He is also largely responsible for the revival of delta blues artist Robert Johnson's music. Hammond was instrumental in sparking or furthering numerous musical careers, including those of Bob Dylan, Bruce Springsteen, Benny Goodman, Harry James, Charlie Christian, Billie Holiday, Count Basie, Teddy Wilson, Big Joe Turner, Pete Seeger, Babatunde Olatunji, Aretha Franklin, George Benson, Freddie Green, Leonard Cohen, Arthur Russell, Jim Copp, Asha Puthli, Stevie Ray Vaughan, Mike Bloomfield and Sonny Burke. William Henry Vanderbilt (great grandfather) What most people don’t know is that Hammond didn’t grow up with his father. Born November 13, 1942, in New York City, he’s the son of the famous Columbia Records talent scout John Hammond Sr. His career, still very active, has included the discovery of many of the greatest American artists, from Billie Holiday to Bessie Smith to Bob Dylan to Aretha Franklin. In 1991 he hosted the documentary The Search For Robert Johnson. Paul Sexton – An Unfailing Ear – The Impeccable Taste of John Hammond Snr.Vanderbilt Family Cemetery and Mausoleum, Staten Island, New York, U.S.Įsme O'Brien Sarnoff (1949–1986 (her death)) John Hammond is Director of Talent Acquisition for Columbia Records, the company he has been associated with almost continuously since 1932. Here’s an excerpt – “ When John Hammond “discovered” Billie Holiday”ĭenis Munday – John Hammond – The Most Influential Music Man of the Twentieth Century Hammond continued to identify and to sign artists to Columbia with an uncanny and unmatched instinct for raw talent, from Leonard Cohen in 1967 to Springsteen in 1972. By introducing them into the mainstream, he permanently changed the face of contemporary music.”Īhmet Ertegun (inducting him into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 1986) – “He didn’t just change the industry, he changed the world”ĭunstan Prial 2006 biography, The Producer – John Hammond and the Soul of American Musicis a well-researched and illuminating readĭunstan Prial is interviewed about Hammond His interest in black artists proved contagious. This Q&A with the legend originally appeared in the. To have signed all threeas well as discover such talents as Billie Holiday and Stevie Ray Vaughanputs him in his own special category. Hammond had a genius for discovering and nurturing talent. If the late Columbia Records talent executive John Hammond had signed either Aretha Franklin, Bob Dylan or Bruce Springsteen, his legacy would be golden. John Hammond with Irving Townsend (1977) John Hammond On Record: An. “Few people outside the music industry know his name but John Hammond, though not himself a professional musician exerted greater influence on America’s cultural life, and by extension the world, than most performers. Columbia Records, which at the time was only known as English Columbia. John Henry Hammond II (Decem July 10, 1987) was an American record producer, civil rights activist, and music critic active from the 1930s to the early 1980s. Hart Perry‘s 1991 PBS American Masters documentary John Hammond – From Bessie Smith to Bruce Springsteen is an invaluable and inspiring introduction to a remarkable life Listen to his legendary 1938 “From Spirituals to Swing” concert – hereīenny Carter, George Benson, Teddy Wilson, Jo Jones, Milt Hinton, Red Norvo, and Benny Morten were part of a 1975 ‘all-star” tribute to Hammond – see here Hammond was personally responsible for discovering an extraordinary roster of names Benny Goodman, Count Basie, Billie Holiday, Robert Johnson, Bessie Smith, Bob Dylan, Aretha Franklin, Pete Seeger, Bruce Springsteen, and that’s not all. John Hammond speaks on the Scottsboro Boys and other civil rights cases (oral history for the Robert F Wagner Labor Archives) – here As a record producer, a Nation magazine contributor and a board member of the NAACP, he fought against segregation both within the jazz world and in American society as a whole.” The occasion was a Soundstage special to be aired in mid-December, in honor of retiring Columbia Records executive John Hammond, who, during a remarkable 45-year career, recorded Bessie Smith and. never a member of the Communist Party, he was probably the best-known left-wing figure in the jazz community of the 1930s and ’40s. He made his debut in 1962 on Vanguard Records. I knew all about Hammonds career at Columbia Records. He plays acoustically, sings in a barrelhouse style and uses guitars made by National Reso-Phonic Guitars. The son of a Vanderbilt heiress, John Hammond listened to jazz records with his. He is known as a blues singer and guitarist and has accumulated a noted list of recordings. Louis Proyect writing on “Jazz and Radical Politics”: John Paul Hammond 1942 John Paul Hammond is a musician of note. Hammond remained with Columbia Records until 1973, but continued his scouting activities. John Hammond’s politics were a singular bond – a life-time progressive, a central figure in the struggle for social justice. Hammonds grandfather was Civil War General John Henry Hammond.
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