Background
Edwards was born in Nassau, Bahamas while his father was on a work assignment there.
engineer Photographer audio engineer
Edwards was born in Nassau, Bahamas while his father was on a work assignment there.
Edwards was educated in New York City schools, including Frederick Douglass (JHS139), Stuyvesant High School and City College of New New York
He worked for jazz label Prestige Records during the 1950s and early-1960s. He was a trail-blazing African-American, as very few recording industry executives were from minorities. He took over the supervision of recording sessions as the Prestige label"s success grew.
He studied radiography at the Jersey City Medical Center, and while working there pursued an avid interest in photography and music
Using his years of piano lessons as a background, he began creating jazz compositions in his teen years, and ultimately combined his creativity in music and photography into a very prolific and successful career. Edwards" photographic work has been displayed in New York"s Lincoln Center Jazz Archives, in galleries abroad, as well as The New York Times Magazine and Photography.
Edwards worked in various venues of the jazz and blues arena, beginning at Prestige Records in 1957, and moved up to the position of producer, before going on to head the Verve Records label for Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer in 1967. He became the vice-president of A&R for Chess Records in 1970.
During his career, he was also associated with Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, Columbia, Polydor, and Impulse Records.
He was one of the first African-American executives in the recording industry, but was also a noted recording producer, composer and arranger. Edwards was awarded several gold and platinum records with many outstanding artists in the jazz and blues world, including Miles Davis, George Benson, John Coltrane, Chuck Berry, Etta James, Ramsey Lewis, B.B. King, Keith Jarrett, and others He photographed many of these artists for the album jackets of numerous recordings.
Edwards died in Santa Barbara, California on January 20, 2007.