Jazz Hero Joel Dorn Died This Week At 65

Joel Dorn died of a heart attack on Monday December 17th at the age of 65. Dorn was a prolific record producer and helped many jazz artist make a name for themselves in the music business. He spent some time as a disc-jockey for a jazz radio station in Philly and worked alongside Nesuhi Ertegun at Atlantic Records between 1967 and 1974. Dorn knew he wanted to work at Atlantic Records from the very beginning. At the tender age of 14, he began writing letters to Ertegun, describing all kinds of suggestions and critiques of what the label should be doing with their jazz releases. Once his radio show became popular, it became evident that Dorn knew what he was talking about and Ertegun began to respond. ""My show had become popular in the Philly market, and I think Atlantic realized that I was becoming instrumental in breaking records for them on a regional level,” figured Dorn. "Before long the letters turned into telephone calls and I eventually met Nesuhi." Soon, Ertegun would offer him the break he was looking for. According to a press release about the jazz producer's amazing life:

As fate in 1963 would have it, Ertegun offered Dorn the chance to produce one record by an artist of his choice for Atlantic Jazz. Dorn chose Hubert Laws, a young flutist he had seen in Philly performing with Mongo Santamaria's band. The resulting album, The Laws of Jazz, would become the first of countless record production credits to follow.By 1967, Dorn joined Atlantic Records full-time as Nesuhi Ertegun's assistant. He was given the opportunity to sign artists, produce their records and become intricately involved with the promotion and marketing. Rising quick through the ranks, Joel, along with Nesuhi and Ahmet Ertegun, Jerry Wexler, Arif Mardin and Tom Dowd became part of the most formidable record producing team of all time. Focusing primarily on jazz and R&B recordings, Joel developed a production style that was unique to the time period. "I brought pop techniques and pop sensibilities to jazz and R&B records,” recalls Dorn. "As a producer I had two gigantic influences: Lieber and Stoller and Phil Spector. To this day before I go in and make a record, I'll throw on 'Be My Baby' or a Coasters' record."

Not only was Dorn prolific, he was popular and his work was recognized for its greatness. He had a knack for blending traditional jazz with enough pop sensibility to deliver the music to a wider audience and introduce a lot of new people to jazz music. The press release goes on to describe his discog thus:

Dorn's discography stretches from the multi-platinum soul sounds of Roberta Flack to the black classical music of Rahsaan Roland Kirk. He helped introduce the world to Bette Midler's diva swing and the funky New Orleans' R&B of The Neville Brothers. His name can be found on the back of classic 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 to name just a few. "It's impossible to pick a highlight," Dorn once said. "If one record was a highpoint because of great sales, there's another to match it for the incredible fun that went into making it and another that achieved its intended artistic vision."

Joel Dorn produced the debut albums for Roberta Flack and Bette Midler. He and Flack would go on to produce the Grammy-winning Record Of The Year two years in a row with The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face in 1972 and Killing Me Softly With His Song in 1973.Despite being in the record business for 47 years as of 2007, Joel Dorn showed little sign of slowing down. At the time of his death, he was working on a five CD box set for Rhino Handmade entitled Homage A Nesuhi, serving as a tribute to his mentor Nesuhi Ertegun and their years together at Atlantic Records. He was also the voice of Sirius Satellite Radio's "Pure Jazz" channel and was producing a series of music infomercials for Time Warner. "I don't know how to do anything else. It's like if I don't do this what am I going to do? Sit in the park? I love doing stuff with music, with records. I enjoy it," Dorn once said about being a producer. "I know that might not be the great spiritual answer, but I really love making records."Dorn is survived by 3 sons, 2 of which are also in the music business: David Dorn, Sr. Vice President New Media for Rhino Records, and Adam Dorn who is better known as Mocean Worker. His third son is Michael Dorn, who operates his own furniture store in Philadelphia. He is also survived and mourned by his longtime girlfriend, Faye Rosen.