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| George Avakian's 87th birthday  George Avakian's 87th birthday will be celebrated on Wednesday, March 15 at Birdland, NYC. Avakian was born in 1919 in Armavir, Russia, to a family of Armenian ancestry. He attended Yale University, and became an avid collector and fan of jazz music. He is a founding officer of the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences. George Avakian was a producer and executive at Columbia Records (signing Dave Brubeck and Miles Davis to the label, amongst others), at Warner Brothers, and at RCA Victor. He produced the first jazz album (1939-40), the first series of annotated reissues of classic jazz (1940), the first 100 pop LPs (1948) and established popular albums as the industry's biggest source of income (1954), a trend which continues into the CD era.write your comments about the article :: © 2006 Jazz News :: home page |