May 26, 2026 11:08 AM
Sonny Rollins Passes Away at 95
Sonny Rollins, the iconic saxophonist, composer and improviser whose career stretched from the origins of bebop to 21st…
Joel Dorn, a Grammy Award-winning record producer who first made a name for himself while at Atlantic Records in the late 1960s and early ‘70s, died on Monday from a heart attack in New York City at the age of 65.
Dorn’s discography stretches from the multiplatinum soul sounds of Roberta Flack to the jazz of Rahsaan Roland Kirk. He helped introduce Bette Midler and the funky New Orleans r&b of the Neville Brothers. His name can be found on the back of recordings by Les McCann and Eddie Harris, Mose Allison, Yusef Lateef, Leon Redbone, Peter Allen, Don Mclean, the Allman Brothers Band, David “Fathead” Newman, Donny Hathaway and Mongo Santamaria.
From an early age, Dorn knew he wanted to be in the music business, specifically for Atlantic Records. At 14, he began correspondence with the label’s co-founder Nesuhi Ertegun.
In 1961, Dorn began his career as a disc jockey at the Philadelphia jazz radio station WHAT-FM.
Ertegun offered Dorn the chance to produce one record by an artist of his choice for Atlantic Jazz in 1963. Dorn chose Hubert Laws, a young flutist he had seen in Philly performing with Santamaria’s band. The resulting album, The Laws Of Jazz, would become the first of many production credits to follow.
When Rhino began to reissue the Atlantic jazz catalog in 1993, Dorn spearheaded the campaign, producing and annotating nearly two dozen titles. In addition to his work for Atlantic and Rhino, Dorn released archival recordings on his own labels Night, M, and 32 Records (including the Jazz For A Rainy Afternoon compilations).
At the time of his death, Dorn was completing a five CD box set for Rhino Handmade entitled Homage A Nesuhi, serving as a tribute to his mentor Ertegun and their years together at Atlantic. He was also the voice of Sirius Satellite Radio’s “Pure Jazz” channel.
Onstage, Rollins would move about restlessly, thrusting his tenor sax in the air as he blew.
May 26, 2026 11:08 AM
Sonny Rollins, the iconic saxophonist, composer and improviser whose career stretched from the origins of bebop to 21st…
To the world, James Blood Ulmer was a legend, a visionary and a musical force whose sound was distinctive and unique. To his family, he was their teacher, their storyteller and a source of strength.
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How best to mark Miles Davis’ centennial? By allowing the stories to flow, and cross-discussions to happen.
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Ibrahim was an early jazz acolyte, studying the music via 78s he would buy from soldiers stationed in South Africa — who also gave him the nickname “Dollar.”
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