NEW YORK CITY

In 1949, "Drinkin' Wine Spo-dee-O-Dee" by Stick McGhee, a Tom Dowd engineered recording for Atlantic Records, became a hit. This solidified Tom's commercial credibility and began a relationship with Atlantic that would stretch over four decades.

After an early 1950's stint with the United States Information Agency (USIA) and the Voice of America, which included first-hand accounts of McCarthy-era investigations, Tom Dowd made recordings of Atlantic artists that would alter the sound of modern music. The Clovers, Ruth Brown, Joe Turner, Clyde McPhatter, LaVern Baker, the Drifters, and Ray Charles all recorded under the supervision of Dowd, who possessed the unique ability to turn out records that sold equally well on both sides of the racial line.

Atlantic felt the financial squeeze from 'white' cover versions of their most popular songs, more than other R&B companies, for the very reason that their records were so tightly arranged, and therefore easy to duplicate. In fact, before Dowd came to Atlantic as their full time engineer in 1954, he often found himself in the studio doing commercial cover versions of 'race records' he had recorded for Atlantic.

Atlantic, of course, was able to change with the times, and from 1956 to the early 1960's they had major rock 'n roll hits with such Dowd recorded artists as the Coasters ('Yakety Yak'', 'Charlie Brown', 'Poison Ivy'), Bobby Darin ('Splish Splash', 'Mack the Knife'), and the re-formed Drifters with Ben E. King ('Save the Last Dance For Me'). Tom Dowd's musicality, technical expertise and his contagious enthusiasm won the confidence and trust of musicians, making him a favorite of artists and executives alike.

Ironically, Dowd often found himself recording rock 'n roll and pop standards by day, and capturing jazz legends 'on the fly' later that same night. Thelonius Monk, Ornette Coleman, Charles Mingus, Eric Dolphy, Lennie Tristano and Chris Connor all trusted Tom to capture the magic of their recording sessions.

Included in this impressive jazz resume is one of modern music's true immortals: John Coltrane. Dowd-recorded albums such as 'Giant Steps', 'Central Park West' and 'My Favorite Things' exposed Coltrane's genius to the world, and furthered Dowd's reputation as a cutting-edge engineer.

As Tom recalls, "When Atlantic Records vacated the space that doubled as our office/recording studio, I expanded the 'office' space to make a larger recording chamber. I built Atlantic's first stereo console so that we could record stereo and monophonically simultaneously. Because of the size of the room we were limited as to how large a group we could record comfortably. Among the groups that 'fit' the room perfectly was John Coltrane's Quartet."

"John would show up an hour early, take out his horn and start running scales. He would stand in a corner, facing the wall, play for a few minutes, stop, change reeds and start again. This is the same way classical musicians practice before a recital. After a while he would settle on the mouth piece and reed that felt most comfortable to him and now he would start to work on 'runs' that he wanted to use during the session. I would watch him play the same passage over and over again, changing his breathing, his fingering, experimenting with minute phrasing permutations. Once in a while he would go back to a mouth piece that he abandoned earlier. He never lost control, every step had a reason and almost everything he played would be acceptable to everybody but him. Until he felt comfortable that he had exhausted all the possibilities he would continue to play the various permutations."

"As I observed him playing I could not detect any of the joints of his hands or fingers. He didn't seem to have any bones, he played with 'feathers.' His technique involved complete confidence, control and composure. When a session was over, he was as much at ease as someone walking through the park, listening to the birds singing, the children playing. Stereo discs had not yet been introduced to the public but we would play the tape recording back that way to give ourselves a rush. John is gone, the rush is still there."

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