What’d I Say: The Atlantic Story
By Darius James, Ahmet Ertegun, et al.Welcome Rain, $75
Record-company histories usually bear all the modesty of a Grammy-acceptance speech, but this sumptuous volume on the heyday of one of America’s most significant record labels details the early days of artists (Ray Charles, Ornette Coleman, Aretha Franklin) who made Atlantic the Cadillac of record companies. Not a bad return on the family dentist’s $10,000 investment in 1947 to Ahmet Ertegun, son of a Turkish diplomat. The oral history and photo spreads of What’d I Say should dazzle historians and fans alike.
—Steve Matteo
