Legendary music producer, and pillar of the Atlantic Records sound, Arif Mardin, died Sunday, June 25, 2006, in New York, at age 74. He had been suffering from pancreatic cancer for about a year, according to Billboard magazine.
Mardin joined Atlantic in 1963 as assistant to Neshui Ertegun (after meeting at the Newport Jazz Festival). He left, in semi-retirement, only in 2001, after more than three decades as a staff producer and vice president.
Sharing the Erteguns' passion for jazz, Mardin initially worked with artists such as Eddie Harris and Sonny Stitt. But his first pop assignment, assisting Jerry Wexler and Tom Dowd in producing the Young Rascals, changed everything. The sessions produced #1 smash hit "Good Lovin,'" and the bug of success bit Mardin. The team continued a lengthy tenure with the Rascals ("Groovin'" was another hit) but even more importantly, transferred their talents onto an undefined soul talent, Aretha Franklin.
"I was assisting Jerry Wexler, and the atmosphere in the studio at Atlantic on 60th Street was electric." Mardin told Sound on Sound magazine in 2004, recalling the session for Franklin's 'Respect.' "It was like making a soup. You know, the guitar player plays a lick and we all say 'Keep that, but do this.' Aretha would go next door and rehearse the background parts with her sisters. I would write down chord changes and be the liaison between the control room and the musicians. It was incredible."
"Respect" was of course a worldwide hit (no telling how many times it's heard around the world even today), and the team went on to produce, through the early '70s, virtually 99% of the music for which Franklin is best known and loved.
Mardin would make equally unforgettable music with Average White Band ("Pick Up The Pieces," "Cut The Cake,") Dusty Springfield, Ray Charles, Donny Hathaway, Roberta Flack, Manhattan Transfer, Modern Jazz Quartet, Carly Simon, Laura Nyro, John Prine, Bette Midler, Hall & Oates, and Willie Nelson.
He also produced the Bee Gees' monster "Jive Talkin'"—and the group credits Mardin with the idea to mix falsetto into their harmonies, leading to their signature sound. "During the recording of the album, I asked Barry [Gibb] to take his vocal up one octave" Mardin remembered. "The poor man said 'If I take it up one octave I'm going to shout and it's going to be terrible.' He softened up a little bit and that's how their falsetto was born."
In the '80s, his monster hits included Chaka Khan's "I Feel For You" and Bette Midler's "Wind Beneath My Wings" as well as work with younger artists such as Culture Club, Howard Jones, and Scritti Politti. Anita Baker, Phil Collins, Rod Stewart, Ofra Haza, Queen and David Bowie were also among his successes.
Perhaps to his family's consternation, Mardin never slowed in his active career pace. In 1997 alone, he released work with Barbra Streisand, Patti Labelle, Whitney Houston, Midler, and Simon. In more recent years, Broadway became his métier, with the Original Broadway Cast Recordings of Smokey Joe's Café: The Songs Of Leiber And Stoller, and Rent. But his most recent, career-topping success was with young jazz chanteuse Norah Jones.
Friend Doug Morris, CEO of Universal Music Group, has described Mardin best as a "consummate gentleman" and "unmistakable presence." "Arif was a sweet man and a consummate gentleman," said Mocean Worker (a/k/a Adam Dorn, son of Atlantic producer Joel Dorn, and brother of Rhino's David Dorn) on his website this week, echoing Morris. "Always had a kind word. Always an encouraging thought."
Born and raised in Istanbul (with a family sojourn in Alexandria Egypt during WWII), Mardin studied at university there and at the London School of Economics before a chance meeting with Dizzy Gillespie and Quincy Jones encouraged him to go west, to Boston's Berklee College of Music (actually, Jones provided him a scholarship). He later taught at Berklee and eventually became a trustee.
Mardin always credited his education there as a key to his broad-ranged success. "We're talking about the nuts and bolts of harmony, counterpoint, composition, orchestration. You have to have that foundation," he once said. "If you don't have that foundation you could be lucky one or two times, then success will elude you."
In a 40-plus-year career, Mardin amassed virtually the same number in gold and platinum record awards, as well as 12 Grammys. The Recording Academy's official statement this week said in part, "It's difficult to put into words the impact one individual has had on the evolution of recorded sound, especially when that individual is Arif Mardin."
But Mardin himself was perpetually humble about his contributions.
"You know, I was blessed to have worked with incredible artists," he said not long ago. "Sound is not that important if you work with Donny Hathaway or the Bee Gees. They're just incredible singers and they inspire you."
At the time of writing, Mardin's family planned a funeral and burial in Istanbul, with a U.S. memorial service to follow in the fall.
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