involved in playing the stock market and pretty much stayed in his office, but I regularly found a memo from him on my desk. I wish I had kept these memos, for, more often than not, they appointed me to a new position. Thus I was, at various times, a Producer, Head of Publicity, Advertising Director, etc. Just having those new business cards printed cost a small fortune! The funny thing was that only my title changed--I continued doing the same things, drawing the same salary, etc.

I can't say that I will miss Bob, because it has been so many years since I last saw him, but we were in touch a couple of times, and each sent the other a "hello" whenever the opportunity arose. I am truly sorry to see Bob go and I only hope that he went peacefully and consoled by the knowledge that he had made a major contribution to the music.

I too would very much like to hear more about what went on at Prestige, from the point of view of the business.

MG