Friends, I am delighted to let you know that I have been given an award for RVG Legacy! In the spring of 2024, a board member of the Bergen County Historic Preservation Committee reached out to me. They sent me an email informing me that I would be receiving an award from the committee. The award ceremony last May was cancelled, but I was invited again to Bergen County this May to finally receive my award.
Folks who received a special thank you during my speech included Maureen and Don Sickler (owners of Van Gelder Studio), my research partner Tommaso Gambini, my editor Tom Fine, Dan Mortensen (Audio Engineering Society Historic Chair), and Jennifer Rothschild (figurehead of the studio’s National Landmark application). Mike Van Laar, who runs a very popular Van Gelder Studio Instagram page and has become a good friend of mine, was also in attendance. The text below comes from the program for the evening. Bergen County, thank you for this honor!
Through his beautifully designed, fitting website, Richard Capeless walks viewers through the amazing 60-year career of Master Recording Engineer, Rudy Van Gelder. The inclusion of rare photos, video, and enlightening audio samplings demonstrate how Van Gelder’s career, work, and artistry are integral to the greatest modern jazz music ever recorded.
The website chronicles the progression of sound equipment chosen by Rudy Van Gelder throughout his career and how his individual skills of engineering sound brought the essence of live music to listeners as never before. It documents the incredible legion of America’s greatest jazz musicians that he recorded in both his 25 Prospect Ave, Hackensack, and subsequent 445 Sylvan Ave Englewood Cliffs recording studios.
Richard Capeless credits the assistance of assembling website information to Maureen Sickler, trustee of the Van Gelder Estate and current owner of VG Studio, the Van Gelder Estate for personal photos, Tommaso Gambini for research efforts and Francis Wolff Photography. The result of this combined effort has produced a website that clearly expounds the principal contribution and role of Rudy Van Gelder in American modern jazz music.
To echo what this beautifully designed website proclaims, Rudy Van Gelder’s recordings offered a new level of artistic quality not known before, preserving the output of a golden age of modern jazz for generations to cherish, past, present and future.
Let us proudly point out that this Hackensack High School graduate devoted his lifetime to recording and engineering the most well-known, highly revered, modern jazz music in history. While the most serious jazz collectors from every continent compete to own original examples of Rudy Van Gelder’s work, many of these iconic recordings have made their way into pop culture and are familiar to millions. And it all happened here, in Hackensack and Englewood Cliffs, forever linking the County of Bergen and Rudy Van Gelder’s amazing, far-reaching legacy.