My sister’s boyfriend Luis gave me a great present this year… a documentary about Tom Dowd.  “Tom Dowd and the Language of Music”. Tom Dowd was a seminal Producer/Engineer that I have admired for some time now…..He worked with Ray Charles, Mingus, John Coltrane, Lavern Baker, Ornette Coleman,Otis Redding, Allman Brothers Band, Tito Puente THELONIOUS MONK, Cream, Aretha Franklin, Lynard Skynyrd..…..

Expect  yet another appearances by Eric Clapton whom  is in EVERY  music documentary.. but I like Cream..

Dowd’s technical abilities helped to put Atlantic records at the forefront of popular music in the 1950s. He was one of the first engineers to record on tape instead of vinyl discs and he was the first engineers to build and record with an eight track console.  This gave him many opportunities to experiment… (tape has a greater dynamic range over all recording mediums…)

After working at Atlantic for more than twenty years, Dowd left to become an independent producer in the late 1960s. 

 “Every session was an adventure, you could be doing the Coasters at 2 in the afternoon and Mingus at 2 in the morning.” -Tom Dowd

Tom Dowd, 1985. (Photo: Mark Mander)

Tom Dowd and Ray Charles in the documentary “Tom Dowd and the Language of Music”

THANKS LUIS!