George H. Buck Jr.

George H. Buck Jr. passed from this life on Wednesday, December 11, 2013 holding the hand of his loving wife, Nina. Born in Elizabeth, NJ on 12/22/28, he rose to prominence as the leading figure in the preservation and advancement of authentic traditional jazz. He began his journey after selling newspapers during WWII and converting the profits into war bonds. He took this money and recorded his first session with his favorite musicians, Wild Bill Davison and Tony Parenti on Jazzology Records. Soon after, he began recording New Orleans style jazz on GHB records. He began yearly pilgrimages to New Orleans in 1961, cementing his relationship with the city by immersing himself in the culture and recording the important artists that lived here. George developed a passion for radio after hosting a radio show in college, which he dubbed, Jazzology. This early involvement in radio led him to buy many small, under performing radio stations beginning with WCOS in Columbia, South Carolina and turn them around with new formats and proper management. All of his profits from this went to support his growing list of record labels. He started and bought many labels in order to make sure this music would survive and thrive. The nine labels he issued a wide range of jazz music on are Jazzology, GHB, Circle, Southland, American Music, Black Swan, Audiophile, Progressive, and Solo Art. The largest collection of jazz music in the world is under this umbrella. His passion, love and enthusiasm for jazz never diminished. He and his wife, Nina moved the operation to New Orleans in 1987 and in 1989 expanded yet again by opening the Palm Court Jazz Café, which became an important part of New Orleans jazz culture under the management of his wife. The GHB Jazz Foundation houses the record business and is located on the second floor of the same building in the French Quarter. With the transfer of all of his recordings to the foundation he assured that the music would continue to survive and his legacy will continue to influence the city and the world. "My greatest pleasure is doing jazz." "I loved it from the first time I heard it. It spoke my language." George is survived by his wife, Nina, son, George, four step-children, Eve, Louise, Sasha, and Sammy, grandchildren, Ariel, Abigail, Rachel, Eli, Leo, Thomas and Sebastian, Sons-in Law, Jake, James, Yann and daughter-in law, Carie. Relatives and Friends of the family are all invited to attend the Visitation on Friday December 20, from 6-8pm in the Family Center of Charbonnet-Labat-Glapion Funeral Home 1615 St. Philip Street, New Orleans, La and at 10:00am on Saturday December 21, 2013, there will be a Traditional Jazz Funeral procession leaving the funeral home at 11:00am to proceed to St. Mary's Church 1116 Chartres Street. The family asks for donations to New Orleans Musicians Clinic/NOMAF 1525 Louisiana Ave, New Orleans 70115 in lieu of flowers.