George H. Buck, Jr., R.I.P.

George H. Buck, Jr., an unabashed devotee and supporter of traditional New Orleans jazz and an astute businessman and entrepreneur in the mercurial milieu of music and radio, passed away on Wednesday, December 11, 2013. He was 84 years old.

Buck was best known in New Orleans as the co-owner of the Palm Court Jazz Café on Decatur Street, which is run by Nina Buck, his British-born wife of nearly 30 years who survives him.

But behind, or rather above, that lively scene, which has presented some of the greatest purveyors of the traditional jazz idiom including Doc Cheatham, Danny Barker, Percy and Willie Humphrey, Pud Brown, and more recently a burgeoning next generation of trad players, stands a veritable kingdom of jazz recordings and old radio archives presided over with a gentle touch by Buck.

Buck moved to New Orleans in 1986 and purchased the building which houses the Palm Court, a former French Market warehouse, to house his vast inventory of records and to function as the headquarters for his many record labels. A recording studio is also part of the complex. The jazz club and Creole restaurant occupies the ground floor.

Through the auspices of the George H. Buck, Jr. Jazz Foundation, Buck operated nine record labels, which are patronized by dedicated fans of traditional music the world over through a thriving mail order business, including the flagship Jazzology, focusing on traditional Chicago-style jazz, and G.H.B. Records, which is dedicated to New Orleans traditional jazz. He purchased the other seven labels, Black Swan (reissues of blues and jazz from the Paramount label), Solo Art (piano jazz), Circle (Big Bands), Southland (authentic Blues), Audiophile (Classic American Popular Songs), Progressive (Modern Music), and American Music (Authentic New Orleans Jazz), to insure their continuing existence.

According to Jon Pult, a former writer, editor, and producer for the foundation as well as a longtime friend, “If you were a jazz fan, you were his friend. He followed one true religion, which was traditional jazz, even though he hated that term. He called it ‘authentic.’”

“He was a real powerful man in that field. He put on many, many records by Europeans because they were doing ‘God’s work,’” Pult continued.

Buck, a native of New Jersey, began his career as a traditional music preservationist in New York City in 1949 when he produced his first recordings of his favorite musician, the cornet player Wild Bill Davison with Tony Parenti and the New Orleanians. But his career in the music business began two years earlier in 1947 with Jazzology, a music program on WWOD radio in Virginia.

He saw the potential for success in radio and began acquiring radio stations. From his headquarters in Atlanta he controlled and administered a stable of stations in mid-sized American cities, eventually including WTIX in New Orleans.

His heart however remained committed to recording and preserving the traditional sounds of American music. “What I loved about George was that he had a child-like devotion to the music; it was new and shiny every time he heard it. That devotion became kind of an evangelical fervor,” Pult said.

Using the profits from his formidable radio station business, Buck began acquiring older, oftentimes floundering labels, such as American, which was founded in New Orleans by William Russell during the 1940s traditional jazz revival, and memorialized the work of founding jazzmen like Bunk Johnson and George Lewis.

Through his dogged efforts to preserve the music of the early 20th century, Buck created what is arguably the largest collection of recordings of music from the 1920s to the current day. He produced over 1,000 albums. “I don’t think people really understand how much stuff he put out. That’s just scratching the surface,” Pult concluded.

Perhaps his greatest gift to fans of traditional American music lies in his decision to transfer the assets of his businesses to his foundation. By doing so over twenty years ago he insured that the music would live on forever. According to his obituary on his website, Buck organized his foundation to “insure that the catalog of music he assembled would remain in print eternally.”

Besides his wife Nina, Buck is survived by his son Bo, and four stepchildren. Funeral arrangements are pending.

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