Arif Mardin, the legendary producer/arranger whose career spanned landmark recordings from Aretha Franklin to the Bee Gees to Norah Jones, died yesterday (June 25) in New York.
Born in 1932 into a prominent family in Istanbul, Mardin attended the London School of Economics, but it was a lucky meeting in 1956 in Turkey with Dizzy Gillespie and Quincy Jones that lead to his decision to attend the Berklee School of Music in Boston. He graduated from Berklee in 1961 and Nesuhi Ertegun, a fellow Turk whom he met at the Newport Jazz Festival, brought him to Atlantic Records two years later.
At Atlantic, Mardin took his lessons about engineering and producing from a team of in-house giants that included Ahmet Ertegun, Jerry Wexler and Tom Dowd. Mardin originally wanted to be a big-band arranger, but he caught the pop bug in 1965, while co-producing the Rascals with Dowd. In the coming decades, he produced hits for a remarkable array of Atlantic artists, including Franklin, Average White Band, Phil Collins, Hall & Oates, Roberta Flack, Brook Benton and Dusty Springfield.
In the mid-'70s, Mardin helped the Bee Gees redefine their sound and revive their career with the album "Main Course," which included the No. 1 hit "Jive Talkin'."
Mardin showed great diversity, with successes ranging from Bette Midler's sweeping ballads "From a Distance" and "Wind Beneath My Wings" to Chaka Khan's funky "I Feel For You." He also produced memorable folk albums for John Prine, jazz albums for Eddie Harris, Herbie Mann and Charles Lloyd and country sets for Willie Nelson.
According to his official biography, Mardin collected close to 60 gold or platinum albums and won 12 Grammy Awards. In 1990, he was inducted into the Recording Academy's Hall of Fame.
Here's five of my favorites of his record productions that probably won't be mentioned in most of the obits.
Cupid & Psyche 85, Scritti Politti (album). Did Green Gartside ever write better songs than "Wood Beez (Pray Like Aretha Franklin)" and "Absolute," and did anyone ever cut him better tracks?
Move Away, Culture Club (single). Culture Club's last great...well, good song (they never had any great ones). It comes from their first attempt at a comeback. There's still no masking that the bubble had burst, but Mardin did give one of Boy George's better lyrics a most sympathetic treatment.
One To One, Howard Jones (album) You know, I hadn't thought of this before but it suddenly occurs to me that in 1986 Mardin was the go-to guy for early-'80s hitmakers who'd stopped making hits. Like Culture Club, Jones had pretty much shot his wad as a songwriter on his first two albums (especially Human's Lib), but Mardin's production helped give him his last hit.
You Win Again, Bee Gees (single). The obit mentions that he produced a number one hit for the Brothers Gibb when they really needed one. What it doesn't say is that he did it twice, after they'd spent several years wandering in the desert both times. This is an encredibly likable, easygoing record.
Labyrinth, various artists (album). Mardin co-produced the David Bowie songs on this soundtrack, including the thematic "Underground" and fun "Magic Dance."
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