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Topic: Dick Schory
Dick Schory was a noted percussionist and recording artist, played with the Chicago Symphony, toured as a performing percussionist, appeared on TV, directed radio and TV commercials, and was advertising manager and educator for Ludwig Drum Company. His popularizing of percussion music in 1957 paved the way for an entire movement in pop music in the late 50's and early 60's that lasted through 1969. Schory's albums for RCA offer choice samples of this music, sometimes simply enhancing standard studio band arrangements with percussion accents, but often rebuilding the whole piece around the percussion ensemble.
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Updated: Friday, 4 April 2008 8:37 AM CDT
Updated: Friday, 4 April 2008 8:37 AM CDT
lyrical
Phil Bodner, a saxophonist/clarinetist who conducted, played with and arranged the ’60s instrumental group the Brass Ring, died 24 Feb 2008 at age 90. Most active during the 1950s-’70s, Bodner also recorded with Frank Sinatra, Ella Fitzgerald, Mel Torme and others, and was signed to Enoch Light’s Command label as a solo artist, where he recorded with such musicians as Dick Hyman, Doc Severinsen and Urbie Green. Bodner began recording as the head of his own instrumentalists group, "The Brass Ring". He higlighted a twin saxophone sound, punctuated by brass and a hip rhythm section. Two equally prolific New Jersey born musicians were featured prominently in this band: saxophonist Stan Webb and guitarist Tony Mottola. While the band didn't quite achieve the major success as Herb Alpert did [Tijuana Brass], "The Brass Ring" did have a few chart hits of its' own. The "Love Theme from 'The Flight of The Phoenix" in 1965 was followed by what was arguably the group's most memorable hit: a song called "The Dis-Advantages of You". Written by 'Man of La Mancha' composer Mitch Leigh, the track, featuring the twin saxes and a wordless womens chorus, became nationally known after it was used as the background theme for a series of 'Benson and Hedges' cigarette TV commercials in the late '60s. "The Brass Ring" covered many diverse hits of the day, such as "Al-Di-La", "Samba De Orfeau" and Quincy Jones' theme from the movie "For Love of Ivy". Because of the popularity of the 'easy listening' format on FM radio stations of those days, "The Brass Ring" enjoyed much exposure throghout the late '60s and '70s. Bodner, a composer as well as musician, wrote a number of compositions for the group, as did Mottola. 
Seventy years ago a milestone in the history of jazz occurred. It may not seem like much now, but the Carnegie Hall debut of pure, unadulterated jazz was an event! Benny Goodman (just 28 at the time) was the headliner of the evening. If you listen to the recordings of this concert (which weren't discovered and commercially released until 1950) you will understand why. The man was a phenomenal musician and he surrounded himself, both in his small groups and his big band, with some of the most talented musicians in the country. At that time, Goodman's band was unsurpassed, easily the equal of Basie, Ellington, Calloway, Lunceford, Hines, the Dorseys, any one you could name. Goodman's band in 1938 would be the equivalent of say, Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band in 1978, in terms of popularity, impact, musical bravado, and their ability to blow the roof off. Just as Bruce and his boys were the epitome of what an American rock band should be in 1978, so were Benny and his boys the epitome of what an American swing band should be in 1938. 
Pete Candoli began playing lead and jazz for Sonny Dunham's Orchestra in 1941, followed by a long string of other name bands, including Woody Herman's famed “First Herd." He settled into the studio scene in the 1950s after tenures with Herman, Tex Beneke, Jerry Gray and Stan Kenton, among others. He and his trumpeter brother Conte, four years his junior, also co-led a band from 1957 to 1962. As a preeminent lead trumpeter, he played for the orchestras of Alex Stordahl, Gordon Jenkins, Nelson Riddle, Don Costa, Michel LeGrand and Henry Mancini, as well as Frank Sinatra. He also played lead with the Shorty Rogers Big Band. Candoli's association with top bands reads like a “Who's Who" of jazz. He was featured with Tommy Dorsey, Glenn Miller, Les Brown, Count Basie, Freddy Slack and Charlie Barnet. He was born Walter Joseph Candoli in Mishawaka, Indiana on June 28, 1923, and was most recently a resident of Studio City, California. Equally expert with classical music and pop, he conducted music seminars and concerts at some 30 universities and colleges when not playing a jazz festival, concert or nightclub somewhere. He worked over 5,000 record dates. Candoli composed and arranged music and conducted for Judy Garland, Ella Fitzgerald and Peggy Lee, among others. Having played first trumpet for Igor Stravinsky's “Ebony Concerto," written for the Woody Herman Orchestra, he received much acclaim for his versatility as a solo trumpeter. 
DAVID ROSE, “a British-born American songwriter, composer, arranger, and orchestra leader.” 
"Where have all the radio flowers gone?" Elevators, almost every one. And the airwaves aren't as sweet. Before the derogatory term "elevator music" was slapped onto it, there was a radio station format known as "Beautiful Music." It was popular, it was very beautiful – audio paradise. Hundreds of radio stations pumped the sounds of violins and large orchestras out in waves of air. With their hi-fis and their ears, listeners lapped it up like honey. Honey, it was a golden age. Bert Kaempfert, Mantovani, 101 Strings, Percy Faith (a creator of the genre, who hailed from the CBC) – with a phalanx of strings, these bands and a thousand others made over ``evergreens,'' tamed jazz, softened rock hits into lush dreamlands. 
NPR.org, January 2, 2008 - Known as "the swinging introvert," Paul Desmond once described his sound as "like a dry martini." With his darkly lilting approach, Desmond rose to fame while soloing in the crook of Dave Brubeck's piano, teaming with the bandleader to help form one of the most heralded groups in jazz history. Desmond also penned one of the most successful jazz classics of all time, "Take Five." Paul Desmond was born Paul Emil Breitenfeld on Nov. 25, 1924 in San Francisco, where his father played organ and arranged music for the Golden Gate Theater. After playing both the violin and clarinet in high school, Desmond switched to alto saxophone in 1943 — the same year the Army drafted him. He eventually changed his surname to Desmond — claiming with a straight face that Breitenfeld sounded too "Irish." Such witticisms typified his demeanor. 
Politicians and musical luminaries expressed shocked condolences and shared fond memories Monday 24 DEC 2007, after hearing reports that jazz great Oscar Peterson had died at age 82. 
Arturo Sandoval is the king of Latin jazz and one of the worlds most dynamic performers. The Cuban trumpet virtuoso has won four GRAMMY Awards, six Billboard Awards and an Emmy Awar