THE SOUL GUY

ATLANTIC HISTORY

Founded in 1947 by Ahmet Ertegun and Herb Abramson, Atlantic was the label that did most to popularise the breadth and depth of popular black music - jazz, soul and R'n'B. Initially set up as a jazz label, it moved into Rhythm and Blues in 1949 with the Stick McGhee recording 'Drinkin' Wine Spo-Dee-O-Doe'. Throughout the 50s, the company signed a whole crop of important artists,including Ruth Brown, Lavern Baker, Joe Turner, The Drifters, The Coasters, Ray Charles - the list is endless.

In 1953, Jerry Wexler joined the company, bringing his advertising and promotional skills to Atlantic and in a way heralding a new era for the organisation. Producers were hand picked to suit the the particular talents of the ever growing roster of artists. In the 60s Wexler in paricular did much to promote the southern soul sound by taking Atlantic artists to Fame and, later, Muscle Shoals Sound Studios to record - resulting in some of the most seminal soul of the 60s from the likes of the great Aretha Franklin, Wilson Pickett, Joe Tex etc.

Atlantic was also responsible for the distribution of Stax/Volt records and was therefore deeply influential in ensuring nationwide airplay for artists such as Otis Redding, Sam & Dave and Eddie Floyd. Atlantic was always an eclectic label, even in the early days, and they began to diversify further by moving into rock and 'blue eyed soul' with such groups as the Young Rascals, Buffalo Springfield and Led Zeppelin. It allowed Atlantic to consolidate itself as one of the major forces in contemporary music, but it was only a matter of time before one of the conglomerates came calling - the label linked up with Warner Bros in 1967 and over the years became completely assimilated into the Time Warners empire.

Ertegun stayed with the company, but for Wexler it was never the same and he moved on. For a while though Atlantic was probably the most important and exciting producer of black music there has ever been, headed up by people with business acumen coupled with vision and a real love for and commitment to the music they were generating and promoting. Atlantic was one of great independent labels that sprang up in the late Forties, challenging the primacy of the major labels of the time (RCA, Columbia and Decca) by discovering, developing and nurturing new talent. Atlantic became the nation's premier rhythm & blues label in a few short years and would become one of the great soul labels in the Sixties.

Atlantic set the standard for the "indies" in that they paid their performers fairly, produced top notch records, had talented session men and had knowledgeable staff that included producer Jerry Wexler, engineer Tom Dowd and arranger Jesse Stone. Atlantic's first stars were Ruth Brown, Joe Turner, the Clovers and the first Drifters. Atlantic's first releases were jazz oriented jump blues though the labels first big hit was "Drinkin' Wine Spo-Dee-O-Dee" by Stick McGhee. In the late Forties Atlantic went to New Orleans to look for talent and had some sessions with Professor Longhair, which convinced them to incorporate the New Orleans sound into their recordings.

Atlantic's more sophisticated and jazz orientated session men were unable to recreate the New Orleans Sound, but in the process created the "Atlantic Sound," which supported all the label's singers with, boogie based, sax-led band arrangements that were internal part of the song. The name Atlantic wasn't the first choice for the company. It seems every name they came up with had already been taken. Hearing of a label called Pacific Jazz they decided to call themselves Atlantic.

Atlantic Records was founded in September 1947 in New York City and they incorporated in October 1947. Atlantic's first office was in the condemned Jefferson Hotel on Fifty-Six between Sixth and Broadway. Sleeping in the bedroom the living room was used as a office. In order to help with the rent Ahmet rented a bed to his cousin Sadi Koylan a poet. With an upcoming recording strike declared by Caesar Petrillo to commence January 1, 1948 they began recording as much material as possible. The first sides were recorded November 21, 1947 by the Harlemaires with "The Rose of the Rio Grande." By the end of December a total of sixty-five songs had been recorded. In 1949 Ahmet and Stone began travelling through the South trying to understand why there well-made, up-to-date records weren't selling.

Watching the crowds night after night in the dance clubs they saw the people especially the young ones dancing in a new way and they couldn't dance to the classy, urbane Atlantic beat. Stone to an instrumental version of "Sorghum Switch" re-named it "Coleslaw," added a special bassline; he put country blues into city sound and it clicked. In April Atlantic had its first major hit with Stick McGhee's "Drinkin' Wine Sop-Dee-O-Dee.

In 1953 Jerry Wexler joined Atlantic as a partner paying .25 for a 13% share. Later he and Ahmet would buy out Miriam Beinstock and Dr. Sabit. Nesuhi Ertegun would join as a third partner. In 1954 Atlantic was besieged with covers and that summer seven songs including "Sh-Boom", "Honey Love" and "Such A Night" by the Drifters were covered by 18 different artists. They began the Cat label in 1954 and Atlas Records in July 1955. Atlas became Atco because there was already another Atlas label. Spark Records and it's catalog was acquired later in 1955.

Lester Sill became the national sales manager and Leiber and Stoller were given an independent production deal. They also got The Robins who would later become the Coasters In 1955 Atlantic offered Colonel Tom Parker a huge sum for Elvis Presley's contract but lost out on it to RCA. Nesuhi Ertegun joined Atlantic in 1956, initially developed Atlantic's album department and built up the label's extensive catalog of jazz long-players. Netsuhi produced the following jazz artists at Atlantic: John Coltrane, Charles Mingus, Ornette Coleman, the Modern Jazz Quartet. Later he would become became involved with the label's rhythm & blues and rock and roll roster as well, producing several hit records for Ray Charles, the Drifters, Bobby Darin and Roberta Flack.

In the '60s, Wexler became the primary producer who linked Aretha Franklin and Wilson Pickett with house bands in Memphis and Muscle Shoals, Ala., to help bring Southern soul to the rest of America. In the '70s, he continued to produce rock acts, such as Dr. John and Dire Straits. Though he was less directly involved as a producer, Ertegun continued at the helm of Atlantic in the Sixties and Seventies as the company conquered the realms of soul and rock, from Aretha Franklin to Led Zeppelin, with phenomenal success.

Ertegun serves as chairman of Atlantic Records to this day. At the tenth annual Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Induction Dinner in 1995, it was announced that the museum's main exhibition hall would be named after Ertegun. At their best, record labels can conjure a sound as surely as a needle on a phonograph. Chess Records and late '50s gutbucket blues. The Motown Sound of 1960s vocal groups. Stiff Records and the late '70s British New Wave. When it comes to Atlantic Records, however, not just one sound will do.

The company was founded as a jazz label in 1947, turned to rhythm and blues in the 1950s, became celebrated as the home of soul stars such as Otis Redding and Aretha Franklin in the 1960s, and then harvested some of the best of the 1960s and '70s rock and roll acts, from Buffalo Springfield to Led Zeppelin. Even today, the distinctive red-and-black label of Atlantic stands out among the many nameplates of the giant WEA empire.

The WEA family of labels, which includes Atlantic, Warner Bros. and Elektra, is owned by AOL Time Warner, the corporate parent of CNN. The history of the label has been celebrated in " 'What'd I Say': The Atlantic Story" (A Publishing, distributed in the U.S. by Welcome Rain), by label founder Ahmet Ertegun, compiled and edited by Perry Richardson and designed by Marc Balet. The book, a coffee-table slab of photographs, oral history, and essays by the likes of music writers Greil Marcus, Robert Christgau, Nat Hentoff, Lenny Kaye and others, traces the label from its independent beginnings to its current standing as the home of Stone Temple Pilots, Kid Rock, and Collective Soul. "(Atlantic) has had an amazing ability to adapt with the changing times while keeping a standard of artistic excellence," says Kaye, known for his guitar work with the Patti Smith Group as well as his critical efforts. "If you look at any moment in Atlantic history, they're at the forefront with the sound of that moment." 'Obsessed with the boogie disease' The label began as an outlet for Ertegun, his brother Nesuhi, and their friend Herb Abramson, music lovers all. The Ertegun brothers were the sons of a diplomat who became the Turkish ambassador to the United States; in order to keep afloat after the family returned to Turkey, the two sold their 15,000- strong record collection.

Atlantic never abandoned jazz, though by the early '50s it had developed into a leading R&B label. Its acts included Ruth Brown, Big Joe Turner and a certain pianist named Ray Charles, who revolutionized popular music by bringing the call-and-response of the black church into the hard-nosed rumble of R&B. Some critics credit Charles with inventing what came to be known as soul music; almost all cite him as one of the pop music's primary innovators. "He's the one artist (that required) very little ... oversight and production," says Wexler in admiration. Charles' success, along with that of artists like the Drifters, Bobby Darin and the Coasters, made Atlantic a major independent at a time when the dominant labels -- the old-line corporate outposts such as Columbia, RCA and Decca -- were waging an uneasy battle with the independent, rock 'n' roll-supplying upstarts that had taken over the Top Forty. The label managed to broaden its audience and remain true to its roots at the same time.

For Kaye, who wrote "The Atlantic Story"'s essay on this 1954-1962 era, those years may have been his favorite. "It was the first time Atlantic went for the pop market," he says. "Before they were an R&B label with an eye to the pop market. ... (The label) had become itself." Among the songs Atlantic released during this era were the Drifters' "There Goes My Baby" (the first R&B song with a string section), "Save the Last Dance for Me" and "This Magic Moment"; Charles' "What'd I Say"; the Coasters' "Charlie Brown"; and Ben E. King's "Stand By Me." A 'level of excitement' In the '60s, Atlantic became the center of soul music. The label entered into a partnership with Memphis, Tennessee-based Stax Records and used Stax house band Booker T. and the MGs behind such artists as Otis Redding and Sam and Dave.

The label also signed an artist who had been mismanaged by Columbia Records, a gospel-trained belter named Aretha Franklin. "I (had been) watching her for years," recalls Wexler. He backed her with the crack R&B house band at a Muscle Shoals, Alabama, studio, letting her return to the musical roots she had formed in the choirs and congregations of her native Detroit, Michigan. The result was a string of hits -- "I Never Loved a Man (the Way I Love You)," "Respect," "Chain of Fools" -- and the title "the Queen of Soul." Atlantic had also started signing more rock and pop artists, such as the white-soul band the Young Rascals, Cream and Buffalo Springfield.

In 1969 the label released the first album by Led Zeppelin; in 1971 it signed the Rolling Stones to a deal, which created Rolling Stones Records. By that time, though, Atlantic was no longer independent. In 1967 Ertegun sold the label for $5 million. Atlantic had become part of the mainstream. Wexler has no regrets. "If Atlantic had not grown and developed, it probably would have died," he says. "All the labels we started with are extinct. ... Rock added a huge dimension to the label. R&B alone is not enough to sustain a (large) company." Kaye also dismisses the idea that Atlantic became just another label. "Atlantic kept up their level of excitement. ... Artists like John Coltrane -- these are mythical artists, and Atlantic had more than its share." As Robert Christgau points out in his essay on the 1967-72 era, the label's range was both wide and deep. Moreover, with monster sellers like Zeppelin and the Stones, it became more successful than ever. Atlantic has had its share of flops, and in a cutthroat industry, Ertegun and Wexler have been known to play hardball. But Atlantic has succeeded, says Kaye, because its founders are also fans. "They love music. They had to be businessmen in a tough industry (to make it), but they loved music," he says. Given its forays into jazz, R&B, soul, and all flavors of rock, finding a way to sum up 50 years of Atlantic history is difficult.