Record producer Jay David Saks died November 16, due to complications from Parkinsonism. News of Mr. Saks' passing was confirmed by Peter Gelb of The Metropolitan Opera. He was 79.
Raised in the Bronx, Mr. Saks attended Mannes College of Music in New York before beginning a recording industry career that would span nearly 50 years. As an audio producer for CBS Masterworks, RCA Red Seal (RCA Records), Bertelsmann Music Group (BMG), and Sony BMG Music Entertainment, Mr. Saks was responsible for engineering and master recording many hundreds of titles, including major symphony orchestra and music hall performances across three continents, in-studio classical recordings, and cast recordings.
Mr. Saks' Broadway cast recordings included A Little Night Music, Candide, Pacific Overtures, Rex, Porgy and Bess, The King and I, Starting Here Starting Now, Ain't Misbehavin', Sweeney Todd, 42nd Street, Follies in Concert, Into the Woods, Anything Goes, Legs Diamond, Jerome Robbins' Broadway, Closer Than Ever, Guys and Dolls, Assassins, Putting It Together, How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying, Ragtime, Chicago, Steel Pier, Once Upon a Mattress, Cabaret, Fosse, Marie Christine, Contact, A Class Act, Urinetown, Thoroughly Modern Millie, Avenue Q, Gypsy, The Color Purple, South Pacific, Merrily We Roll Along, Curtains, Man of La Mancha, and many, many more.
Beginning in 1980, Mr. Saks worked with the Metropolitan Opera in New York City to record and produce more than 1,600 of its major telecasts, radio broadcasts, live HD transmissions, and holiday and special performances. Mr. Saks was the winner of 13 Grammy Awards, including four for his work with the Metropolitan Opera, and two Emmy Awards.
Outside of his career, Mr. Saks was the bass guitarist for a 1960s rock band The Balloon Farm, who had a Billboard top 40 hit single in 1968 with "A Question of Temperature" and toured with Sly and the Family Stone. A competitive cross-country runner, he completed one of New York's earliest New York City marathons.
Mr. Saks is survived by his wife, Linda Saks; their two sons, Jeremy Saks and Greg Saks; and three grandchildren, Bo Saks, May Li Saks, and Ben Saks.
