The prodigious and legendary Blue Note and Mosaic record producer Michael Cuscuna has died aged 75. Tributes online have included these words from fellow producer Billy Vera writing on X (formerly Twitter): ''My best friend Michael Cuscuna passed at noon today. His wife Lisa phoned with the news not ten minutes after I tried calling. Michael was one of the greatest producers of jazz. We produced three hit albums that brought back Lou Rawls' career, including the number one At Last.''

Blue Note Records also paid tribute: ''We are heartbroken by the news that our dear friend, revered producer & Blue Note historian Michael Cuscuna, has passed away at age 75. It would be impossible to overstate Michael’s importance to the Blue Note legacy which he worked tirelessly to fortify for nearly 50 years going back to the mid-70s when he began a series of reissues & archival discoveries that brought to light numerous treasures from the Blue Note vaults. He continued to release Blue Note catalog reissues on his own Mosaic label during Blue Note’s dormancy in the early 80s and was by Bruce Lundvall’s side as the label relaunched in 1985. Plainly stated, Blue Note would not exist as it does today without his passion & dedication. He was recently given a DownBeat Lifetime Achievement Award.''

DownBeat in a recent tribute to Cuscuna honouring him for a lifetime's work noted his production credits on ''more that 2,600 LPs and CDs, the preponderance of which have been reissues. Between 1985 and 2007 alone, he produced at least 60 reissues a year for Blue Note and its sister labels.''