Monday, June 10, 2019
Leslie David Reed
RIP Leslie David Reed, OBE (24 July 1935 – 15 April 2019) Composer, conductor, arranger
Jack De Mello
Jack de Mello (15 Nov 1916 – 27 April 2019) Arranger, keyboardist, composer, conductor, producer, entrepreneur and founder of Music Of Polynesia Inc.
Composer, arranger, producer and recording artist Jack de Mello, who created an expansive new synthesis of Hawaiian melodies and lush, contemporary orchestral music, died in Las Vegas. He was 102. During his prolific career, de Mello recorded close to 160 albums of all types of music, including almost 500 Hawaiian songs. He recorded at top studios around the world and “gave Hawaiian music a new identity,” according to a statement from his family. Born Nov. 15, 1916, in Oakland, Calif., de Mello showed early musical talent. He studied music and music theory at the Bickett Military Band School in San Francisco and was only 9 years old when he began playing the trumpet. The family recalled his stories about piling into a Model T Ford with his brother to go to his lessons, which also required travel by ferry boat and train since the Bay Bridge had yet to be built.
As a young musician in San Francisco, de Mello joined the staff band at the CBS radio network and later served as a musical director at ABC and NBC. He entered the Army as a bandmaster at Camp McQuaide in California. As musical director of Mutual Network top-rated radio show, “Beat The Villian,” de Mello hired the Society Band led by Joe Reichman. They went on to perform together at major U.S. hotels including the Waldorf Astoria and Roosevelt in New York. During a run at the St. Francis Hotel in San Francisco, they accepted an invitation to reopen the Royal Hawaiian hotel in 1947. The hotel had been used exclusively by the U.S. Navy during World War II.
Composer Johnny Harris
Composer, Arranger, Conductor JOHNNY HARRIS
Johnny Harris was born in Edinburgh, Scotland and is a graduate of the Guildhall School of Music in London. Originally a trumpet player with the Norman Burns band & big bands led by Vic Lewis, Ken Mackintosh, Cyril Stapleton and then a member of the short-lived beat group The Shubdubs with drummer Jimmie Nicol and organist Roger Coulam. In 1964, he recorded a Beatles cover version album and EP called Beatlemania with Jimmie Nicol which resulted in Nicol replacing the ill Ringo Starr on a worldwide Beatles tour. He joined Pye Records in 1965 as an arranger and conductor for producer Tony Hatch and his then-wife Jackie Trent. Johnny had an un-credited role as conductor on the Nancy Sinatra In London album and worked with many other artists in the sixties as a staff member at Pye. He worked freelance for many other record labels in Great Britain and Europe and was a regular arranger, conductor, and producer for Petula Clark until she left Pye in 1971
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Leslie David Reed
RIP Leslie David Reed, OBE (24 July 1935 – 15 April 2019) Composer, conductor, arranger English songwriter, arranger, musician and light o...
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Starting at midnight on Dec 17th Beautiful Instrumentals Channel flips the switch with beautiful Christmas instrumentals. Enjoy the Holida...
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RIP Leslie David Reed, OBE (24 July 1935 – 15 April 2019) Composer, conductor, arranger English songwriter, arranger, musician and light o...
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RIP Francis Lai In 1970 Lai won the Academy Award for Best Music, Original Score and the Golden Globe Award for Best Original Scor...