Friday, February 22, 2008

Teo Macero, 1925-2008

The great producer Teo Macero leaves a legacy of enduring studio creations done in collaboration with Miles Davis. The editing work he accomplished in the pre-digital age of razor-blade-and-tape is nothing short of stunning.

Teo could come off as something of a braggart, and there was a time when his claims of co-creation of some of Davis' best recordings rubbed me the wrong way, but once the original studio tapes surfaced, the quality of his art became clear.

He was something of a hero because of the vehemence of his hatred toward what the recording industry has become. No one matched the venom he could pour fourth toward the "fucking lawyers" he saw running his former employer: Columbia Records.

He was also a great storyteller, with terrific tales of life at the centre of the jazz business in the 1950s and '60s. "The first thing I'd do when I got to work," he said, "was to draw $100 in cash out of the treasury, because you'd wind up running into Duke or Miles and taking them to lunch."

No comments: