Joel Moss obit

Grammy-winning recording engineer Joel Moss dies at 79

He was not on the list.

SARATOGA SPRINGS - Joel Moss, a music producer and recording engineer who won multiple Grammy Awards and lived in the Spa City for more than 20 years, where he was long associated with the venue Caffe Lena, died Monday of an aneurysm, according to friends who were told the news by his family.

Moss was 79 and had worked on what would turn out to be his final recording over the weekend with a group of 10- to 13-year-old Caffe Lena students in a group called the Jazz Pebbles. Moss first appeared at Caffe Lena in 1963 as a teenager, leading a Hebrew folk quintet called The Hi-Liters that was formed in Detroit, where he was born in 1946.

"One of the most miraculous things that ever befell Caffe Lena was for circumstances to bring Joel back to us all those years later," said Sarah Craig, in her 30th year as the venue's executive director. In recent years, Moss directed the video livestreams and recordings of Caffe Lena shows.

Craig said, "It was extremely important to him that we had complete, high-quality archives. He felt the venue was of national significance, and anything that happened there needed to be preserved."

Despite a manner that friends and colleagues described as unassuming and humble, Moss' accolades and associations were the stuff of music legend. He was in a Hollywood studio in 1969 when an unsigned band called Led Zeppelin recorded a demo of what would become the hit single "Whole Lotta Love." Moss was among the engineers on Ray Charles' 62nd and final studio album, "Genius Loves Company," released in 2005 and winner of nine Grammys, including album of the year and best engineered nonclassical album. The last song Moss recorded for the album was a duet with Elton John on John's "Sorry Seems to Be the Hardest Word." Charles died a few days later.

Moss also played goalie on a Los Angeles soccer team organized by Rod Stewart, for whom Moss mixed the recording of the hit "Do Ya Think I'm Sexy?" and, two decades later, used post-production tricks on Stewart's voice on the old standard "Ev'ry Time We Say Goodbye." The singer deviated from the modulation in the Cole Porter original, Moss told Saratoga Living, explaining, "He made up a melody that was not major to minor. I really wanted to go out and just punch him in the face. So, without telling him, I actually tuned (his part)."

Other musical luminaries Moss worked with over more than 50 years included Tony Bennett (another Grammy win for Moss), Johnny Cash, Joe Cocker, The Eagles, Cissy Houston (also a Grammy), Little Richard, Red Hot Chili Peppers and Talking Heads. For the latter band's legendary 1984 documentary, "Stop Making Sense," Moss became the first person ever to transfer analog recordings to 24-track digital. He also was a producer and/or engineer on the cast recordings of Broadway shows including "In the Heights" and "Beautiful: The Carole King Musical." Both won Grammy Awards for best musical theater album. Multiple media reports and Moss' Wikipedia page say he won seven Grammys, but the awards database at grammys.com shows him as having been nominated 11 times, winning six.

Locally, he recorded and produced at least three CDs with Capital Region performers to raise money for charity, including "Saratoga Pie" and "A Saratoga Children's Christmas Wish."

"He was incredibly generous in the studio. Here is the guy who recorded Ray Charles' last record, and he's treating me the same way," said veteran Capital Region musician and Caffe Lena board member Michael Eck. Among their projects together was a recording of a song about Caffe Lena that Moss wrote with Peter Davis of the area band Annie and the Hedonists. Eck said he most recently chatted with Moss on Saturday, when Eck performed on a Caffe Lena program honoring the legacy of singer-songwriter Guy Clark and Moss ran the livestream.

One of Moss' most frequent collaborators was Jim Mastrianni, who owns JEM Studios in Saratoga Springs, where they worked on more than 50 recordings together over a decade. Mastrianni last saw Moss on Monday afternoon, he said, when the pair spent a couple of hours on a recording issue at Caffe Lena, where Mastrianni was previously a board member and still frequently helps out.

Mastrianni said, "He gave me a ride home. The last thing he said to me was ‘See you Thursday,'" when they were supposed to meet again at the venue. Moss died later Monday.

"I cannot overestimate the amount of influence he had on my life and career direction," said Mastrianni, who, based in part on a letter of recommendation by Moss, was recently accepted into the master's degree program in music production at Berklee College of Music in Boston.

Owner of a company that administers affordable-housing programs, Mastrianni said, "The reason I'm a creative professional now is because of him."

Another longtime collaborator was busy area percussionist Brian Melick, whom Moss often called to play on Moss' own compositions, recordings for others and bands Melick is or was in. Earlier this year, Moss asked Melick to bring different kinds of snare drums to the studio to find a specific sound he was seeking.

"That's the kind of intensity and passion he brought to everything," said Melick, adding, "He was the consummate producer, so honest and inspiring that he could pull the best of you out even if you didn't know you had it in you."

After living in California for many years, Moss met Terri-Lynn Pellegri, a photographer, on a trip to Saratoga about 25 years ago.

"They fell in love in about 10 seconds," Craig said, prompting Moss to move to the Spa City in 2001 and marry Pellegri. He affiliated with Caffe Lena soon after.

Craig said, "When he made a recording of a band, you could hear every tiny nuance of that music - it was so crystalline and clean."

From a broader perspective, she said, "In Joel's world, things either made life better or they made life worse. If he thought you made life better, he made you have so much more confidence and belief in your own work."

In addition to Pellegri, Moss is survived by his daughter, Rachael Moss, who moved to Saratoga to be near him with her two children, ZuZu and Griffin Booth, according to Craig. Public records indicate he is also survived by his wife from a prior marriage and a brother, both in California.

Funeral details were unavailable Tuesday.