Andy Zax

Andrew Zax (born October 16, 1965) is an American music historian and a producer of music reissues. Early life and education A Los Angeles native, Zax received a bachelor's degree from Cornell University and a Master of Fine Arts degree from USC Film School. After a year as a motion picture development executive, Zax entered the music business as a copywriter, penning advertising and liner notes for various major labels, collaborating with figures as diverse as Quincy Jones and 4AD founder Ivo Watts-Russell on detailed histories of their work, producing promotional radio specials, and writing the questions for Rhino Records' long-running annual music trivia contest the Rhino Musical Aptitude Test. Music production As a producer of boxed sets and archival music reissues, Zax has been responsible for restoring and remastering the catalogues of Talking Heads, Rod Stewart, Echo & The Bunnymen, Television, Little Richard, Fats Domino, Charles Wright & The Watts 103rd Street Rhythm Band, The Sisters Of Mercy, David Axelrod and Lee Hazlewood, among others. His reissues of once-obscure cult favorites such as Television's Marquee Moon, John Cale's Paris 1919, Judee Sill and Heart Food by Judee Sill have successfully brought those albums to larger audiences that had eluded them upon their initial release, while his exploration of record company tape vaults has yielded discoveries such as the lost masters of Johnny Mathis's 1981 Chic-produced I Love My Lady. Describing his approach to musical history, Zax has said: "I like lost causes and I like underdogs and I like people that I feel haven't gotten their due...You know, some records just weren’t of their moment. Judee Sill’s records, maybe they weren't built for 1971, '72. They do feel like they were built for 2007, 2008. That's when I noticed people were starting to really respond to them and now she feels canonical. And that thrills me. I often feel like the best moments are when you're sitting in the studio, you put the multi-track tape on, and you don't know what you’re gonna hear. You kind of feel like you've broken into the tomb and suddenly here are the answers to all of these questions. You hear it, and then have a karmic obligation to present it to the public, properly and correctly. To me, you get the reward then. All of the work that comes after is just the price you pay for getting that upfront."