Dec. 16, 2010
Dec. 15 was Birth Centennial of Legendary Talent Scout, Record Producer John H. Hammond
By David M. Kinchen
Driving from Victoria, TX to my home in Port Lavaca on Wednesday afternoon Dec. 15, I heard a tribute to John Hammond (1910-1987) on NPR's "All Things Considered" on South Texas Public Radio.
Link: http://www.npr.org/2010/12/15/132079058/john-hammond-the-ear-of-an-oracle
John H. Hammond II was born to great wealth as the great-grandson of William Henry Vanderbilt in New York City on Dec. 15, 1910. At an early age, he developed a wide-ranging interest in music of all kinds, especially blues, jazz and folk music. As the "ATC" segment referenced above demonstrates, Yale Graduate Hammond was a talent scout and record producer for Columbia Records whose discoveries and/or musicians promoted included Bessie Smith, Billie Holiday, Count Basie, electric guitar pioneer Charlie Christian, Benny Goodman, Leonard Cohen, Bob Dylan, Bruce Springsteen.
In the late 1950s, he signed Pete Seeger and Babatunde Olatunji to the Columbia Records label, and discovered Aretha Franklin, then an eighteen-year-old gospel singer. In 1961, he heard 20-year-old Minnesota-born folk singer Bob Dylan playing harmonica on a session for Carolyn Hester and signed him to Columbia and kept him on the label despite the protests of executives, who hated Dylan's voice and referred to Bob Dylan as "Hammond’s folly". He produced Dylan's early recordings, "Blowin' in the Wind" and "A Hard Rain's a-Gonna Fall."
Hammond oversaw the highly influential posthumous reissues of Robert Johnson's recorded work (produced by Frank Driggs), convincing Columbia Records to issue the album King of the Delta Blues Singers in 1961. Musicians Hammond signed to the label included Canadian singer/song writer/poet Leonard Cohen and rock legend Bruce Springsteen.
Hammond retired from Columbia in 1975, but continued to scout for talent. In 1983, he brought guitarist Stevie Ray Vaughan to Columbia and was credited as executive producer on his debut album. Hammond was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1986.
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Dec. 15 was Birth Centennial of Legendary Talent Scout, Record Producer John H. Hammond
By David M. Kinchen
Driving from Victoria, TX to my home in Port Lavaca on Wednesday afternoon Dec. 15, I heard a tribute to John Hammond (1910-1987) on NPR's "All Things Considered" on South Texas Public Radio.
Link: http://www.npr.org/2010/12/15/132079058/john-hammond-the-ear-of-an-oracle
John H. Hammond II was born to great wealth as the great-grandson of William Henry Vanderbilt in New York City on Dec. 15, 1910. At an early age, he developed a wide-ranging interest in music of all kinds, especially blues, jazz and folk music. As the "ATC" segment referenced above demonstrates, Yale Graduate Hammond was a talent scout and record producer for Columbia Records whose discoveries and/or musicians promoted included Bessie Smith, Billie Holiday, Count Basie, electric guitar pioneer Charlie Christian, Benny Goodman, Leonard Cohen, Bob Dylan, Bruce Springsteen.
In the late 1950s, he signed Pete Seeger and Babatunde Olatunji to the Columbia Records label, and discovered Aretha Franklin, then an eighteen-year-old gospel singer. In 1961, he heard 20-year-old Minnesota-born folk singer Bob Dylan playing harmonica on a session for Carolyn Hester and signed him to Columbia and kept him on the label despite the protests of executives, who hated Dylan's voice and referred to Bob Dylan as "Hammond’s folly". He produced Dylan's early recordings, "Blowin' in the Wind" and "A Hard Rain's a-Gonna Fall."
Hammond oversaw the highly influential posthumous reissues of Robert Johnson's recorded work (produced by Frank Driggs), convincing Columbia Records to issue the album King of the Delta Blues Singers in 1961. Musicians Hammond signed to the label included Canadian singer/song writer/poet Leonard Cohen and rock legend Bruce Springsteen.
Hammond retired from Columbia in 1975, but continued to scout for talent. In 1983, he brought guitarist Stevie Ray Vaughan to Columbia and was credited as executive producer on his debut album. Hammond was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1986.
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