👤PROFILE: “COUNT BASIE”
COUNT BASIE By Mahnuel Muñoz On August 21, 1904, William “Count” Basie, one of the great Big Band leaders of the 20th century, was born in Red Bank, New Jersey. Music was part of his DNA. He was attracted to…
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👤 PROFILE: “CY COLEMAN”
CY COLEMAN By Mahnuel Muñoz He was a child prodigy who played piano at such prestigious venues as Steinway Hall, Town Hall and Carnegie Hall before he was ten years old. Cy Coleman was born in New York on June…
👤 PROFILE: “MITCH MILLER”
Mitch Miller was born in Rochester, New York, on July 4, 1911. He took piano lessons but soon switched to the oboe. After graduating in music, he began his career working for the CBS Symphony Orchestra. After recording with conductors…
👤 PROFILE: “LEO ROBIN”
LEO ROBIN By Mahnuel Muñoz Leo Robin was born on April 6, 1900 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. He studied at the University of Pittsburgh School of Law and at Carnegie Tech’s theater school. After graduating, he worked as an advertising agent,…
👤 PROFILE: “GORDON JENKINS”
GORDON JENKINS By Mahnuel Muñoz On May 12, 1910, Gordon Jenkins, the Master of Orchestral Exuberance, was born. His arrangements may seem anachronistic to many modern ears, but they were an essential part of the popular musical sound of the…
👤PROFILE: “RICHARD RODGERS”
RICHARD RODGERS By Mahnuel Muñoz Richard Rodgers (1902-1979) was the most successful composer of the Great American Songbook. Over the course of a 60-year career, he wrote the scores for 42 musicals performed on Broadway or in the West End,…
👤 PROFILE: “TOMMY DORSEY”
TOMMY DORSEY By Mahnuel Muñoz Tommy Dorsey (Thomas Francis Dorsey Jr.), was born on November 19, 1905 in Shenandoah, Pennsylvania. His father, a miner by profession, was a part-time musician, first teaching Tommy to play the trumpet, before he decided…
👤 PROFILE: “SAMMY DAVIS Jr.”
SAMMY DAVIS Jr. By Mahnuel Muñoz On December 8, 1925, a man of such immense talent was born in Harlem, New York, that it is inconceivable that he could accommodate himself in his minuscule stature. Singer, dancer, actor, and imitator,…
👤 PROFILE: “NELSON RIDDLE”
NELSON RIDDLE On June 1, 1921, the man responsible for the quintessential Sinatra sound was born in Oradell, New Jersey: Nelson Riddle. The son of an amateur musician who inspired his vocation, Nelson learned as a child to play the…
👤 PROFILE: “BILLY MAY”
BILLY MAY On November 10, 1916, Billy May was born. He was an amazing and vitalist musician whose arrangements Frank would say are like a bucket of ice water in the face. I think he defined it perfectly. Billy is…
👤 PROFILE: “NANCY SINATRA”
NANCY SINATRA Nancy Sinatra was born on June 8, 1940 while her father, Frank Sinatra, was singing with the Tommy Dorsey Orchestra; As the daughter of showbiz royalty, Nancy grew up in the spotlight and made her first television appearance…
👤PROFILE: “DON COSTA”
DON COSTA On June 9, 1925, Don Costa, the versatile arranger who helped launch great artistic careers and was responsible for Sinatra’s most contemporary sound from the late 1960s until Costa’s untimely death in 1983, was born in Boston. Costa…
