He was a producer and record executive who was influential in popularizing long-play vinyl records, live albums, and liner notes. He helped revitalize interest in jazz musicians Louis Armstrong, Duke Ellington, Bessie Smith, and Sonny Rollins. He signed rock musicians Bill Haley and the Everly Brothers to Warner Bros. Records, and produced one of the best-selling comedy albums in history, "The Button-Down Mind of Bob Newhart" (1960).