Dave Dexter, Johnny Mercer and Glenn Wallichs
On April 19, 1990 Dave E. Dexter, Jr., publicist, A&R man, and producer for Capitol Records for more than 30 years, died.
During his time at Capitol, "Dex" was reponsible for signing and producing many of Capitol's early jazz and r&b artists including Julia Lee, Nellie Lutcher and Kay Starr, got Peggy Lee to come out of eary retirement in 1944 to record tracks for his "New American Jazz" album, put together the 4 album "History of Jazz" series in 1945 and its update in the '60s, was editor and writer of Capitol's promotional magazine "Capitol News", signed Duke Ellington and produced the "Satin Doll" track, became head of International A&R putting together the 400 albums in the "Capitol of the World" series of national and ethnic music, and remixed the early albums of "The Beatles" released in the U.S. which have been recenly released on CD for the first time.
"Dex" is also the narrrator on the commemorative promo albums for Capitol's 10th and 25th anniversaries.
His autobiography "Playback" has some great stories about Capitol's early history. He also wrote the books "Jazz Cavalcade" and "The Jazz Story" which is still considered a definitive history of Jazz up until the time of its publication in 1964.
Club Kaycee has a great site about Dave that includes photos and audio interviews. His papers and records are a special collection at the Miller Nichols Library at the University of Missouri Kansas City.
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