The city of Bodrum proudly presents on Friday September 23rd the world premiere of the complete tribute to Ahmet Ertegun concert recorded live at the Montreux Jazz Festival on June 30th 2006.
Ambassador Münir Ertegün was the first envoy of the Turkish Republic in Switzerland in 1925, well before most of the other countries represented at that time in Bern. The Ertegün family spent five years in the Swiss capital, before moving to Paris, London and afterwards Washington. The sons of the Ambassador, Ahmet and Nesuhi Ertegün, used to play football with the sons of the President of the Swiss Confederation. Besides football their greatest passion was music. Both brothers got hooked on blues and jazz when they were only children. As young teens, they were able to visit jazz clubs in Harlem and Washington. In 1947, Ahmed saved up all he had and borrowed an extra 10,000 Dollars from his dentist to set up Atlantic Records. He wanted people to hear the music that the big companies weren’t interested in releasing. When Nesuhi joined Atlantic in 1955, he had a knack for getting the biggest names in jazz into the label’s catalogue: John Coltrane, Charlie Mingus, Dave Brubeck and the Modern Jazz Quartet to name a few. Ahmet made full use of his passion for vocals: he was the one to produce big hits with Ray Charles, Aretha Franklin, Otis Redding, Solomon Burke, Ben E. King and many others.
In 1967, the Ertegün brothers helped their Swiss friend Claude Nobs to initiate the famous Montreux Jazz Festival in Switzerland. Nesuhi brought to Montreux Roberta Flack, Les McCann, Eddie Harris, Charlie Mingus, Aretha Franklin amongst many others. For the 40th Montreux Jazz Festival, a tribute to Ahmet opened the Festival’s anniversary edition. On stage Ahmet presented some of the artists he signed for Atlantic Records. The night became an historical moment in music. Running with extraordinary appearances of Robert Plant from Led Zeppelin, Nile Rodgers & Chic, Solomon Burke, Ben E. King, Steve Winwood, Stevie Nicks, Chaka Khan, Kid Rock and his last discovery Paolo Nutini. This unique gallery will remain in the history of music.
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