Jazz Producer Orrin Keepnews dies aged 91

jpg" width="300" height="237">Legendary jazz producer, Riverside Records founder and Grammy winner Orrin Keepnews died at home in California on 1 March, aged 91. A former editor and jazz writer, Keepnews co-founded the Riverside Records label in 1953 and signed and produced Thelonious Monk, who cut classics such as Brilliant Corners, Monk’s Music and Thelonious Monk with John Coltrane, as well as Wes Montgomery, Cannonball Adderley (pictured left with Keepnews), Sonny Rollins, Randy Weston and Bill Evans, who cut Waltz For Debby and Sunday Night at The Village Vanguard for the label.

Following the label’s demise in 1964 Keepnews founded Milestone Records in 1966 recording musicians such as McCoy Tyner, Gary Bartz and Joe Henderson before selling the company to Fantasy in 1972 where he worked as A&R director. He later started Landmark records in 1985 and in 1999 oversaw the remastering of a Keepnews Editions series of Riverside albums. He won Grammys for Bill Evans, Monk and Duke Ellington reissues, received a Lifetime Achievement award from the national Academy of Redording Arts in 2004 and was given a NEA JazzMasters award by the National Endowment of the Arts in 2011.

– Jon Newey