He joined the United States Army Air Forces Orchestra in World War II, and played for US troops in the Far East.
After his return he studied musicology at New York University before working as a critic for music magazines, and on radio stations.
Later in the year, with the help of a loan from his father and the involvement of his younger brother Maynard, he formed the Vanguard Recording Society, into which the Bach Guild was subsumed.
The company took full advantage of the new technology of long-playing records, allowing it to release longer unbroken classical music performances than was previously possible.
[2][3] Although initially recording an eclectic range of classical music, as the label developed through the 1950s and 1960s its roster expanded to include jazz, folk, and blues musicians, including The Weavers, Joan Baez, Odetta, Larry Coryell, Mississippi John Hurt, Charlie Musselwhite, and Buddy Guy.