Esmond Edwards

Esmond Edwards ( born October 29, 1927 in Kingston, Jamaica; † January 20, 2007 in Santa Barbara, California ) was an American photographer and music producer. He was from 1975 to 1977, the last producer of Impulse! Records.

Life

Edwards parents, Lucille and Moses Edwards come from Kingston, Jamaica, where Edmond Edwards was born. As a child he first grew up in New York City, his family returned to Kingston. Later the family lived back in New York's Harlem and Washington Heights. After his school days in New York City, he attended the City College of New York. He then studied radiography at the Jersey City Medical Center, shifted his interest but then on photography and jazz. Edwards ' photographic work was later exhibited in New York's Lincoln Center Jazz Archives and appeared in The New York Times Magazine and the magazine Photography.

Esmond Edwards worked early in his career for the jazz label Prestige Records, whose founder Bob Weinstock had initially hired him as a photographer. In 1957 he was producer of plate Sessions renowned jazz greats like John Coltrane and (later) Eric Dolphy. Edwards was one of the first African - American producer in the U.S. music business. Edwards worked after his tenure at Prestige in 1967 as a record producer in the major label Verve Records, as this part of the MGM Group.

In 1970 he became Vice - President ( A & R) at Chess Records. Later he worked at MGM, Columbia, Polydor, and finally as the last producer at Impulse! Records from 1975 until the end of the label in 1977. Byproduct ionenes with Keith Jarrett, Sam Rivers, Marion Brown and Dewey Redman, he tried a realignment of the avant-garde jazz label with artists like Gloria Lynne, Betty Carter, Bobby Bland ud BB King and Les McCann. Besides his work as a producer, he was also active as a composer and arranger.

For his work, Edwards has received numerous gold and platinum records for productions of Miles Davis, George Benson, John Coltrane, Chuck Berry, Etta James, Ramsey Lewis, BB King, Keith Jarrett and others. He photographed many of these artists for the covers of numerous recordings. Edwards received a Grammy nomination for album of the Broadway musical Your Arms Too Short to Box with God.