Wexler became part of a loosely knit group of record collectors and streetwise intellectuals, praising trumpeter Henry “Red” Allen and quoting Spinoza. His youth was marked by poolrooms and truancy, until the mid-1930s when he was distracted by a music called jazz. He was born Gerald Wexler in 1917 to a working class family, and grew up during the Depression in the upper Manhattan neighborhood of Washington Heights. Laughing, Wexler added, “Incidentally, two weeks ago I hit three score and 10 - the Biblical allotment. In the ’70s, Wexler departed Atlantic and went freelance, producing soundtracks for films by Louis Malle and Richard Pryor, and recording albums with Bob Dylan, Dire Straits, and Etta James and others. In the ’60s as the age of R&B gave way to the rock and soul era, Wexler and Ertegun steered Atlantic into a lead position among labels, releasing music by Otis Redding and Aretha Franklin, Cream and Led Zeppelin, Solomon Burke and Wilson Pickett, Duane Allman, and Willie Nelson. In the ’50s, Wexler’s studio work helped introduce white ears to the royalty of R&B: Ray Charles, Big Joe Turner, the Drifters, LaVern Baker, Chuck Willis. We witnessed the rise of Led Zeppelin and the Allman Brothers, and we care about a thing called soul. Because of him, we use the term “rhythm and blues” and we hail Ray Charles as “Genius” and Aretha Franklin as “Queen.” We came to know of a record label called Stax and a small town called Muscle Shoals, Alabama. The impact of his deeds matched his larger-than-life personality.

Wexler was much more than a top executive - he was a national tastemaker and a prophet of roots and rhythm. Wexler was one of the great music business pioneers of the 20th century: as co-head of Atlantic Records from 1953 to ’75, he and his partner Ahmet Ertegun grew the small independent R&B label into the major record company that it is today. Jerry Wexler, the legendary record man, music producer and ageless hipster, died at 3:45 a.m. Wex on Wax: Listen to a Playlist of 20 Essential Jerry Wexler Productions.

Atlantic records studio