I’m not sure the first time I saw Gerald Wexler’s name on an album.

Quite possibly it was the Patti Labelle & The Bluebelles’ “Over The Rainbow” LP in 1965 but I do know that as soul music buff growing up in London, I was certainly aware that Atlantic Records was a haven for some of the best and most emotionally satisfying music I’d ever heard, albeit as a mere ‘falling-in-and-out-of-love’ teenager.

There’s no question that in 1967, Jerry Wexler was more than just a name I’d seen. Already a devotee of Aretha Franklin’s recordings for Columbia (and in particular her latter day work at the label which included such spine-chillers as “(No, No) I’m Losing You” and “Sweet Bitter Love”), I was thrilled when I saw in a November issue of “Billboard” – the magazine for whom Wexler had written in the late ‘40s, coining the term ‘rhythm and blues’ for the first time – a photo of Jerry, Aretha and her then-husband/manager Ted White as she signed on the dotted line with Atlantic. A few weeks later, I was actually on the phone with her: as a Christmas ‘bonus’ at Soul City Records, the store I co-owned in London, I got to call and wish her a merry Xmas! Speaking for the first time to anyone in England, she revealed that she was getting ready to record her first material for Atlantic and how thrilled she was at the prospect.

Neither she nor I – nor I suspect Wexler or anyone else at Atlantic – knew that her union with Atlantic would initiate a career that would place her firmly in the history books of contemporary culture, that she would go from being a ‘marginal’ but exceptional artist at Columbia to being a voice heard around the world for decades, a prime influence on hundreds of female vocalists and an enduring presence in American – indeed, global - life.

I was besides myself when I got my hands on Aretha’s first Atlantic album, the groundbreaking “I Never Loved A Man (The Way I Love You).” That was nothing compared to the surprise that awaited me just months later: Wexler, ever astute and conscious of the British love for R&B, had seen my little article on his new ‘star’ in the UK Atlantic Records’ fanzine and had written to me personally thanking me and included a red-and-white promo of Aretha’s then-brand-new single, “Baby I Love You” backed with “Going Down Slow.” I was floored that a major executive at an American record company would do such a thing and it took me days and days to get over it.

As I began to become even more deeply immersed in R&B, I discovered that it was this same man, this man with a passion and appreciation for the music I too loved, was also responsible for the distribution deal that had brought the sounds of a tiny company in Memphis to the world. Wexler, ears ever open and tuned in, was the architect of the deal that resulted in the music of Stax Records being heard around the globe. Were it not for his foresight, we might never have heard Otis (Redding), William Bell, Booker T & The MGs, The Mar-Keys, Eddie Floyd, Carla Thomas and her dad Rufus, Mable John and so many more.

In recent tributes to Wexler, who passed away on Friday, August 15 at the age of 91, his association with Ray Charles, his work with all the great Atlantic artists who helped establish the company as a leading light in black music (including Solomon Burke, Wilson Pickett and before them, The Drifters, Lavern Baker, Clyde McPhatter and others) and of course, his vision in bringing the remarkable artistry of a woman named Aretha to an unsuspecting world have been front and center – and rightfully so. But for this young Brit soul fan, Wexler’s decision to sign that little Memphis company to a pact with Atlantic (no matter how it eventually turned out, business-wise) was major.

Years after Jerry sent me that note and that Aretha 45, I got to meet him in a studio in L.A. when I was doing a special appreciation on Aretha for Britain’s “Blues & Soul” magazine. He was delightful, a real no-nonsense New Yorker, full of great anecdotes and stories. I’m not sure what happened to keep us in touch – other than a shared love for R&B – but we did indeed communicate from time to time on the phone. I called him to tell him I had unearthed an entire album of material that Irma Thomas had recorded for Atlantic/Cotillion in the early ‘70s. Wexler had signed her and he immediately remarked on how the one single that was released, “Full Time Woman” was one of his favorite recordings of all time. I sent him a CD of the album which he deeply appreciated and in return, he sent me some CDs of conversations by old time record executives like Syd Nathan (no relation to me but the founder of King Records) and Hy Weiss of Old Town Records.

Over years, we talked about other artists I loved – Judy Clay, signed to Atlantic but on ‘loan’ to Stax initially who he recalled as being a little ‘difficult’ in the studio but who he remembered (and what a memory!) had cut a version of a Bobby Bland song (“I Pity The Fool”) which was still in the vaults. Of course, we chatted about Aretha and the great sessions he did with her: when I did research for Rhino on Aretha a few years ago, I discovered a demo of “Until You Come Back To Me,” the Stevie Wonder song which gave her a massive early ‘70s hit and hearing Jerry and Aretha chatting was just mind-blowing!

I wish I’d spent more time with Jerry Wexler and talked more about some of those Stax records and material he recorded with the likes of Dee Dee Warwick, The Sweet Inspirations and others. As it is, I’m left with fond memories of a real character, a man who loved to share his lifelong passion for R&B as well as dozens of recordings that bear his name. Oh – and one song, “I Don’t Want To Go On Without You,” something he co-wrote with producer Bert Berns that was recorded by The Drifters, Patti Labelle & The Bluebelles and The Sweet Inspirations. Plaintive and soulful, the song was never a hit but as I listen to it now, I’m reminded of Jerry Wexler, a man who left an indelible imprint on popular music – and through his work and that little package I got in the mail - on a skinny little teenager in London.

With appreciation,

David Nathan
A/k/a the British Ambassador Of Soul
Secretary, The Rhythm & Blues Foundation (www.rhythmblues.org)
Owner,
www.soulmusic.com,
www.soulmusicstore.com,
www.soulmusicglobal.com

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