Robert Greenfield’s biography of iconic Atlantic Record’s founder Ahmet Ertegun
The Last Sultan: A Portrait of Ahmet Ertegun As The Great Seducer offers a very readable account of a man whose career began in the 1940s with recordings of African American music, extending through the development of rock and into the digital age. His work was cut short only by his death in 2006; and before the end of this somewhat worshipful account, one has the picture of a man who had both a great sense of what made a hit and a well-developed understanding of how to seduce artists and business people.
After a rather overwrought prologue describing a tribute to Ertegun in New York the year after his death at which an incredible range of music stars appeared, “The Last Sultan: The Life & Times Of Ahmet Ertegun ” settles into a rhythm of story telling that shares a series of landmark events and personal encounters that is quite compelling. However, it quickly becomes clear that Robert Greenfield is a bit of an apologist for Ertegun as he often puts his worst qualities in the best light. Though this light wavers by the end of the bio as Greenfield has to reconcile an increasing number of voices, his periodic references to the film “Rashomon”, in which multiple accounts of the same event cannot be reconciled, is a telling device that only occasionally undermines Ertegun’s legend.
Among other accomplishments, Ahmet Ertegun was a driving force in the establishment and rise of Atlantic Records with a career that continued as it became a division of Time Warner. The fact that he could successfully navigate from his privileged youth as a jazz and blues record collector through the age of payola and on to the days of executive overcompensation speaks to a variety of strengths, including his remarkable ability to seduce so many of those who came within his sphere of influence.
Ertegun’s seductive skills, that include limited references to encounters with what sound like a huge number of women, influenced artists from Ray Charles to Mick Jagger to Kid Rock to record with Atlantic and a variety of industry figures to contribute their efforts to building a legendary enterprise.
Along the way, many stories are told and many hearts are broken, suggesting that Greenfield’s references to Rashomon may be the most accurate aspect of his account. Nevertheless, though Greenfield encourages the reader to be seduced by Ertegun, by the end I found myself a bit disturbed by the part of me that was reached, not that dissimilar from my disturbance at recognizing how drawn in I was by the character of Tony Soprano in the HBO series “The Sopranos.”
For another disturbed but fair response to The Last Sultans, Alex Abramovich’s review in the NY Times is worth a look.
The Last Sultan is also somewhat of an indictment of the record industry without truly attempting that task. I found myself moving from wishing I knew more about its history to being somewhat repelled at the twists and turns that seemed to leave numerous victims in its wake.
Nevertheless, it’s an interesting bio and Greenfield is only over-worshipful in the brief prologue for which he can be easily forgiven since even a critical eye would have difficulty avoiding the seductive power of Ahmet Ertegun.
Buy via Amazon: The Last Sultan: The Life & Times Of Ahmet Ertegun
Hypebot contributor Clyde Smith maintains his freelance writing hub at Flux Research and blogs at All World Dance and This Business of Blogging. To suggest topics for Hypebot, contact: clyde(at)fluxresearch(dot)com.
Source: Hyperbot
