Read part 1 and part 2.

Before we explore Comstock’s albums, here are two interesting tracks from an album that has never been reissued and should be because it has such great music — an album released under Phil Silvers’ name since CBS ran his popular comedy show. Bugle calls were adapted into new compositions by Nelson Riddle, and Comstock scored five titles. Here is Last Chance and Come as You Are.

Comstock made an album with a quintet led by Ted Nash, which included Dick Nash, Tony Rizzi, Morty Corb and Alvin Stoller in 1954.

Here is Passion Girl and Whim Wham.

Paul Weston was the west coast A&R head at Columbia Records, and signed Comstock to make albums under his own name. The first was called A Young Man’s Fancy. Here is the entire album:

Here is his other Columbia album, Patterns, one of the first pop album issued as a stereo LP.

Weston was fired and Comstock was let go. Comstock would later say that Mitch Miller interfered with Weston’s decisions and saw to it that his albums were not promoted.

The album that is perhaps the most important that he made was called Project Comstock: Music from Outer Space on Warner Bros. Records, released in 1962. From an interview with Forrest Patten for The Robert Farnon Society, Comstock went into detail about the album’s creation:

“We had one electric organ and several repeating amps that they were starting to use with woodwinds. For example, a flute player might play a short phrase and it would repeat constantly until he would play the next phrase. (The organ) would do the same thing. We employed a few little tricks like that. We didn’t have any synthesizers back then. When I wrote the scores on paper, I’d take the last note and put it first and vice versa. The bottom line there is when somebody played that note, there was no attack and it came out backwards. Think about it. Any note, whether soft or loud, has an attack on it. In this case, the accents were all in the back. We recorded them that way, and played the tape back three or four times faster making the trombones sound like trumpets. The stereo era was just beginning and the labels were trying to come up with crazy sounds to help demonstrate the new left/right effect. We were playing nice songs that everybody knew, but we also threw in some pretty far-out items. I think Lowell Frank, the engineer, went mad trying to find all of the parts as we cut them apart and pasted them back together again. The album must have sold three copies.”

Here is side one and side two of Project Comstock: Music from Outer Space.

For TV, among the producer/directors he worked with, Comstock was Jack Webb’s go-to composer.

Here is his update of the Dragnet theme.

He wrote the original theme for Rocky and his Friends. The home video version has a different one.

His last work was for the Brian Setzer Orchestra. He died in 2013.

To end this series (we could go on and on), here is Marilyn Monroe singing I Wanna be Loved by You for the movie Some Like it Hot (1959).

—Jeff Sultanof

The post Frank Comstock (Part 3) appeared first on ASMAC.

In Memoriam: Jorge Calandrelli
31 Dec 1939 – 4 May 2026

Dear ASMAC Family,

I am at a loss for words learning that my wonderful friend, the extraordinary arranger and composer, Jorge Calandrelli, passed away on May 4th. His presence, dignity, gentleness, respect for others, was second to none! Jorge’s musical sense was perfect. What a gift to have been his harpist throughout the years and have the joy of playing his glorious arrangements for so many artists. Our music world has lost one of the all-time “greats” in our industry.

Jorge, thank you for the gift of you and for all the beauty you have given to us. I am so grateful that ASMAC had the joy of honoring you with our Golden Score Award. I will miss you, dear friend.

Sending my deepest condolences to his beautiful, loving wife Marcia Hatcher Calandrelli.

My hugs to all of you,
Gayle Levant, ASMAC President

1. Watch the 8-minute medley of Jorge Calandrelli arrangements, first shown at the 2014 ASMAC Golden Score Awards.

2. Watch the 2-part Masterclass with Jorge Calandrelli, Ballads to Bossa: Arranging Across Different Styles from 30 April 2016.

   1. Part 1 and Part 2. ASMAC members have access.

   2. Write-up with photos from the 30 April 2016 Masterclass.

Jorge Calandrelli receiving the 2014 ASMAC Golden Score Award.

John Altman, Jorge Calandrelli, Johnny Mandel, Jimmy Haskell — ASMAC 75th Anniversary

Ira Hearshen, Tim Simonec, Larry Blank, Jorge Calandrelli, John Altman — ASMAC 75th Anniversary

Jorge Calandrelli — ASMAC Masterclass — Ballds to Bossa: Arranging Across Different Styles, 30 April 2016

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Interview by Jeannie Gayle Pool (18 April 2026)

Jeannie Gayle Pool: I’m with Philadelphia writer Tom Di Nardo to talk about the new book, The Philadelphia Music Book: Sounds of a City (Camino Books, 2025). How did this book come about?

Tom Di Nardo: Larry Magid is a nationally renowned booking agent for rock and pop acts, best known for his Philadelphia-based company Electric Factory. He engineered the famous Live Aid concert and currently handles bookings for Bruce Springsteen. At this point in his life, he wanted to do something to celebrate the incredible musicians who came from Philadelphia.

The result was a long-term project involving nine writers and approximately 300 profiles covering opera singers, classical musicians, jazz players, rock and pop musicians, and faculty from various educational institutions and music conservatories — essentially everything to do with music in the city of Philadelphia. My earlier book, Listening to Musicians: 40 Years of the Philadelphia Orchestra (Jaygayle Music, 2016), explored many of the leading figures in Philadelphia’s classical music world and I was pleased to be asked to help with the project.

Pool: What’s wonderful about the new book are the fabulous photographs and the richly detailed profiles. It’s lavishly illustrated and beautifully designed.

Di Nardo: I was fortunate to be commissioned to write 65 of the profiles, mostly covering classical, opera, and jazz musicians — many of whom I had no idea had come from Philadelphia. A number of them, particularly those prominent in the 1970s and ’80s, knew one another and were widely recognized through their recordings.

Pool: ASMAC members will be particularly interested in the profiles of Philadelphia’s jazz musicians. Can you give us some names?

Di Nardo: Philadelphia turned out to be richer than even I knew — and I’ve lived there my entire life and wrote music reviews for The Philadelphia Daily News for nearly four decades. The list includes John Coltrane, Joe Wilder, the Brecker Brothers, Jeff Lorber, David Raksin, Pat Martino, Hank Mobley, Johnny Coles, Joey DeFrancesco, Christian McBride, Wallace Roney, Kevin Eubanks, Stanley Clarke, Jaco Pastorius, Grover Washington, Kenny Barron, McCoy Tyner, Lee Morgan, Archie Shepp, Bobby Timmons, Rufus Harley, Shirley Scott, Nina Simone, Ray Bryant, Benny Golson, Clifford Brown, Stan Getz, Gerry Mulligan, Jimmy Smith, the Heath Brothers, Buddy DeFranco, Dizzy Gillespie, Charlie Ventura, Rex Stewart, and Eddie Lang. I was familiar with all of them, but had no idea they were all from Philadelphia.

Although my newspaper work focused primarily on classical music and opera, I have always loved jazz and knew the recordings of these players well. I felt very lucky to have been given this assignment. The real challenge was distilling an extraordinarily talented person’s life into 300 or 350 words. I approached it by listening to as many of their recordings as I possibly could, trying to capture the essence of their work in a way that would draw in readers who might not consider themselves jazz fans. Beyond the musical accomplishments, I wanted to convey something of each person’s spirit — the fact that these were people who simply had to play, regardless of the circumstances or the financial rewards.

Pool: Besides the jazz musicians, the book covers a tremendous range of artists — classical figures like André Watts and Sarah Chang, all of the Philadelphia Orchestra‘s conductors, the city’s music conservatories, and a wealth of rock and pop artists as well. There are also profiles of the club owners and venue operators who provided the stages where this music was made. In a sense, this book is a love letter to Philadelphia — and I imagine other cities, from Pittsburgh and Chicago to Nashville and Los Angeles, could do something similar to celebrate their own musical heritage. Your two books together paint a vivid picture of musical life in Philadelphia, with many of your reviews woven into your second book, Performers Tell Their Stories: 40 Years Inside the Arts (Jaygayle Books, 2016).

Di Nardo: When people ask Larry Magid how he became the most successful booking agent in the business, he always says it was simple: everybody got paid, no matter what. That wasn’t always the norm, so performers knew that if they came to Philadelphia, they would receive their full fee — even if attendance was disappointing. Because of that reputation, everyone wanted to play Philly, and Larry became the person every touring act called first.

I think at this stage of his life — after closing Electric Factory and focusing solely on Bruce Springsteen — Larry felt he owed Philadelphia a genuine celebration of what the city produced. The book is exactly what he envisioned. He assembled writers who were specialists in their respective genres, and we each wrote about what we knew best. There are even profiles of the Philadelphia DJs who helped these artists get noticed in the first place, alongside the club and venue owners who gave them a place to play.

About Tom Di Nardo

As a journalist with the Philadelphia Daily News, Di Nardo interviewed the world’s most renowned musicians. He is also the co-author of Emil Richards’ biography, Wonderful World of Percussion: My Life Behind Bars.

[ Ed. note: The Philadelphia Music Book: sound of a City, edited by Larry Magid, is available through Amazon as are Tom Di Nardo’s two books. You can also listen to a 53-minute interview with Tom Di Nardo on A Musical Life with Hugh Sung. ]

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Read part 1.

As was discussed in Part I, Frank Comstock was one of Ray Heindorf’s favorite arrangers. Here are some clips from the films he worked on.

• With Plenty of Money and You from She’s Working Her Way Through College (1952) — Vocal by Bonnie Lou Williams (IMDb, discogs) dubbing for Virginia Mayo

• From She’s Back in Broadway — I’ll Take You.

• So This is Love (1953)

• Ray Bolger solo in April in Paris (1953)

• From The Helen Morgan Story (1957), this is The Man I Love — Ann Blyth was dubbed by Gogi Grant.

In a further part, I feature other films Comstock worked on in the 1960s.

Comstock made eight albums with the Hi-Lo’s, among the finest vocal group recordings ever made. Choosing just a few tracks is hard, but someone has to do it.

• Surrey with the Fringe on Top

• Birth of the Blues

• Tenderly

• My Sugar is so Refined

• Don’cha Go ‘Way Mad — with Rosemary Clooney
  

• Life is Just a Bowl of Cherries

Comstock made two albums with Frankie Laine. Below are a couple songs from each:

• Torchin’

  • Torchin’

  • It Only Happens Once

• You Are My Love

  • You are My Love

  • Try a Little Tenderness

Here is the entire album with Alan Copeland, better known as a songwriter and leader of vocal groups.

We continue in Part III with his own albums, and his TV work.

—Jeff Sultanof

The post Frank Comstock (Part 2) appeared first on ASMAC.

Frank Comstock was yet another reliable arranger for big bands, vocalists, and movie soundtracks. He was active until a few years before his death in 2013. As is usual with busy arranger/composers during the 1950–1980 era, we’ve heard his music without realizing it, and it was always of top quality. The list of his credits is staggering, and obviously I can only cover a small percentage, but that’s still a lot!!

Except for a few trombone lessons, he was self-taught as a musician, taking arrangements off of records, and leading his own band in his home town in San Diego. Uan Rasey, later one of the most beloved session trumpet players in Hollywood and an inspiration to many, was a friend of his and had been hired by trumpeter Sonny Dunham to play in his band. Rasey recommended Comstock as an arranger, and Frank was soon playing and arranging with the band, staying with the band for about six months.

In 1943, he joined Benny Carter’s band on the west coast, and added to the book. Here is:

• Poinciana and

• Prelude to a Kiss.

He was one of the earliest free-lance arrangers for Stan Kenton. Here is

• Harlem Folk Dance and

• Do Nothin’ ‘Til You Hear from Me.

By 1944, he was one of Les Brown’s arrangers, at a time when Brown was leading the first of his really strong units. Over many years, he arranged pop songs as well as wrote instrumentals.

Here is Flip Lid. This comes from a V-Disc with a spoken introduction.

• On the Alamo

• Tangerine

• Swingin’ Down the Lane

• Harlem Nocturne

• Midnight Sun

And a new arrangement of Brown’s theme Leap Frog when Brown’s band expanded. Brown had been using a stock arrangement previously.

Doris Day was Brown’s singer for several years, and she and Comstock became lifelong friends. He wrote arrangements for her radio appearances. It was she who brought him to Warner Bros. to write material for her screen tests. So impressed was Ray Heindorf, who was head of music at Warner Bros. at that point, that he signed Comstock as a staff arranger/composer. He was one of Heindorf’s favorite arrangers, and called upon him for years, practically until his retirement. We will explore Comstock’s work with Heindorf in a later segment of this tribute.

Meanwhile, here is his arrangement of Secret Love for Calamity Jane. I chose a link that has the clip. And Please Don’t Talk About Me When I’m Gone with Doris Day and Frank Comstock & his Orchestra.

Part 2 will continue with some of his arranging and orchestration for film, work with the Hi-Lo’s, and more.

—Jeff Sultanof

The post Frank Comstock (Part 1) appeared first on ASMAC.

Read Part 1.

Martin wrote for the Les Brown band for many years. One day in 1946, Brown recorded an Irving Berlin standard. His was the house band for Bob Hope’s radio show (he also toured with Hope), and one day the Berlin standard was broadcast. It got a great reception from the studio audience, and Columbia wired him to come into the studio and record it. “Look in your vault,” he wrote back. I’ve Got My Love to Keep Me Warm” was a big seller, always requested in live appearances, and re-recorded several times. It is a Skip Martin classic.

Another great Skip Martin treatment of a standard:

• April Showers, and

• That Old Black Magic.

By 1949, Martin was making records and orchestrating/arranging in the Hollywood studios.

Lucy Ann Polk had been a member of The Town Criers with her brothers and sister. She subsequently sang with Kay Kyser and Les Brown. RCA Victor made a couple of singles with her for release on their Bluebird label. Martin arranged and led one of those sessions, If I Knew You Were Comin’) I’d ’ve Baked a Cake.

He made several recordings with Tony Martin.

• Circus

He made a series of recordings with The Pied Pipers.

• I’ve Got the Sun in the Morning

He arranged and conducted for a young performer who’d been signed by M-G-M and made some records for their label, Barbara Ruick, who later became Mrs. John Williams.

• Serenade to a Lemonade

• Delishious

• Just You, Just Me

• How About You

He was a staff composer/arranger at M-G-M and worked on many films that are well known. “Summer Stock,” “Royal Wedding,” “An American in Paris,” “Singin’ in the Rain,” “The Band Wagon,” and “It’s Always Fair Weather” had Skip Martin arrangements and orchestrations.

Here is From this Moment On from Kiss Me, Kate.

He was the sole credited orchestrator for Judy Garland’s A Star is Born. Here is the complete version of Lose that Long Face, a number which was cut out of the film soon after it was released.

One of his last recordings was accompanying Johnny Mercer in a demo of Shake It But Don’t Break It.

He left us in 1976.

—Jeff Sultanof

The post Lloyd “Skip” Martin (Part 2) appeared first on ASMAC.

Another musical workhorse who was all over the top big bands and later the Hollywood and TV studios, Skip (or Skippy) Martin could be called upon to arrange and orchestrate a swing or jazz selection for a movie musical, but he was also an excellent ballad arranger, and in fact, his most well-known credit may be for a movie with an absolute classic ballad performance.

He was playing clarinet with orchestras in Indianapolis, Indiana, and attended Indiana University. He quickly got work at radio station WLW in Cincinnati. His first recorded arrangements were played by Count Basie:

• Smarty (You Know it All)

• Our Love was Meant to Be

He joined the Charlie Barnet Orchestra, and along with Billy May, built up the book for that orchestra with ballads and jump tunes.

• A Lover is Blue with featured vocalist Judy Ellington

• The Right Idea (The flip side of this record is called The Wrong Idea which has a rare Billy May vocal!!)

• Flying Home

• A Lover’s Lullaby

In 1940, he joined Benny Goodman, where he chiefly played alto and baritone sax, and contributed two arrangements which stood out. One had already been recorded by Count Basie, Tuesday at Ten.

The other was Caprice XXIV Paganini.

In late 1941, Martin joined the Miller band. He is usually listed as lead alto, but that is deceptive. Wilbur Schwartz was chief lead on clarinet of course, but when the sax section was written for 2 alto saxes, Martin played lead. He may be seen as part of the sax section in the motion picture Orchestra Wives.

I have never seen an arrangement credited to him, and that seems very surprising to me. Surely Miller knew of his abilities; it may have been a conscious decision by Martin not to write for the band. As far as I can determine, he was never asked about this (I learned a long time ago that you can sometimes hit a nerve with a musician over a circumstance such as this one), and it’s a pity.

He stayed with Miller until the leader disbanded to go into the service. Reportedly Martin freelanced writing for CBS and NBC since there was plenty of work in radio all over the country. He soon joined the Army Air Corps and trained as a pilot.

When he got out of the service, he headed to the west coast and took up where he left off. We will join him with the Les Brown Orchestra in Part II.

—Jeff Sultanof

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Read part 1 and part 2.

Even though he was out of the spotlight as a leader during the fifties, he continued to lead bands in Los Angeles and San Francisco, as well as play trumpet and arrange for record dates.

From his 1954 ensemble, here is:

• Hollywood Freeway

• Sea Breeze

He made a record date with a big band for Federal, a subsidiary of King Records. The flute is thought to be Jerry Dodgion. Here’s Lotus Land:

From the same date, Mambo Mexicano.

For a date with Harry Carney with strings for Norman Granz, here is We’re in Love Again.

For Ed Townsend, he arranged For Your Love.

For a time, he had an agreement with composer/manager Buck Ram, who was the manager of The Platters. He arranged an album for Tony Williams, the lead singer of the group. Here is Rose of Washington Square.

He worked extensively with Buddy Collette and Duke Ellington. He probably ghosted for Ellington as well. One arrangement he definitely arranged was Perdido, which became a classic.

For Plas Johnson, he arranged an album for Capitol Records. Here is:

• One Mint Julep

• Fool That I Am

By 1960, he was under contract to Albert Marx. Dick Bock produced an album with Les McCann singing. Here is a track from that Les McCann Sings album, Since I Fell for You.

Bock owned the Pacific Jazz label, and was anxious to have Wilson record for it. He and Marx made a deal, and Wilson was back in the band business. In September of 1961, Wilson recorded the album “You Better Believe It.”

Here is Blues for Yna Yna, featuring Richard “Groove” Holmes.

And for his album Moment of Truth (discogs), the classic which has been covered many times by others, Viva Tirado.

Wilson’s band was very popular on the west coast for a number of years, and he continued to arrange for acts: Larry Williams, Bobby Darin, Nancy Wilson, Ella Fitzgerald, Johnny Hartman, Julie London, Barbara Dane, Jean-Luc Ponty and Ray Charles were some of his clients through the years. He became a college professor in the 1970’s, and in 1981, was back recording with a big band for Discovery, The Mama Foundation (one of his albums, Suite History, was an oral history) and Mack Avenue.

He died at the age of 96.

—Jeff Sultanof

Editor’s note: Also, check out the following interviews with Gerald Wilson:

1. The 1-hour NAMM Oral History interview with Gerald Wilson from 19 March 2004,

2. National Endowment for the Arts Interview of Gerald Wilson by Molly Murphy from 25 October 2006. On that same page, there’s a 30-minute podcast recording from 2014 in discussion with Roy Haynes and Gerald Wilson, and

3. the NEA Jazz Masters oral history interview with Gerald Wilson on 15 February 2010.

The post Gerald Wilson — A Career Retrospective (Part 3) appeared first on ASMAC.

Read part 1.

Among the excellent musicians who played with Wilson, Melba Liston played trombone and wrote arrangements. He encouraged and mentored her. She wrote the arrangement of “Love Me a Long, Long Time with Estelle Edson and composed Warm Mood. (This was one of the earliest recordings produced by Norman Granz, released on the Black & White label).

The band started touring extensively and was very popular; a highlight was a performance at the Apollo Theater. When appearing in Chicago, Wilson was offered a contract to make records for Mercury Records, then a small label that was starting to attract major acts. Wilson made a record date with one of their stars, Dinah Washington.

As noted in the previous part in this series, Wilson was always experimenting harmonically. Listen to his unusual blues where he uses alternate harmonies. It’s called The Saint.

Then Wilson did the unthinkable — he disbanded.

In his first years in Los Angeles, he’d befriended the brilliant composer/arranger/pianist/vocal coach Phil Moore, and made several dates with him at M-G-M studios, where Moore worked in obscurity. No doubt his conversations with Moore influenced his decision to stop everything because things in his life were happening too fast. He wanted to be a more well-rounded composer of music, able to write in any style with confidence, and that meant more music study.

But that didn’t mean that he was going to drop out of the music world. He played on record dates with Moore, Ike Carpenter, Jesse Price, and Freddie Slack.

And he continued to make recordings. Here is Dissonance in Blues. The bassist is Red Callender.

Duke Ellington called him soon after and offered him work writing two sides, one of which was You’re Just an Antidisestablishmentarianismist.

For Dizzy Gillespie’s band, he wrote Guarachi Guaro, one of the most important Latin/Bop compositions of the period.

Gerald got a call from Count Basie, whom he’d known when he was playing in Detroit. He wound up joining the trumpet section and writing a great deal for him, including a suite for a Carnegie Hall concert. Regrettably, it was not recorded.

Here is Katy and Cheek to Cheek.

Part 3 will present his work during the 1950s and his classic 1960’s band.

—Jeff Sultanof

The post Gerald Wilson — A Career Retrospective (Part 2) appeared first on ASMAC.

Gerald Wilson had an incredible career as a composer, arranger and innovative bandleader, and yet he is rarely thought of in the same category as Ellington, Basie, Jones/Lewis, Dankworth, and other leaders whose compositions and arrangements brought a new way to hear and experience music. His birthday was celebrated recently, and is the perfect opportunity to explore the worlds of this wonderful creator. [Editor’s note: publishing was delayed; article was written back in October, closer to Wilson’s birth of 4 September 1918.]

One of his earliest gigs was taking the place of trumpeter/arranger Sy Oliver in the Jimmie Lunceford band. The chief arrangers of the band were Billy Moore and Ed Wilcox. Wilson wrote two compositions that immediately got some attention in the jazz world:

• Hi Spook, and

• Yard Dog Mazurka

He left Lunceford, and by 1943, he was in Benny Carter’s band (Benny had moved to the West Coast by that point). He wrote a number of arrangements for Carter, who loved his writing. This is “Honeysuckle Rose.

Wilson joined Cab Calloway, and wrote “Cruisin’ with Cab in 1944. Wilson would later record this with his own band.

There was a deal put together where singer Herb Jeffries was going to be booked at Shepp’s Playhouse in Los Angeles, and Wilson was asked to put together a big band for the gig, something he’d always wanted. When Jeffries dropped out, Wilson kept the gig, got some more, and signed with the record label Excelsior, owned by songwriter Otis Rene. Wilson claimed that it was the first band that played unadulterated modern jazz of that era (he’d arranged Groovin’ High and recorded it in a big band version before Dizzy Gillespie did). He also said that he was the first arranger to use seven and eight-part harmony, meaning that when he wrote for brass, there were no doubled notes in the voicings.

Whatever he was doing, the ensemble was a powerhouse and was certainly different from other big bands of the period. Its records are classics.

• Synthetic Joe

• Come Sunday live

• The aforementioned Groovin’ High live

He also recorded Rene’s songs (after all, it was his label). This is Skip the Gutter featuring The Thrasher Sisters, three women who would later become The Morgan Sisters.

Gerald’s story continues in Part 2.

—Jeff Sultanof

The post Gerald Wilson — A Career Retrospective (Part 1) appeared first on ASMAC.

With a serene demeanor, always smiling and welcoming in every conversation, this was José Roberto Branco (1938–2025), known to many as Maestro Branco. His work stood out for its singular musical language, the result of combining research in jazz, Brazilian music, classical music, twentieth-century contemporary music, as well as Jesuit and African traditions. Through his arrangements, he created a unique, striking, and enchanting sound, appreciated by musicians both in Brazil and abroad. He collaborated with artists such as Raul de Souza, Jair Rodrigues, Wilson Simonal, and Toquinho, among others.

However, his most important legacy was the creation of the iconic Banda Savana. The project had a clear objective: to compose Brazilian instrumental music. Initially, the band was not formed as a big band but as a smaller ensemble in the jazz combo format, with three saxophones, three trumpets, two trombones, and a rhythm section composed of piano, guitar, double bass, drums, and percussion. During this period, the group explored music influenced by North American jazz and funk while incorporating Branco’s early experiments with Brazilian music arrangements.

After the first formation of Banda Savana ended and a brief hiatus, the insistence of some musicians to continue the project led to the creation of a full big band. It was then that Maestro Branco initiated one of the most remarkable events in Brazilian instrumental music: the formation of a big band dedicated to blending different influences with the goal of performing exclusively Brazilian music in an instrumental format.

The two albums recorded by Banda Savana—Brazilian Movements (1990) and Brazilian Portraits (1992), released by the Danish label Libra Music—feature arrangements by Branco that impart a unique identity, becoming a reference for Brazilian big bands. With a new and experimental approach to harmonization, combined with intense rhythmic vigor, Banda Savana established itself as a model for groups that emerged in Brazil in the 1990s and into the new millennium, remaining today as one of the main representatives of this style in the country.

The first album, Brazilian Movements (1990), opens with the track “Consolação” by Baden Powell. From the very first piece, one can identify the distinctive sounds and characteristics of Maestro Branco’s writing: rigorous rhythm section, specific voicings for piano, guitar, and double bass, detailed writing for drums, and the inclusion of complementary instruments such as the flute, used as a lead and solo instrument in the arrangement. Also notable are the riffs and the density of the big band tuttis, always emphasizing the lead trumpet function—Branco’s primary instrument, which he mastered with excellence.

Throughout the album, other sounds emerge: A.C. Jobim’s baião in the track “Stone Flower,” orchestrated and reharmonized for big band, reinforcing Branco’s dense yet elegant style; and “Sambita,” an important standard by Puerto Rican group Mongo Santamaría, composed by J. Gellardo and J. Almario. In this arrangement, Maestro Branco demonstrates his interest in other cultures, creating an interpretation that blends Caribbean music, jazz, and Brazilian music, with a standout performance by saxophonist Vinícius Dorin, in addition to voicings that combine quartal openings and influences from his post-tonal studies with Hungarian composer Hans Joaquim Koellreuter. Other tracks—“Festa para um Rei Negro,” immortalized by Jair Rodrigues’ voice, “Disparada,” the standard “Bebê” by Hermeto Pascoal, and “Vomimbora,” composed by Magno Bissoli, one of the band’s first members—reveal the full versatility and richness of Maestro Branco’s big band writing, solidifying him as one of the greatest Brazilian arrangers of all time.

Regarding the album Brazilian Portraits (1992), which brings together compositions by Maestro Branco himself, Moacir Santos, Heitor Villa-Lobos, Vinícius Dorin, and Elias de Almeida, I leave it to the reader to experience and feel the fusion of different elements and styles, always guided by Maestro Branco’s enlightened hand—an inspiration that will continue to influence musicians and arrangers fortunate enough to hear it.

—Gabriel Duarte da Silva

The post The Savana That Enchanted Brazil: The Sound Created by José Roberto Branco – Maestro Branco appeared first on ASMAC.

Read Part 1.

Mandel continued to be an in-demand arranger in addition to his ever-increasing film scores work. Among the scores he wrote are The Sandpiper, The Americanization of Emily, The Russians are Coming the Russians are Coming, Harper, Point Blank, Escape to Witch Mountain, The Last Detail, and of course, M*A*S*H. He was surprised that the theme from that movie became the biggest song in his catalog.

Gerry Mulligan specifically asked Mandel to arrange music from I Want to Live for his Concert Jazz Band. Mandel told me he was surprised, but was happy to oblige. Here’s Black Nightgown from a live performance in Zurich.

• For Sarah Vaughan and the Count Basie Band without the Count, he arranged Missing You.

• For Jo Stafford and an all-star aggregation, he arranged Midnight Sun for one of her finest albums.

• For Mel Torme, he arranged Duke Ellington’s Reminiscing in Tempo.

• For Peggy Lee, he arranged his song from “The Russians are Coming the Russians are Coming,” The Shining Sea, which is cited as one of Lee’s greatest recordings.

  • He also arranged the song for Tony Bennett.

• Kenny Colman was an excellent Canadian singer respected by many music professionals and audiences all over the world. His album with Mandel is now a hard-to-find item. This is Where Do You Start.

• I can’t leave out Shirley Horn’s incredible recording of Here’s to Life.

• For Earl Klugh, he did the string background for Autumn Song.

• He was a big fan of Diana Krall. This is When I Look in Your Eyes.

• For Barry Manilow’s tribute album to Frank Sinatra, he arranged I’ve Got the World on a String.

So many of his fans hoped that he would lead a big band late in life. He finally did a concert with DIVA, and it was issued as an album. When he wrote Not Really the Blues for Woody Herman, he complained that when they recorded it, it was not at the proper tempo. He set the record straight at the concert.

I have wonderful memories of John, editing and restoring his arrangement for Buddy Rich of The Song is You, which I hope will be available one day; he was particularly proud of it and very happy that this was done. He was mellow, gracious, and generous with his time and his wisdom.

He left us in 2020.

—Jeff Sultanof

[Ed. note: Johnny Mandel presented a wonderful ASMAC masterclass in 2010. ]

The post Johnny Mandel, The Arranger (Part 2) appeared first on ASMAC.

John Alfred Mandel was 94 years old when he left us, and he led an incredible, full life in the professional music world from his teen years to his death. He loved to encourage young composers; he would go up to an arranger at a music presentation and tell him/her that he enjoyed their work.

He also had one of the most incredible memories of anyone I’ve ever met. I once told him that I was working on a Neal Hefti fakebook and was delighted to correct a credit for something Neal wrote that had been listed as written by someone else. When I told him that it was written for the Buddy Rich big band ca. 1946, he asked the name of the piece. When I told him “Great Moment,” he proceeded to play the piece at the piano, even though Neal told me that Buddy rarely if ever played it. I was shocked, and Johnny told me that that was nothing; he remembered vividly music he heard at five.

Of course Mandel is remembered for his many film scores, and particularly for his songs, many of which are classics, and he had the awards to prove it (I got to hold an Oscar in his studio). He told me that he had written concert music (he mentioned a string quartet), but nothing excited him more than writing a good song.

Mandel was a prodigy who studied arranging with Van Alexander, and was playing in professional bands when he was a teenager during WWII, playing trumpet, bass trumpet and trombone with Billie Rogers, Boyd Raeburn, Buddy Rich, Alvino Rey, Georgie Auld, and Count Basie. After he left that band, he told me his playing days were over. “I couldn’t go any higher than Basie.”

For Raeburn, he arranged:

• Magic is the Moonlight

• How Deep is the Ocean

• An original, The Eagle Flies

For Buddy Rich, Route 66.

The Artie Shaw Orchestra from 1949–50 didn’t last long, but it was one of Shaw’s best bands. I cannot leave out a beautifully written piece that Mandel wrote called Innuendo.

He also arranged:

• So in Love — the vocalist is Pat Lockwood

• Love is the Sweetest Thing

Mandel was one of the musicians who hung out at Gil Evans’s apartment during 1949, and was invited to contribute to Miles Davis’s Nonet, but he wanted to establish residency in Los Angeles, although he would arrange for TV shows in New York later. He was busy writing for small groups during the 1950s.

• Bud Shank/Bob Brookmeyer — Low Life

• Hal McKusick Octet — Tommyhawk

• Hoagy Carmichael — Baltimore Oriole

For the soundtrack of The James Dean Story, Mandel arranged Leith Stevens’s composition Jimmy’s Theme.

For vocalist David Allyn, A Sure Thing

1958 was the year Mandel composed the music to I Want to Live, a landmark film score which fully established using jazz as dramatic music. Mandel was now in demand for film work, but continued arranging music until his death.

We continue in Part II to explore his post-1960 arranging work.

—Jeff Sultanof

[Ed. note: Johnny Mandel presented a wonderful ASMAC masterclass in 2010. ]

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Soloist and composer/arranger Benny Carter just celebrated his 118^th birthday on August 8^th. In 1969, Professor of Sociology Morroe Berger, long a Carter fan, invited him to Princeton University for a brief stay. Carter would come back many times, leading to a visiting professorship in 1973. By that time, he was a living legend and was showered with awards. Berger’s son Ed, who became associate director of the Institute of Jazz Studies at Rutgers University, became his manager and traveled the world with him for concerts and recordings.

Unfortunately, Benny never had a true hit record during the big band era, although he led excellent bands on both coasts. He hosted many excellent musicians in his ensembles, including Miles Davis, Max Roach, and J.J. Johnson (the legendary Robert Farnon got good advice from Carter ca. 1933 when he was still a trumpet player). He was one of the first black composers to work in Hollywood (along with Will Vodery, Phil Moore, and Calvin Jackson), and by the 1960s was busy free-lancing as a sideman and in the television trenches until his career exploded in the 1970s, touring as a soloist and bandleader all over the world.

I am proud to say that he sought my help in 1999 with his catalog, and I worked on some music projects with him as well. Happily, a great deal of his music is available from Sierra Music Publications and Jazz Lines Publications, and Jazz Lines continues to issue more, including his arrangements for Ella Fitzgerald, Sarah Vaughan, and Peggy Lee.

Featured here are recordings that are less-commonly heard among the many which were recorded through the years, excellent examples of the life of a free-lance arranger.

This is one of the first Carter arrangements to be recorded. It is played by Charlie Johnson’s Paradise Ten. It features a saxophone chorus which became a Carter trademark in his arranging toolbox, and also includes a short Carter solo. This is an alternate take:

• Charleston is the Best Dance After All

Even when he was leading his own bands, Carter free-lanced for others. One of them was Benny Goodman when he led his first orchestra in 1934. Benny arranged “Take My Word” from his own band’s book, but also a few other ballad arrangements. Billed as The Modernists in the U.S., this is Benny’s treatment of Solitude.

Carter moved to Europe in 1936, and was immediately hired to write for the BBC Dance Orchestra led by Henry Hall. I’ve always loved the introduction of this arrangement, which goes from key to key.

• One, Two, Button Your Shoe

This small-group track spurred quite a reaction at the time, both positive and negative.

• Waltzing the Blues

He came back to the U.S. and after leading a band in New York, he moved to the West Coast.

• Here is Anita O’Day from 1946 singing Benny’s song and arrangement of Key Largo.

• From a date with Ella Fitzgerald while she was still with Decca — Old Devil Moon.

• For Abbey Lincoln — Two Cigarettes in the Dark.

• For Earl Bostic on King Records. — East of the Sun.

• Louis Armstrong — Christmas Night in Harlem.

• Dakota Staton – ’Round Midnight.

• And Billy Daniels — Blue Prelude.

Benny was always fascinated by newer sounds in music and never stopped exploring until his death in 2003, 95 years young.

—Jeff Sultanof

The post Happy Birthday, Benny Carter! appeared first on ASMAC.

Read part 1 and part 2.

The Liberty Records label started out recording jazz albums; their first major artist was Julie London. Both Spencer and Hagen made record dates for the label for a short time. Here they back London on the song Dark, originally issued as a single only.

Jeff Chandler was one of the most popular actors of the period, and he was also a good singer who originally made several records for Decca. Signed by Liberty, Spencer-Hagen made an album with him:

• A Lovely Way to Spend an Evening

• I Should Care

Lincoln Chase was a songwriter who wrote a lot of hits for others, like Such a Night which was recorded by The Drifters and Johnnie Ray, and Jim Dandy, recorded by LaVern Baker. He made an album in 1957 with Spencer-Hagen.

• I Love Your Many Ways

And Spencer-Hagen made another album of mood music — Essence of Romance

Hagen continued to work on major Hollywood musicals and dramatic films as an orchestrator, including “Love Me Tender,” “Will Success Spoil Rock Hunter,” “The Young Lions,” “St. Louis Blues” (with Nat King Cole), “The Diary of Anne Frank,” and “Compulsion.” All in a day’s work!!!

Back to television. Here is a complete segment of My Sister Eileen from 1960 with Elaine Stritch. Spencer and Hagen split up their partnership after working on this series.

Hagen is credited with the theme music for The Barbara Stanwyck Show, but since this is an early segment in the run, it is likely he did the entire score. Note that this intro was only used for the first few episodes; further episodes used a variant of the end titles.

Also broadcast was The Bill Dana Show. Hagen wrote the theme; the music was scored by Irving Szathmary, Dana’s younger brother, who would go on to score Get Smart.

These were the years of Hagen’s biggest shows — “The Andy Griffith Show,” “The Dick Van Dyke Show,” “Gomer Pyle USMC,” the first year of “That Girl,” “I Spy,” and “The Mod Squad.” But there were other shows that came and went.

• My Friend Tony

• Big Eddie

• Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman, in which Hagen wrote the theme and a stock music library without seeing the show first.

• Return to Mayberry

And a fitting end, the theme from The New Mike Hammer, which was Harlem Nocturne.

Hagen wrote two books on writing music for film—Scoring for Films and Advanced Techniques for Film Scoring, and taught many students; tuition was golf balls! He also studied twelve-tone music with the pioneering composer/theorist George Tremblay¹, and published a textbook of Tremblay’s unique approach, which is worth finding and exploring, The Definitive Cycle of the Twelve Tone Row.

Hagen left us in 2008.

—Jeff Sultanof

[Ed. note: Earle Hagen’s papers 1955–1968, including music scores for TV series and records of the time, are located at the American Heritage Center, University of Wyoming. ]

[Ed. note: Read Memoirs of a Famous Composer—Nobody Ever Heard Of by Earle Hagen.]

Footnotes

1    George Tremblay archive is available at the University of Maryland, Michelle Smith Performing Arts Library.

The post The Forgotten Earle Hagen (Part 3) appeared first on ASMAC.

Read part 1.

First, more record dates. Here is Frances Langford with the Starlighters:

• Sooner or Later

Monica Lewis for MGM Records:

• La Bota

• A Kiss to Build a Dream On

When Hagen was laid off from Fox, he decided to move to television. By that time, he’d formed a partnership with fellow Fox arranger/orchestrator Herbert Spencer called Music Scoring Inc. (MSI). The two earliest shows they worked on were “The Danny Thomas Show” (a/k/a “Make Room for Daddy”) and “The Ray Bolger Show.” The Thomas show theme, an arrangement of “Danny Boy,” is well known, but the Bolger show has been long forgotten; it ran for two years, in two different formats. Here is a complete segment of Where’s Raymond from 1954.

Spencer and Hagen made a few albums as the Spencer-Hagen Orchestra. They were first signed to Label X, later called Vik, an RCA subsidiary.

Here is the entire album of Recipes for Romance, with all original music. Hagen generally did the composing, and Spencer did the orchestrating. Many of these themes turned up as library music in Europe.

The entire album of I Only Have Eyes of You.

They created the music for a Desilu series starring Janis Paige entitled It’s Always Jan in 1956. Here is the 4^th episode.

In 1956, a sitcom called Hey Jeannie ran for twenty-six episodes. Jeannie Carson was a British actress who so impressed producer Max Liebman (producer of Your Show of Shows) that he signed her to a contract to appear on American television. In the series, Carson played a Scottish woman who emigrates to the U.S., hence the musical references. Please note the clip includes the theme of the re-vamped series, made for syndication; Hagen was not involved in that series.

Bonus:

I previously discussed the two Ray Bolger TV shows. In this compilation of TV themes from the fifties, you will find not only the alternate beginning of “Where’s Raymond,” but the beginning of the other Ray Bolger show. Start watching at 4:00.

—Jeff Sultanof

[Ed. note: Earle Hagen’s papers 1955–1968, including music scores for TV series and records of the time, are located at the American Heritage Center, University of Wyoming. ]

[Ed. note: Photo from Néstor Castiglione’s article Filling In The Gaps: A Reflection On Television’s “Second Golden Age” And Its Music, which may also be of interest.]

The post The Forgotten Earle Hagen (Part 2) appeared first on ASMAC.

One of the most beloved figures among the composing/arranging community in Hollywood, Earle Hagen had a spectacular career. Of course his themes for The Andy Griffith Show, The Danny Thomas Show, The Dick Van Dyke Show, I Spy, and The Mod Squad are textbook examples of the best in music for television, but as with most legendary careers, quite a bit of his writing has been forgotten. Thanks to modern research, Hagen’s autobiography Memoirs of a Famous Composer-Nobody Ever Heard Of, and an oral history, some wonderful music is presented in three articles.

Hagen wrote an instrumental when he was staff arranger with Ray Noble’s orchestra for altoist Jack Dumont, inspired by Duke Ellington and Johnny Hodges. The piece took a while to catch on, but by the late 1940s, it was getting some important recordings. It has now been recorded hundreds of times, and along with Night Train is a great favorite among strippers. Listen to the original recording.

Hagen was a member of the Army Air Force Band Radio Production Unit for 3 ½ years. The ensemble had sixty-five pieces with a lot of woodwinds, and he was able to experiment as a composer and orchestrator. One of his arrangements was modified and was played by Paul Whiteman, and was later played by Johnny Green at the Hollywood Bowl. This was heard by an old friend, none other than Axel Stordahl; they were both with the Tommy Dorsey Orchestra back in the 1930s. Axel was now the musical director for Frank Sinatra. Hagen wrote several scores for the radio program Your Hit Parade, and for other projects. Some years ago, I got a great kick out of helping to prepare arrangements Hagen wrote for Frank for publication by Jazz Lines Publications.

• Oh, Come All Ye Faithful — chart published by Jazz Lines Publications

• Mam’selle — published orchestra arrangement

Alfred Newman was impressed by Hagen’s writing, and signed him to be a staff orchestrator/arranger at 20^thCentury-Fox in 1946. It is safe to say that Hagen worked on almost all of the musicals produced by the studio for several years. Newman also had a record contract with Majestic Records, and once he had a date for six sides; Hagen had written two of them. Newman played all of them down and didn’t like two of them. Hagen volunteered to write the other two overnight (“I needed the money.”). Here are two from that recording session:

• They Didn’t Believe Me

• Long Ago and Far Away

If Hagen could fit them in, he continued to make record dates. He did quite a few for the new label Mercury Records. For Tony Martin,

• Body and Soul

• As Time Goes By

For The Starlighters (most of the members had been in the vocal group Six Hits and a Miss; Vince Deegan was the vocal arranger):

• Kate

• Fun and Fancy Free

We continue with Hagen being laid off from Fox in 1953, and his first forays into television.

—Jeff Sultanof

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Even though he was doing a lot of writing for Ray Anthony, he obviously wasn’t exclusive to him. Here is a track from a date with Little Esther Phillips from 1952, Ramblin’ Blues. The tenor player is none other than Ben Webster.

From a date with Charlie Ventura, here is My One and Only Love, a brand new song in 1953. Note that Williams is not given credit on the label.

But the Ventura session for Coral obviously impressed the label owners, because he did some dates for them under his own name which included some big band R&B.

• Whamboogie has an all-star band. Soloists are George Barnes (guitar), Sam “The Man” Taylor (tenor sax), Kai Winding (trombone) and Jonah Jones (trumpet).

• From the same date, The Rompin’ Stomper, with Al Klink trading with Taylor, Jordan trading with Jones, and Winding trading with Urbie Green. Note that the band had a bass sax, not a baritone as the bottom.

For Woody Herman’s Herd, he wrote a feature for drummer Chuck Flores:

• Skinned and

• Skinned Again

Jackie Gleason, of course, was a big TV comedy star. He also began to produce albums of mood or background music. His first album, Music for Lovers Only, was a big seller, and he continued making albums until the late 1960s. The first arranger who worked on these albums was C. Dudley (Pete) King, a legendary arranger who will have his own article in this series. By the end of the decade, Williams was Gleason’s chief arranger, often uncredited. These albums were notable for including Gleason’s favorite musicians, including trumpeter Bobby Hackett, alto saxophonist Toots Mondello, tenor saxophonist Charlie Ventura, trumpeter Charlie Shavers, pianist Hank Jones and more.

He made an album called Riff Jazz, and he later appeared on the Kate Smith TV show on March 7, 1960, where he not only conducted two Williams’ arrangements of his own compositions, but even conducted for the star of the show. He did not have a TV series of his own at the time, and this is one of the rare appearances he made to plug one of his own albums.

Williams made several albums under his own name during this period. Here the complete album We Could Make Such Beautiful Music.

He made an album in honor of Jimmie Lunceford, Rhythm was his Business: A Salute to Jimmie Lunceford.

• Yard Dog Mazurka

• Margie

When I began these explorations in the work of George Williams, I noted that he was responsible for the arrangement and conducting of a famous track recorded during the 1960s. Here is Barbra Streisand’s Happy Days are Here Again released in 1962. [Ed. note: George Williams worked on 3 singles during that period before Barbra’s first album: Happy Days are Here Again / When the Sun Comes Out and Lover Come Back to Me.]

Williams went with Gleason when the comedian moved his TV show to Miami, Florida. He died in Florida in 1988.

—Jeff Sultanof

The post Forgotten Arrangers — George “The Fox” Williams (Part 3) appeared first on ASMAC.

Williams was fortunate in that he had long relationships with very popular leaders of ensembles. As we will discover, one of those involved a very popular comedian.

His arrangements for Krupa continued:

• Tea for Two (vocal by Anita O’Day)

• Yesterdays with Charlie Ventura

• By the River St. Marie with Don Fagerquist, Charlie Kennedy, and Buddy Wise. Note the bebop phrases.

Trumpeter Ray Anthony played with Glenn Miller for a short time. After war service, he formed a big band. By 1949, he’d signed with Capitol Records and was one of the top big bands in a very short time. Willams arranged two records in particular that became big hits, both regularly played at school dances and receptions of all types; they were in print for years.

• This version of Bunny Hop comes from one of Anthony’s television shows.

• The other record was The Hokey Pokey.

• Slider

Anthony’s band was one of several that often featured the Glenn Miller reed sound. This is Tenderly. Williams arranged Anthony’s theme, The Man With the Horn.

From a short subject made for Universal, here is All Anthony and No Cleopatra and Mr. Anthony’s Boogie, both Williams scores.

In 1950, Williams did a date with Johnny Hartman. Here is Nightingale.

In 1951, he arranged some sides for Roy Eldridge. This is Basin St. Blues.

Our last chapter brings us more Ray Anthony, Jackie Gleason, and some others, plus a very well-known track.

—Jeff Sultanof

The post Forgotten Arrangers — George “The Fox” Williams (Part 2) appeared first on ASMAC.

George Dale “The Fox” Williams was a prolific arranger who wrote a lot of music for major names in the jazz and popular music field. He is yet another arranger who never attained the legendary status of a Riddle or a May, but as the music posted in these articles will demonstrate, his music is solid and professional, and is still very much in our consciousness, often in surprising ways. To prove it, at least three articles are needed to illustrate only a part of his musical lives, and for many, the very last citation will perhaps prove a surprise to most of you.

He was born in New Orleans in 1917, and no amount of research has uncovered how he got the nickname “The Fox.” The first mention we have of him is as a pianist/arranger for the Sonny Dunham band, another sadly forgotten musician who was a first-class trumpet player very popular in the early ‘40s. That was obviously a big break, but an even bigger one was when he joined the Glenn Miller Orchestra in 1942.

• I Don’t Want to Walk Without You

• It Must Be Jelly (‘Cause Jam Don’t Shake Like That)

• I Hear You Screamin’ (played by the Miller AEF Orchestra)

By 1944, Williams was writing for the Boyd Raeburn Orchestra. Before George Handy’s avant-garde pieces, the Raeburn band was an outfit with scores by Ed Finckel and Johnny Mandel. Clearly Williams was used to write arrangements for dancing and backgrounds for vocals:

• Summertime

• Prisoner of Love (Don Darcy is the vocalist)

• I’ll Remember April

• It Could Happen to You

Raeburn altoist Johnny Bothwell made a record date for Signature with the Raeburn band. This is John’s Other Wife.

Williams’s next big break was with Gene Krupa’s ensemble. Krupa had been leading an orchestra with a small string section; Finckel was one of his arrangers. By August of 1945, Williams began contributing music. In September, he wrote a score for Anita O’Day for a silly novelty song that became a big hit. Chickery Chick is a great example of the power of a fabulous arrangement, which is the reason some may still know this song today.

Part II will continue his excellent work with Krupa and will introduce his music for the legendary Ray Anthony, still alive (age 103) at this writing.

—Jeff Sultanof

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