Ahmet Ertegün

Ahmet Ertegün helped organize jazz performances at the Turkish Embassy in Washington around 1940. He and his brother Nesuhi invited racially mixed audiences to hear Black musicians at a time when segregation restricted the city’s musical life. The brothers used the ambassador’s residence for jam sessions with musicians they had met in Washington. ^{1, 4}

Born in Istanbul in 1923, Ahmet heard Duke Ellington and Cab Calloway in London before his father’s Washington posting in 1934. He collected jazz and blues records and experimented with recording while still a teenager. After his father died in 1944, he remained in the United States, where he had studied philosophy at St. John’s College in Annapolis. ²

In 1947, Ertegün founded Atlantic Records with Herb Abramson. He worked with performers including Ruth Brown and Ray Charles, and wrote songs under the name Nugetre, his surname reversed. He stayed with Atlantic after its sale in 1967, expanding its roster into rock music, and remained active in the company until his death in 2006. ^{2, 3}