Irving Townsend

Irving Townsend
BornIrving Joseph Townsend
(1920-11-27)November 27, 1920
Springfield, Massachusetts, U.S.
DiedDecember 17, 1981(1981-12-17) (aged 61)
Santa Ynez, California, U.S.
OccupationProducer and author
EducationPrinceton University[1][2]

Irving Townsend (November 27, 1920 – December 17, 1981)[3] was an American record producer and author. He is most famous for having produced the Miles Davis album Kind of Blue, which is the best-selling jazz album of all time according to the RIAA. He later served as president of the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences of the United States.[4][5]

Townsend, a former jazz bandleader, became an advertising copywriter for Columbia Records. He then convinced George Avakian to have him assist on recording sessions, and by the mid-1950s he was a full-time producer. He became Davis's producer after the departures of Avakian and Cal Lampley.[6]

Townsend wrote many liner notes for Columbia,[7][8] including notes for the album Black, Brown and Beige by Duke Ellington and Mahalia Jackson.[8] In 1975, Townsend wrote an article in The Atlantic Monthly called "Ellington in Private" detailing his meeting with Duke at Newport Jazz Festival in 1956 which led to Ellington's subsequent signing with Columbia.[9]

  1. ^ "Princeton Alumni Weekly". 71. Princeton University Press. September 29, 1970: 122. {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  2. ^ "Princeton Alumni Weekly". 82. Princeton University Press. September 21, 1981: 56. {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  3. ^ "Obituaries: Irving J. Townsend". Santa Ynez Valley News. December 24, 1981. p. 15A.
  4. ^ "Townsend is Re-Elected by Coast NARAS". Billboard. Nielsen Business Media. June 15, 1968. p. 3.
  5. ^ "4 Elected to NARAS Board". Billboard. Vol. 79, no. 29. Nielsen Business Media. July 22, 1967. p. 6. ISSN 0006-2510.
  6. ^ Kahn, Ashley (2001). Kind of Blue: The Making of the Miles Davis Masterpiece, p. 91. Da Capo Press.
  7. ^ Irving Townsend Retrieved July 28, 2018.
  8. ^ a b "Liner Notes: Irving Townsend on "Black, Brown and Beige," by Duke Ellington and His Orchestra, Featuring Mahalia Jackson". Jerry Jazz Musician. November 27, 2013. Retrieved July 28, 2018.[permanent dead link]
  9. ^ Irving Townsend (May 1975). "Ellington in Private". The Atlantic. Retrieved July 28, 2018.