Record producer and artist manager George Avakian was best known for his work in major American recording companies (Decca, Columbia, Warner, RCA) from 1939 to the early 1960 and as a major force in the expansion of development of U.S. recording industry. Names like Louis Armstrong, Miles Davis, Duke Ellington, Benny Goodman, Bob Newhart, John Cage, Alan Hovhaness, Ravi Shankar, and many others were among the luminaries that worked with him.
George Mesrop Avakian was born on March 15, 1919, in Armavir, in the Northern Caucasus (Russia);