CONCERT CAMEO "Robert Farnon"

 

 

Robert Joseph Farnon CM (24 July 1917 – 23 April 2005) was a Canadian born composer, conductor, musical arranger and trumpet player. As well as being a composer of light original works for orchestra.

Musical theater legend Stephen Sondheim dies at 91

 

 

Stephen Joshua Sondheim (/ˈsɒndhaɪm/ SOND-hym; March 22, 1930 – November 26, 2021) was an American composer and lyricist. One of the most important figures in 20th-century musical theater, Sondheim was praised for having "reinvented the American musical". WIKIPEDIA

THE HOLLYRIDGE STRINGS

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The Hollyridge Strings were an American studio orchestra that specialized in easy-listening music, and recorded for the Capitol Records label in the 1960s and 1970s. Stu Phillips, Mort Garson, and Perry Botkin, Jr. were among those who produced, arranged, and conducted the group's recordings. The group specialized in orchestral versions of songs by such then-contemporary pop-music artists as The Beatles, The Beach Boys, The Four Seasons, Elvis Presley, Simon & Garfunkel, and Nat "King" Cole. During the week of July 4, 1964, the group's cover version of The Beatles's song "All My Loving" spent a single week on the Billboard Hot 100 chart at No. 93.

TONY ACQUAVIVA

 

Acquaviva was a graduate of the United States Military Academy and served in the Army's orchestral division from 1944 to 1948. As a struggling young musician in New York, he roomed with singer Guy Mitchell, sleeping on the floor for lack of furniture and once admitted to the press that the refrigerator there contained only one jar of mustard. WIKIPEDIA | Joni James

He married Joni James in 1956 at St. Patrick's Cathedral in New York City and served as her manager and conductor. He recorded for MGM Records (notably the LP album "Music of Acquaviva", MGM E3226), and his works include "The Cavalier's Ball" and "My Love, My Love", the latter of which was recorded by his wife and reached Gold Record status at its release. Acquaviva later fell into bad health, and Joni James retired from performing to care for him (and their two children, adopted from Italy) for the last 18 years of his life. In recent years several authors have confused Tony Acquaviva with his younger brother Nick, who is the cowriter of "My Love, My Love" and numerous other Joni James hits. Tony Acquaviva did not compose songs which Joni James recorded, however, uncredited, he reportedly according to Joni James did write the bridge for the English version of the standard "That's All," a song he also successfully recorded.

Raúl Di Blasio (born November 14, 1949) is an Argentine Composer, arranger and pianist.

Di Blasio practiced piano alongside his teachers for more than four years. Having difficulty in purchasing a piano, he also relied on readily available sources of music such as whistling with his father, which helped develop the sort of melodies he employs in his work. One of his teachers was the renowned Argentinian composer and Pianist Bebu Silvetti from whom Di Blasio drew great inspiration. In fact, a lot of Di Blasio's musical pieces were composed by Bebu Silvetti; one of which was called "Piano" which was considered as the first step into his musical career. 

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RIP BILL PURCELL

William Whitney Pursell (June 9, 1926 – September 3, 2020) was an American composer and onetime session pianist. He had a brief but successful career as a pop musician before continuing on as a session player. He is best known for the top ten hit "Our Winter Love." In 1962 he signed with Columbia Records, and the hit single "Our Winter Love" was released that year, which hit No. 9 on the Billboard Hot 100, in addition to hitting No. 4 on the Easy Listening chart and No. 20 on the Hot R and B Singles chart. A full-length album entitled Our Winter Love was released the following year. The album reached #15 on the Billboard 200 on the strength of the popularity of the title track. The arrangements for the album were made by Bill Justis and Pursell, and the orchestra was conducted by Grady Mart WIKIPEDIA | Available Recordings

Remembering Bent Fabric

Bent Fabricius-Bjerre (7 December 1924 – 28 July 2020), better known internationally as Bent Fabric, was a Danish pianist and composer. Bent Fabricius-Bjerre was born in Frederiksberg, Denmark. He started a jazz ensemble after World War II and founded a label, Metronome Records, in 1950. However, he is best known for his 1961 instrumental "Omkring et flygel" (literally, "Around a Piano") which became a hit in Denmark. The song was re-released worldwide under the name "Alley Cat" on Atco Records the following year, and went to #1 in Australia and #49 in Germany. The tune also became a hit in the United States; the song hit #2 on the AC chart and #7 on the Billboard Hot 100, and the LP of the same name hit #13 on the Billboard 200. "Alley Cat" also won a Grammy Award for Best Instrumental.   available recordings


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Jose Melis Born 27 February 1920, Havana, Cuba Died 7 April 2005, Sun City, AZ, United States

Discography
 Melis was born in Havana, Cuba. He studied at the Havana Conservatory of Music and a Cuban government scholarship enabled him to continue his education in Paris. When he was 16, he arrived in the United States, graduated from the Juilliard School of Music and worked as a lounge pianist. During World War II, while he was serving as the musical director for the USO's New York City branch of the USO, he met Jack Paar, and the two remained friends for years.
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Italian composer Ennio Morricone dies 10 November 1928 – 6 July 2020

Morricone composed over 400 scores for cinema and television, as well as over 100 classical works. He started as a talented football player for A.S. Roma but quickly left the sport to follow his passion for music. His score to The Good, the Bad and the Ugly (1966) is considered one of the most influential soundtracks in history and was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame. His filmography includes over 70 award-winning films, including all Sergio Leone films (since A Fistful of Dollars), all Giuseppe Tornatore films (since Cinema Paradiso), The Battle of Algiers, Dario Argento's Animal Trilogy, 1900, Exorcist II, Days of Heaven, several major films in French cinema, in particular the comedy trilogy La Cage aux Folles I, II, III and Le Professionnel, as well as The Thing, The Mission, The Untouchables, Mission to Mars, Bugsy, Disclosure, In the Line of Fire, Bulworth, Ripley's Game and The Hateful Eight. WIKIPEDIA  |  AVAILABLE RECORDINGS

Luther Henderson (March 14, 1919 – July 29, 2003) was an American arranger, composer, orchestrator, and pianist best known for his contributions to Broadway musicals.

Luther Henderson's first foray into Broadway theatre was Duke Ellington's Beggar's Holiday, serving as co-orchestrator alongside Billy Strayhorn. He went on to serve as orchestrator, arranger, and musical director on more than fifty Broadway musicals, including Lena Horne: The Lady and Her Music, Flower Drum Song, Funny Girl, No, No Nanette, Purlie Victorious, Ain't Misbehavin' and Jelly's Last Jam. Henderson additionally made his Broadway songwriting debut with Jelly's Last Jam, receiving a 1992 Tony Award nomination for Best Original Score, alongside lyricist Susan Birkenhead. Henderson was twice nominated for Broadway's Tony Award: in 1992 for Best Original Score for Jelly's Last Jam, and in 1997 for Best Orchestrations for Play On!. He received the Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Orchestrations for his work on Jelly's Last Jam. Other recognitions include the 2002 AUDELCO Pioneer Award, awarded alongside his wife, actress Billie Allen. He received a posthumous Jazz Masters Award from the National Endowment for the Arts in 2004. In 2008 Juilliard School of Music, Henderson's alma mater, established the Luther Henderson Scholarship Fund.  AVAILABLE RECORDINGS

Columbia ‎– CS 8149

John Alfred Mandel (November 23, 1925 – June 29, 2020)

JOHNNY MANDEL...American composer and arranger of popular songs, film music and jazz. The musicians he worked with include Count Basie, Frank Sinatra, Peggy Lee, Anita O'Day, Barbra Streisand, Tony Bennett, Diane Schuur and Shirley Horn. Mandel composed, conducted and arranged the music for numerous movie sound tracks. His earliest credited contribution was to I Want to Live! in 1958, which was nominated for a Grammy. Mandel's other compositions include "Suicide Is Painless" (theme from the movie and TV series M*A*S*H), "Close Enough for Love", "Emily" and "A Time for Love" (nominated for an Academy Award). He wrote numerous film scores, including the score of The Sandpiper. The love theme for that film, "The Shadow of Your Smile", which he co-wrote with Paul Francis Webster, won the 1965 Academy Award for Best Original Song and the Grammy Award for Song of the Year in 1966. WIKIPEDIA  | RECORDINGS

John Gregory, has died aged 95, was an award-winning musician, composer and arranger.

Johnny Gregory wrote and arranged music for 27 films, including Serena (1962), The Sicilians (1964), Electric Dreams (1984) and Revolution (1985). He scored more than 500 compositions and made more than 2,000 records, spanning covers for the Embassy label to light music, easy listening and Latin American. You can hear 52 selections by The John Gregory Orchestra on our streaming playlist. Under the names Chaquito and Nino Rico, he launched a successful series of big band Latin American style albums. Two of these, This Chaquito (1968) and Thriller Themes (1972) entered the UK album charts. He collaborated with vocalists including Cleo Laine and Nana Mouskouri. Then, in 1960, he began to make his own records. The Cascading Strings were part of the Philips record label’s easy listening albums. 101 Strings Orchestra and Living Strings showcased his impressive talent for beautiful arrangements using strings. More unusual was Melodies of Japan (1963), a unique and magical reworking of the traditional folk music of the far east. Sun 31 May 2020...GUARDIAN

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Piet Souer (a guitar and keyboard player)

In 1976, he recorded with the conductor Harry van Hoof the album Strings by Candlelight (certified gold in the Netherlands). Then, he produced hit records for popular Dutch acts such as Champagne (1977 Export Award), Doris D. & The Pins, Vanessa, American Gypsy, Mouth & MacNeal, Anita Meyer, Maywood, Conquistador. He also collaborated with international artists including Vicky Leandros, Helen Shapiro, Katie Kissoon and Engelbert Humperdinck. In 1982, Sylvie Vartan sang one of his composition ("La Sortie de Secours"), which was released as a single and was a French cover version of "I'm So Sorry" (originally performed by José Hoebee). The same year, British pop group Tight Fit covered "Fantasy Island" (one of his songs originally performed by The Millionaires) which became a UK Top 5 hit and a European Top 10 hit.  AVAILABLE RECORDINGS

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Fritz Schulz-Reichel (July 4, 1912 – February 4, 1990) was a German jazz and pop pianist.

Schulz-Reichel's father was a classical musician, and he began playing piano at the age of six. He developed an unusual technique where he played the melody of a tune with the left hand and the rhythm with the right hand. While he trained to be a concert pianist, he chose a career in pop music, playing light jazz and pop tunes. He invented a device called the Tipsy Wire Box, which could be attached to a piano to make it sound like an out-of-tune barrelhouse upright. (Another interpretation is that "Tipsy Wire Box" was a slang expression for the piano itself, which was merely "detuned"; that is, one of the three strings that make up each note of the main section of the piano is slightly flatted, giving the piano the characteristic sound.) In 1953 he adopted the moniker Schräger Otto (Crazy Otto), and recorded for Deutsche Grammophon. His tunes became hits in Germany, France, England, and America; his albums were released on Decca and MGM in the U.S. and Polydor which were distributed by Philips Electrical Industries Pty. Limited in Australia. In 1955, American musician Johnny Maddox played a medley of his songs, entitled "The Crazy Otto Medley"; this went to #2 on the U.S. charts, and in the U.S. both Reichel and Maddox were subsequently known as "Crazy Otto", to some confusion. Schulz-Reichel continued to perform live and on film, and remained a popular jazz favorite in Germany for many years. "Crazy Otto" is referenced in the song "Ramble on Rose" written by Robert Hunter and performed by the Grateful Dead. "Crazy Otto" was reported among hundreds of artists whose material was reportedly destroyed in the 2008 Universal Fire.----WIKIPEDIA   |   CRAZY OTTO RECORDINGS

Conductor Robert Mandell...RIP aka Eric Hammerstein, Johnny Gibbs

NOTE (from Norman Lebrecht’s page - Slipped Disc) that Robert Mandell - Leicester’s Mr Music’ and conductor of the Melachrino Strings and Orchestra in the 80s and 90s, has died after a fall at home. His son reports that he thinks Robert picked up Covid-19 during five days in hospital in Leicester, but that due to his frail state it probably only hastened his demise by a couple of weeks. He was 90. RIP...

Robert Mandell (29 August 1929 – 25 April 2020) was an American-born British-based conductor, particularly noted in the United Kingdom for his popular family and children's concerts, and stage musicals. Between 1961 and 1968, he recorded over 50 LP discs in London for Readers Digest Records under a variety of pseudonyms, including Eric Hammerstein, Johnny Gibbs, Ray Thomas, Juan Ramirez, Pablo Mendez, Dick Mahi, The Button-Down Brass, The Romantic Saxophones and Strings, and The Collegians. In 1968 Mandell took up residency with his family in England. He concentrated his career initially in musical theater and then on bringing popular classical concerts to a new audience through his "Concerts for the Family" series. WIKIPEDIA   |   ERIC HAMMERSTEIN RECORDINGS

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MARTY GOLD conductor and arranger of popular music instrumentals

Martin Gold (December 26, 1915 – January 14, 2011) was a composer, pianist, and bandleader born in New York City, New York. Gold also arranged, conducted, and recorded for RCA Victor light orchestral "mood music" pieces utilising fully the possibilities of the newly developed Stereophonic sound, with whole sections of violins drifting between right and left speakers. He produced Peter Nero's first two albums for RCA and also conducted the accompanying orchestra. On ouir station you can hear some of his hi fi and stereo showcase albums he recorded for RCA and its subsidiary, Vik. On these Gold's style is to use every bit of the orchestra.

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Sidney Torch MBE (5 June 1908 – 16 July 1990) was a British pianist, cinema organist, conductor, orchestral arranger and a composer of light music.

Born Sidney Torchinsky of a Ukrainian father and an Estonian mother in London, Torch learned the rudiments of music very quickly from his father, an orchestral trombonist, who used to sit next to fellow trombonist Gustav Holst in such places as the old Holborn Empire. He worked as an accompanist before getting a job playing the piano with the Orchestra of the Regal Cinema, Marble Arch, London. When the Cinema's Christie Theatre Organ was installed in 1928, Torch became the Assistant Organist to the Chief Organist, Quentin Maclean. Torch took over as Chief Organist at the Cinema in 1932. Maclean had left in 1930 to become Chief Organist of the Trocadero Cinema, Elephant and Castle and was followed at the Regal until 1932 by Reginald Foort. Torch's tenure at the Regal lasted until 1934.


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"Norm" Geller of Las Vegas, passed away March 3, 2016

Norman H. "Norm" Geller of Las Vegas was born Dec. 30, 1934, in Pittsburgh, to Jack and Rose Geller. Norm was a child prodigy who played piano at Carnegie Hall at age nine, cello in the Cleveland Summer Symphony and tuba in the marching band. He attended John Carroll University in Cleveland. He then pursued a career as a pianist, arranger and conductor. Norman appeared with Ray Bolger at the Desert Inn. He conducted for the Radio City Rockettes at the Flamingo Hotel and was house bandleader at the Sands. Norm appeared on the Johnny Carson and Merv Griffin televisions shows and performed for the Queen of England as well as B.B.C. programs in London. He spent 18 years as Vic Damone's conductor.

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Ronald Alfred Goodwin (17 February 1925 – 8 January 2003)

Ron Goodwin was an English composer and conductor known for his film music. He worked as a ghostwriter for Phil Green, Stanley Black, Geraldo and Peter Yorke among others. From 1949 Goodwin conducted for the Polygon company, arranging and conducting recordings of Petula Clark and Jimmy Young, including the latter's 1951 UK no 1 hit "Too Young". In the 1950s he joined Parlophone, and worked alongside George Martin. He accompanied Peter Sellers on his Goodness Gracious Me album, and began to broadcast and make records with his Ron Goodwin Concert Orchestra.

In 1953 Goodwin began arranging and conducting more than 300 recordings for over fifty artists, which resulted in more than 100 chart successes. He scored over 70 films in a career lasting over fifty years. His most famous works included Where Eagles Dare, Battle of Britain, 633 Squadron and Frenzy.

By 1987, Goodwin had begun concentrating on live orchestrations which included his "Drake 400 Suite" in 1980 and "Armada Suite" in 1988. His "New Zealand Suite" in 1983 marked a long association with the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra, Goodwin appeared as guest conductor with many symphony orchestras at home and abroad including the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra, Hallé Orchestra, Royal Scottish National Orchestra, Ulster Orchestra, Detroit Symphony Orchestra, New Zealand Symphony Orchestra, Singapore Symphony Orchestra, Australian Pops Orchestra, Danish Radio Orchestra and the BBC Concert Orchestra. Goodwin was guest conductor at the Royal Academy of Music's Festival of British and American Film Music in June 1996.  AVAILABLE RECORDINGS