George Avakian

• Born: March 15, 1919, Armarvir, Russia
• Genres: Jazz
• Instrument: Producer

Biography

George Avakian's contributions to jazz have been huge through the years. He was a jazz critic as early as 1937, wrote about jazz for Mademoiselle and Pic during 1946-48, helped revise Charles Delauney's famous Hot Discography when it was first published in the U.S. in 1948 and contributed to both Down Beat and Metronome. Avakian's greatest importance is as a producer. He put together one of the first jazz albums (Chicago Jazz) for Decca in 1940. Soon afterwards he began producing jazz records for Columbia, becoming quite influential in the 1950s when he also worked for the popular music department. Among the many artists who he worked closely with were Louis Armstrong, Dave Brubeck, Duke Ellington and Miles Davis, and he frequently penned insightful liner notes. After leaving Columbia in 1958, Avakian worked for World Pacific, Warner Bros. and RCA, freelanced with many other labels, was an important supporter of the Charles Lloyd Quartet and recently celebrated 60 years in the jazz business. ~ Scott Yanow, All Music Guide