Ed Michel is a record company executive, record producer and musician. He has produced albums in the jazz genre as well as other genres.

Background

Artists he has worked with as a producer include,

Louis Armstrong Louis Daniel Armstrong (August 4, 1901 – July 6, 1971), nicknamed "Satchmo", "Satch", and "Pops", was an American trumpeter and vocalist. He was among the most influential figures in jazz. His career spanned five decades and several era ...

John Coltrane John William Coltrane (September 23, 1926 – July 17, 1967) was an American jazz saxophonist, bandleader and composer. He is among the most influential and acclaimed figures in the Jazz#Post-war jazz, history of jazz and 20th-century musi ...

, Albert Ayler,

Pharoah Sanders Pharoah Sanders (born Ferrell Lee Sanders; October 13, 1940 – September 24, 2022) was an American jazz saxophonist. Known for his overblowing, harmonic, and multiphonic techniques on the saxophone, as well as his use of "sheets of sound", San ...

, Keith Jarrett, McCoy Tyner, Chet Baker, Duke Ellington, and

The Chambers Brothers The Chambers Brothers are an American psychedelic soul band, best known for their eleven-minute 1968 psychedelic soul hit " Time Has Come Today". The group was part of the wave of new music that integrated American blues and gospel traditions ...

. He was a longtime producer for

Alice Coltrane Alice Lucille Coltrane (' McLeod; August 27, 1937January 12, 2007), also known as Swamini Turiyasangitananda () or simply Turiya, was an American jazz musician, composer, bandleader, and Hindu spiritual leader. An accomplished pianist and one o ...

Career

1950s

Michel produced the album, ''A Night at the Ash Grove (An Evening of Coffee-House Music)'', that featured Bud Dashiell and Travis Edmonson,

Barbara Dane Barbara Jean Spillman (May 12, 1927 – October 20, 2024), known professionally as Barbara Dane, was an American folk, blues, and jazz singer, guitarist, record producer, and political activist. She co-founded Paredon Records with Irwin Silbe ...

, Rolf Cahn, and Lynn Gold which was released on

World Pacific Records Pacific Jazz Records was a Los Angeles–based record company and label best known for cool jazz or West coast jazz. It was founded in 1952 by producer Richard Bock (1927–1988) and drummer Roy Harte (1924–2003). Harte, in 1954, also co-founde ...

WP-1254 in 1958.

1960s

Michel produced the ''

People Get Ready "People Get Ready" is a 1965 single by the Impressions, and the title track from the '' People Get Ready'' album. The single is the group's best-known hit, reaching number three on the ''Billboard'' R&B chart and number 14 on the ''Billboard'' ...

'' album for

. His friend, Jack Lewark ran

Vault Records Vault Records was a record label founded by Jack Lewerke and Ralph Kaffel in Los Angeles in 1963. Vault is known for contributing to the popularity of surf rock by releasing ''Surfbeat'', the debut album of the Challengers. ATCO Records distribu ...

. Lewark needed to make a Chambers Brothers album. Michel said he would organize it and got hold of Wally Heider. They had issues during the recording of the group. The album notes by Elliot Tiegel say that the album was recorded at the Ash Grove in Los Angeles and the Unicorn in Boston. Michel recalled that it was all done at the Ash Gove. He also didn't think that Brian Keenan was the drummer. He thought it was a young rock'n'roll drummer who grew up in Laurel Canyon. A 2017 email from Thurman Watts, the co-writer of Lester Chambers' biography said that Lester Chambers claimed the drummer was Jesse (Nicky) Cahn, the son of Barbara Dane and folk musician Rolf Cahn. The Chambers Brothers had an early drummer called

Mike Konnic The Chambers Brothers are an American psychedelic soul band, best known for their eleven-minute 1968 psychedelic soul hit "Time Has Come Today". The group was part of the wave of new music that integrated American blues and gospel traditions wi ...

who is credited on the album. Apparently he had an argument with the Chambers Brothers. The album received a positive review in the 23 April 1966 issue of ''Cash Box'' with the songs " Call Me" and "Hooka Tooka" being singled out. In late 1966, he was working for the

Muntz Muntz or Müntz is a surname. Notable people with the surname include: Muntz * George Frederic Muntz (1794–1857), industrialist and MP from Birmingham, England ** Muntz metal, an alloy which he invented ** Philip Henry Muntz, his brother, als ...

company as associate director of the company's Music Department.

1970s to 2000s

Michel had worked with

Sun Ra Le Sony'r Ra (born Herman Poole Blount, May 22, 1914 – May 30, 1993), better known as Sun Ra, was an American jazz composer, bandleader, piano and synthesizer player, and poet known for his experimental music, "cosmic" philosophy, prolific ou ...

. He set up a meeting between Sun Ra, Sun Ra, Alton Abraham who was Ra's manager and ABC, the parent company of the Impulse! label. The result was a licensing agreement for past and future recordings on the El Saturn label to be distributed via Impulse! and ABC. This happened in 1972. Michel and Abraham produced the ''Astro Black'' album which was released in 1973. Michel produced the recordings for Robb Kunkel's ''Abyss'' album. The sessions took place at The Village Recorder in Los Angeles, in April, June and October 1972. The album was released on Tumbleweed Records Inc. in 1973. Michel also produced

John Lee Hooker John Lee Hooker (August 22, 1912 or 1917 – June 21, 2001) was an American blues singer, songwriter, and guitarist. The son of a sharecropper, he rose to prominence performing an electric guitar-style adaptation of Delta blues that he develo ...

's ''

Free Beer and Chicken ''Free Beer and Chicken'' is an album by blues musician John Lee Hooker recorded in California in 1974 and released by the ABC label the same year. Reception AllMusic reviewer Eugene Chadbourne stated: "In some ways this is a typical John Lee ...

'' album. It was recorded on 14 May 1974 and released later that year. Michel produced

Keith Jarrett Keith Jarrett (born May 8, 1945) is an American pianist and composer. Jarrett started his career with Art Blakey and later moved on to play with Charles Lloyd (jazz musician), Charles Lloyd and Miles Davis. Since the early 1970s, he has also be ...

's '' Back Hand'' album which was released in 1975. It was reviewed in the 1 November issue of ''Cash Box''. It received a positive review with the tracks, "Backhand", "Vapallia", and "Kuum" being singled out for mention. Michel produced the ''Quiet Fire'' album for

Roy Haynes Roy Owen Haynes (March 13, 1925 – November 12, 2024) was an American jazz drummer. In the 1950s, he was given the nickname "Snap Crackle" for his distinctive snare drum sound and musical vocabulary. He is among the most recorded drummers in ja ...

which was recorded in July 1977.AllMusic
Quiet Fire, Roy Haynes, Credits
/ref> He produced Art Pepper's ''Today'' album which was released in 1979.

References

External links

* Discogs
Ed Michel
{{DEFAULTSORT:Michel, Ed American record producers