" data-original-title="" title="">Orrin Keepnews co-founded Riverside with Bill Grauer. The pair had been colleagues on Grauer's Record Changer magazine, on which Keepnews was the copy editor. At Riverside, Grauer did a little studio work but mostly looked after administration and distribution, leaving Keepnews to concentrate on what he did best, which was scouting for artists and producing records. Grauer passed in late 1963 and Keepnews filed Riverside for voluntary bankruptcy less than a year later. He continued to work as a producer for other labels, most prolifically for Milestone and Fantasy.

In 2007, in his general introduction to the Keepnews Collection reissue series, Keepnews wrote: "For more than a half-century, I have frequently succeeded in finding, recognizing, coddling, arguing with, and collaborating with a great variety of talented and occasionally difficult people. On the whole, I am unreasonably and unshakably proud of the results." So he should have been.

Everyone has their own favourite Riverside albums, but the following would figure on most lists: