DAVID AXELROD,
1933-2017

David Axelrod, a Capitol Records A&R executive, composer and producer whose 1960s and ‘70s records have been heavily sampled by hip-hop artists, has died at the age of 83.

DJ Shadow, a friend of Axelrod’s, announced his death on Twitter.

Other artists started discussing his importance via social media on Sunday after Shadow’s post. “He was so immersed in creativity and so pure with his arrangements he WAS hip hop. And understood and appreciated hip hop culture,” Questlove wrote on Instagram.

Axelrod gained notice for his adeptness at recording jazz artists in the 1950s and ‘60s, which led to Capitol giving him a deal to do his own music, a fusion of jazz, R&B, rock and ornate orchestrations with an emphasis on percussion. Using the poet William Blake as inspiration, he released Song of Innocence in 1968 and Songs of Experience a year later. Tracks from those records have been sampled by DJ Shadow, Lil Wayne, Eminem, 50 Cent, Macy Gray, Slick Rick and hundreds of others.

He delved into thematic recordings, covering the environment in 1970’s Earth Rot; turning to religion in David Axelrod’s Rock Interpretation of Handel’s Messiah; and slavery in The Auction. In 1993, after not releasing anything for more than a decade, he put out Requiem: The Holocaust.

Once his music was being sampled, Fantasy and Capitol created compilations in 2000 and 2005, respectively.

As a producer, Axelrod worked extensively with Cannonball Adderley and Lou Rawls, produced the three albums of Man From U.N.C.L.E.’s David McCallum and wrote, arranged and conducted The Electric Prunes’ 1968 concept album Mass in F Minor. Dr. Dre sampled McCallum's "The Edge," which Axelrod wrote, arranged and produced, on his 2000 single “The Next Episode.”

A Los Angeles native, he was a boxer and a drummer prior to finding work in recording studios. He left Capitol after three albums and continued to record and produce, though his three albums from the end of the decade were not released at the time.

He made a rare concert appearance in 2004 in England where he announced he was in poor health.