- Bob Thiele
Bob Thiele (
July 27 ,1922 —January 30 ,1996 ) was an Americanrecord producer . His wife was the singerTeresa Brewer .He hosted a jazz radio show when he was 14. He also played clarinet and led a band in the New York area. At 17 he founded the
Signature Records label and recorded many jazz greats, includingLester Young ,Errol Garner and, in 1943,Coleman Hawkins . Signature folded in 1948 and he joinedDecca Records in 1952, running itsCoral Records subsidiary.He took over as head of
Impulse! Records from 1961-69 after founderCreed Taylor went to runVerve Records and signed, and recorded such artists asJohn Coltrane ,Charles Mingus ,Dizzy Gillespie ,Sonny Rollins ,Archie Shepp ,Albert Ayler and others. Thiele's most successful hit song was withLouis Armstrong 's "What a Wonderful World ", which he co-wrote withGeorge David Weiss .When Impulse! became part of the
ABC Records group, Thiele was often brought in to produce some of the artists on the company's BluesWay label. He produced the albums that graduated blues giantB.B. King toward the mainstream, including "Lucille" (1967), "Live and Well" (1968), and "Completely Well" (1969), the last biggest seller of King's career to that point. He also produced BluesWay recordings byJohn Lee Hooker ,T-Bone Walker , and others.Thiele later formed his own record label, Flying Dutchman Records, which is now part of
BMG orSony BMG . In 1995 he released a memoir titled "What a Wonderful World".Some of the songs Thiele wrote are credited to George Douglas or Stanley Clayton [For instance [http://www.discogs.com/artist/George+Douglas "What a Wonderful World"] .] . These are pseudonyms Thiele used, made from the names of his uncles, Stanley, Clayton, George, and Douglas.
Discography
LP "Do The Love" by Bob Thiele & his New Happy Times Orchestra feat. The Sunflower Singers & Steve Allen (abc records, abc-615).Tracks: Do The Love,
All You Need Is Love , My Blue Heaven, I Just Don't Know What To Say, Here Comes Sgt. Pepper, Jet Me To Frisco, When Day Is Done, Green, The Sunshine Of Love, Goodnight Sweetheart.Bibliography
* Bob Thiele (1995) "What a Wonderful World: A Lifetime of Recordings", Oxford University Press
References
Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.
