Died On This Date (September 20, 2011) Frank Driggs / Record Producer & Jazz Historian
themusicsover Frank Driggs
1930 – September 20, 2011
Frank Driggs was a jazz lover who became one of the genre’s most respected historians and collectors. Because of his reputation, producer legend, John Hammond hired him during the late ’50s to help him put packages together for Columbia Records. While at the label, Driggs worked on releases by the likes of Billie Holiday, Duke Ellington, and the most celebrated, Robert Johnson’s Robert Johnson: The Complete Recordings which won Driggs a Grammy in 1991. He also produced records for Bluebird, Okeh, and MCA, to name a few. Meanwhile, Driggs was gathering jazz photos, hand bills, ticket stubs and such for his own personal collection which, by the mid 2000s, swelled to over 100,000 images. After retiring in 1977, Driggs continued to earn a living by providing photographs for books and documentaries, the highest profile being perhaps Ken Burns’ Jazz series of 2001. Frank Driggs passed away of natural causes on September 20, 2011. He was 81.
Thanks to Harold Lepidus for the assist.
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