TODAY IN MUSIC: Arif Mardin, the music producer who worked with hundreds of artists across many different styles of music, including jazz, rock, soul, disco and country, was born on March 15, 1932, in Instanbul. His collaborations include working with Queen, the Bee Gees, Hall & Oates, Anita Baker, Aretha Franklin, Dionne Warwick, Donny Hathaway, Roberta Flack, Bette Midler, Chaka Khan, Laura Nyro, Phil Collins, Daniel Rodriguez, and Norah Jones. Mardin was awarded eleven Grammy Awards over the course of his illustrious career. Mardin grew up listening to artists such as Bing Crosby and Glenn Miller. Through his sister he met jazz critic Cuneyt Sermet, who turned him onto this music and eventually became his mentor. After graduating from Istanbul University in Economics and Commerce, Mardin studied at the London School of Economics. Heavily influenced by his sister’s records and jazz, he was also an accomplished orchestrator and arranger, but never planned to pursue a career in music. In 1956, after meeting the American jazz musicians Dizzy Gillespie and Quincy Jones at a concert, everything changed. He sent demos to his friend Tahir Sur who worked at a radio station in the United States. Sur got the compositions to Quincy Jones and Mardin became the first recipient of the Quincy Jones Scholarship at the Berklee College of Music. Mardin began his career at Atlantic Records in 1963 as an assistant to Nesuhi Ertegün. A fellow Turkish émigré, Nesuhi was the brother of Ahmet Ertegün, Atlantic’s co-founder and a jazz enthusiast. Mardin advanced quickly at the company, becoming studio manager, label house producer and arranger. In 1969, he became the Vice President and later served as Senior Vice President until 2001. He worked closely on many projects with co-founders Ertegün and Jerry Wexler, as well as noted recording engineer Tom Dowd; the three legends (Dowd, Mardin, and Wexler) were responsible for establishing the “Atlantic Sound”. In 1990, Arif Mardin was inducted into the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences Hall of Fame. #arifmardin #cuneytsermet #instanbul #dizzygillespie #quincyjones #tahirsur #ahmetertegun #jerrywexler #tomdowd #grammy #musicproducer #tonyatlarge #eclectimaniacradioshow #todayinmusic #musichistory
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