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2009 NEA Jazz Master
		Rudolph "Rudy" Van Gelder Born November 2, 1924, Jersey City, NJ Jazz Advocate (Recording Engineer) Interview >>
Photo by Tom Pich/tompich.com

"What an honor this is. Speaking with Chairman Gioia was a pleasure, especially when he told me I recorded half his record collection.

"I thought of all the great jazz musicians I've recorded through the years, how lucky I've been that the producers I worked with had enough faith in me to bring those musicians to me to record-it all started in a small living room in Hackensack, New Jersey.

"Then I thought, 'I'll have to get a suit.'"

Known as the greatest recording engineer in jazz history, Rudy Van Gelder was born on November 2, 1924, in Jersey City, New Jersey.

An optometrist by day, Van Gelder set up a studio in his parents' living room, and began recording local jazz musicians. In 1953, saxophonist Gil Mellé introduced Van Gelder to Blue Note founder Alfred Lion, beginning a 14-year association with the label. Van Gelder's crystal-clear recordings helped establish Blue Note's reputation as an elite jazz label. In 1959, needing a larger space for Blue Note and his other clients, he finally quit his day job and moved his studio to a new facility he built in Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey, where he has remained ever since. He became the house engineer for Creed Taylor's CTI label in the early 1970s.

The signature of a Van Gelder recording lies in the rich, natural tone of each instrument and the clearly defined separation between them, ensuring that every sonic detail is audible. What's more, Van Gelder had an uncanny knack for capturing textures that supported whatever mood the musicians and producers were creating. Among the timeless recordings made under his aegis are John Coltrane's Blue Train (Blue Note) and A Love Supreme (Impulse!), Sonny Rollins' Saxophone Colossus (Prestige), Miles Davis' Workin' and Steamin'  (Prestige), Andrew Hill's Point of Departure (Blue Note), Freddie Hubbard's Red Clay (CTI) and Hank Mobley's Soul Station (Blue Note).

Van Gelder still freelances for a variety of labels and has been instrumental in the modern remastering of his original recordings with the conversion from analog to digital formats.

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