About Rudy Van Gelder
Rudolph Van Gelder was an American recording engineer who specialized in jazz. Over more than half a century, he recorded several thousand sessions, with musicians including Booker Ervin, John Coltrane, Miles Davis, Thelonious Monk, Sonny Rollins, Jimmy Smith, Art Blakey, Bud Powell, Lee Morgan, Joe Henderson, Freddie Hubbard, Wayne Shorter, Horace Silver, Herbie Hancock, Grant Green, and George Benson. Van Gelder worked with many different record companies, and recorded almost every session on Blue Note Records from 1953 to 1967. Rudolph Van Gelder (November 2, 1924 – August 25, 2016) was an American recording engineer who specialized in jazz. Van Gelder trained as an optometrist at Philadelphia's Pennsylvania College of Optometry because he did not think he could earn a living as a recording engineer. In the evenings after work, Van Gelder recorded local musicians who wanted 78-rpm recordings of their work.
Biography source: Wikipedia. The profile adds birthday-specific historical context from the Celebs Birthday Today editorial database.