Lester Koenig

American record producer, screenwriter and associate producer
Born December 3.1918 in New York City
Died November 20.1977 in Los Angeles
A collector of jazz records from an early age, John Hammond, a family friend and influence took him to Count Basie recording sessions he was supervising which inspired the younger man to think about establishing his own record company in the future. Embarking on a film industry career, particularly as a screenwriter at Paramount and, from 1943, as an associate of director William Wyler, jazz recording was a sideline at first, such as his work for Jazz Man. He was forced to end his Hollywood involvement in 1953 when he was blacklisted after an appearance before the House Un-American Activities Committee.
He had already established Good Time Jazz in 1949, partly as a home for masters he had acquired (Crescent) or those he had produced (Jazz Man) of west coast traditional jazz musicians, but Contemporary Records (founded 1951), which was originally intended as an outlet for contemporary classical music, switched his musical priorities towards modern jazz within a year. The first sessions normally used the facilities of Capitol Records with Koenig bringing his own microphones to Capitol's studio, but after a few years he was using an in-house team (Roy DuNann and Howard Holzer) with the store room doubling as the recording studio. Koenig began recording in stereo in 1956. Because of initial problems in the the new format's LP pressings and to maintain the reputation of Contemporary, he formed a new label, Stereo Records in 1958, which was in use until around 1960.
By the the middle of the decade, the company's own recording sessions had declined in number and its mastering facilities were hired by other labels. His son John Koenig (born 1950) also became a producer.