Results for "Arranger"

Sonny Burke

Born: March 22, 1914

Born in Scranton, Pennsylvania, composer and arranger Joseph Francis “Sonny” Burke studied piano and violin as a child. He later switched to the vibes, which would become his signature instrument. He began playing in dance bands at an early age, leading his own group at Duke University. When Detroit orchestra leader Sam Donahue left his outfit in 1938 to work with Gene Krupa, Burke inherited the band. With encouragement from famous music critic John Hammond he brought the orchestra to New York, where they eventually landed a booking at the Roseland Ballroom and a recording contract with Okeh Records

Don Sebesky

Born: December 10, 1937

Don Sebesky is best known as house arranger for many of producer Creed Taylor's Verve, A&M, and CTI productions; the man whose orchestral backgrounds helped make artists like Wes Montgomery, Paul Desmond, Freddie Hubbard, and George Benson acceptable to audiences outside of jazz. He has taken critical heat for this, but Sebesky's arrangements have usually been among the classiest in his field, reflecting a solid knowledge of the orchestra, drawing variously from big band jazz, rock, ethnic music, classical music of all eras, and even the avant-garde for ideas. He once cited Bartok as his favorite composer, but one also hears lots of Stravinsky in his work.

Tutti Camarata

Born: May 11, 1913

Though his name was never out front, Tutti Camarata played an important role as an arranger during the big band era and conducted studio orchestras for many top vocalists. A trumpet player, Camarata studied music at Julliard. He worked as an arranger for Charlie Barnet and on Bing Crosby's radio program during in the mid-1930s. In 1938 he joined Paul Whiteman. When Whiteman soon after scrapped his band to form a new outfit he joined Jimmy Dorsey, where he helped shape the orchestra's success. Dorsey's group was featured on a radio program sponsored by Twenty Grand cigarettes, and the sponsor required that the last three minutes of each show feature all the band's stars

Bob Belden

Born: October 31, 1956

One of the most adventurous arrangers of the 1990s and 2000s, Bob Belden took the music of Puccini, Prince, and (with the most success) Sting, and turned it into jazz. After graduating from the University of North Texas in 1978, he was with Woody Herman's Orchestra for 18 months, worked with Donald Byrd off and on during 1981-1985, played with the Mel Lewis Orchestra, and produced a couple of Red Rodney records. In 1983, Belden settled in New York as a writer for studio sessions. Influenced by Gil Evans, Belden debuted on Sunnyside with Treasure Island, before working on transforming non-jazz material into jazz

Manny Albam

Born: June 24, 1922

Manny Albam - arranger, As a jazz composer, arranger, conductor and teacher, in a career that spanned seven decades, Manny Albam worked with some of the most celebrated jazz performers, including Dizzy Gillespie, Coleman Hawkins, Stan Getz, Sarah Vaughn, Count Basie, McCoy Tyner, Roland Hanna, Carmen McCrea and Bob Brookmeyer. His most recent recording was the 1999 CD, “If You Could See Us Now!,” Nancy Marano & Manny Albam. He also arranged Joe Lovano’s critically-hailed 1997 CD, “Celebrating Sinatra,” and arranged and conducted Hank Jones and the Meridian String Quartet

Skip Lombardi

Born: June 19, 1946

Berklee, 1969 Mus. B. 2 years in the house band at the Desert Inn, Las Vegas, 12 years in the house orchestra at Goodspeed Opera House, East Haddam, CT. Original Broadway productions of Annie, Shenandoah, Going Up, Very Good Eddie, Five O'Clock Girl. London Production of Very Good Eddie. Gigs with the Don Ellis Orchestra, summer, 1969. Sure I can play 19/4.

Sherry Hackney Cade

Born: January 17, 1963

Many arrangements and orchestrations for singers and instrumentalists with ensembles up to 80-piece orchestra for live performances. Visit www.sherryhackneycade.com to hear original compositions.

Robert Lingnau

Born: December 15, 1973

Graduate music arranger and composer that works for a wide array of styles and ensemble sizes.

Mike Kaplan

Born: May 10, 1957

Mike Kaplan (arranger/tenor saxophone) envisioned the Nonet as a unit combining the strength, cohesion and varied tonal colors of a big band with the spontaneity and flexibility of a small group.  Among the groups and performers Kaplan has played or recorded with are Slide Hampton, the Glenn Miller Orchestra, Chico Mendoza’s Latin Jazz Dream Band, Steve Turre, Russell Malone and Rob McConnell.  

In addition to freelancing in the NJ/NY area, Kaplan has had his arrangements performed by the Diane Moser’s Composers Big Band and recorded by Orquesta Royal and la Progressiva.  

Mike Conrad

Born: May 15, 1988

Mike Conrad is a composer, improviser, and teacher from Iowa. He has been recognized for his arranging and composing with four ASCAP Herb Alpert Young Jazz Composer Awards and seven DownBeat Awards, as well as awards and commissions from the Contemporary Music Academy in Beijing, the Bundesjazzorchester of Germany, the West Point Army Jazz Knights, and many other organizations. Conrad’s music has been performed all over the world, including a 2017 concert by the Metropole Orkest in the Netherlands, a 2014 Carnegie Hall Premiere, and a performance at the US Presidential Inauguration in 2013. As a performer, he has toured China, played at the Umbria Jazz Festival in Perugia, Italy, and appeared at various jazz festivals and venues all over the United States