FILM: Atlantic Records: The House Ahmet Built
Ray Charles, Big Joe Turner, The Clovers. They all have Ahmet Ertegun for discovering them and bringing them into the mainstream.
Yesterday, Netflix brought me, “Atlantic Records: The House that Ahmet Built.” It is part of the PBS series, AMERICAN MASTERS. In the two hours watching this film I came to learn that in 1947 with a $10,000 loan this Turkish immigrant landed in America “the land of cowboys, dancing girls and jazz” and began following the African-American music that he loved.
Ahmet’s goal was to record the rich variety of black music that was just bubbling to the surface in those halcyon days. Ahmed Ertegun was a connoisseur of this music and he firmly believed that he was the guy to introduce it to general audiences.
Over the years, Atlantic’s roster included everyone from Phil Collins; The Rolling Stones; Led Zeppelin; Buffalo Springfield; Solomon Burke; Roberta Flack; John Coltrane; Otis Redding; Wilson Pickett; Foreigner; and Kid Rock to Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young; Bobby Short; Charles Mingus; Tori Amos; Jewel; and Rob Thomas.
Once asked by the online magazine Slate what he wanted for his legacy, Ertegun responded, “I’d be happy if people said that I did a little bit to raise the dignity and recognition of the greatness of African-American music.”
