The Ertegun brothers and Abramson had been acquainted with Jerry Wexler, another white hipster jazz and blues fan, for a few years by the early fifties. They had all haunted the same ballrooms, clubs and record stores in their youths and now that Wexler was a reporter for Billboard magazine (Where, in 1949, he coined the term “rhythm and blues”), they saw a lot of him.
Wexler was the son of Polish Jewish immigrants. His father was a window washer by trade, a nose-to-the-grindstone type with limited horizons. Wexler’s mother was vivacious, attractive, immersed in radical left-wing politics, and determined to see her sons acquire some cultural enrichment. She cajoled and browbeat a reluctant young Jerry into a college education, first in New York and then in Kansas, where he took up with a girl with whom he would hitchhike to Kansas City on weekends. There, they saw the best of the territory bands, boogie-woogie pianists and blues shouters. In time, his faltering grades necessitated his return to New York, where he found a new girlfriend, whom he married. Service in World War II took him to an army base in Florida. After the war, living with his new wife’s parents, he looked for a job in journalism and eventually landed at Billboard.
In 1952, Ertegun and Abramson offered him a position at Atlantic. He expressed interest, but insisted that he come on board as executive vice president. This was clearly no by-the-numbers employee.
The small team that had guided the label was about to experience big changes. Abramson was drafted into the Army. His wife Miriam was becoming increasingly involved in Atlantic’s operations. In addition, their marriage was in toruble.
The hits and artists came with more frequency. Ertegun had signed a Washington-based vocal group called The Clovers, as well as veteran Kansas City blues shouter Big Joe Turner, who had been a major figure in boogie-woogie in the 1930s due to his records and appearances with pianist Pete Johnson, and a successor to Jimmy Rushing as the Count Basie band’s singer. The Jesse Stone-penned “Shake, Rattle and Roll,” with its solid beat and incessant piano hook, helped revive Turner’s career and establish him as one of the first greats of rock.
