Frank Comstock (Part 1)
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:
He was one of the earliest free-lance arrangers for Stan Kenton. Here is
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.
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.
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