In memory of Tom Dowd!
October 20, 1925 / October 27, 2002
Tom Dowd was a musician, engineer, producer, physicist, mathematician, and everyday genius.
He worked with legends like Ray Charles, Rod Stewart, Neil Young, Eric Clapton, James Brown, Otis Redding, the Allman Brothers, and Lynyrd Skynyrd, and produced such hits as "Layla," "Respect," "Freebird," and John Coltrane's "Giant Steps." His record producing career spanned over 50 years, beginning in 1947 at a music publishing company before joining Atlantic Records. He is credited with introducing the eight-track multi-track recorder into a major recording studio in 1957. In the mid 1960s he left Atlantic and started his own independent producing career. Clapton, a long-time friend of Dowd, once called him "The ideal recording man." In 1992, he won a Grammy award for co-writing liner notes for Aretha Franklin's retrospective album, Queen of Soul: The Atlantic Recordings, and in 2002 he was presented a Lifetime Achievement award from the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences.
Tom Dowd and the Language of Music - Home
