Mike Brewster and I were bouncing ideas off each other on another thread and I got to thinking (oh no!) about the folks who have enabled talent over the years.
I would like to kick it off with a few names from the Jazz side. Manfred Eicher has produced more than 300 of the records his ECM label has recorded. I owe this man big time. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manfred_Eicher
Norman Granz was/is a Jazz impresario of global proportions. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Norman_Granz
Alfred Lion, Francis Wolff and others such as Max Margulis and Milt Gabler gave us the golden age of Blue Note Records.
Art Blakey gave a spot in the Jazz Messengers to more up and coming or even undiscovered musicians than Miles Davis or probably anyone else.
And here is a pair of Blues/Jazz catalysts who will never be equalled, Leonard and Phil Chess.
Who are your favorite talent spotters, record producers, A & R men and label heads? There were also some great music teachers out there who enabled genius to florish, most notably in "classical" and Jazz.
Clark