Russell Garcia?

[sheldonm]

I just picked up a recording from Russell Garcia and was wondering why I've never heard about the guy. I know a fair amount about West Coast Jazz but nothing about him. Anyone know anything about him other than the paragraph on AMG? Any tips on his recording? I only have "Los Angeles River" on JazzCity.

Thanks,

m-

[jazzbo]

I have him mostly as an arranger of material for other artists. I really like the work he has done on some of these; a standout for me are the Louis Armstrong orchestrations/arrangements done for Granz and Verve.

[ghost of miles]

Mark,

He's a figure who intrigues me as well--shows up on a number of late-1950s big-band dates that I have. Not much about him at AMG:

Composer, arranger and trumpeter Russell Garcia studied with several composers, among them Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco and Ernst Krenek. He played in Al Donahue's and Horace Heidt's dance bands, then did studio arrangements for Buddy DeFranco, Charlie Barnet, Roy Eldridge, Johnny Hodges and Ray Brown among others from 1953 until the early '60s. Garcia later wrote film and television scores, and provided arrangements for Stan Kenton's Neophonic orchestra in the mid-'60s. He had his Third Stream compositions recorded in 1979.

[ghost of miles]

I have him mostly as an arranger of material for other artists.  I really like the work he has done on some of these; a standout for me are the Louis Armstrong orchestrations/arrangements done for Granz and Verve.

←

I think he's on the Anita O'Day Mosaic box.

[sidewinder]

He arranged a great trombone-heavy session included in the Anita O'Day Mosaic box too.

Wow, ghost - we posted the same info at the same time !

Edited July 11, 2005 by sidewinder

[jazzbo]

Oh yeah, he's on that box, the Eldridge box, he was quite busy, he was arranger for MANY sessions.

I just dig those Louis ones a lot!

[JSngry]

His book on arranging (The Professional Arranger Composer) was "standard" for many years, and is still a good primer all these years later. I know I worked through it back in the day.

[jazzbo]

From, appropriately "Space Age Pop" the website:

Like Pete Rugolo, Garcia attended San Francisco State University and then studied composition (with Castelnuovo-Tedesco in Garcia's case) before going to work as a professional arranger and composer. He worked with Horace Heidt and Al Donahue before settling in LA to work with a theatre orchestra. He then moved to studio work, first for NBC radio and later with Warner Brothers, Disney, and others.

He freelanced around labels, working with singers such as Anita O'Day and Frances Faye as well as several mainstream jazz artists. He also wrote scores for films such as "The Time Machine," "Atlantis," and "The Pad and How to Use It" and contributed music to the television series "Rawhide" and "The Virginian." In the mid-1960s, he wrote several original works for Stan Kenton's "Neophonic" orchestra. He also published a book on arranging and orchestration that's still considered a primary text.

An avid sailor, he and his wife Gina, a former big band singer, sailed around the Pacific in his trimaran in the late 1960s. They moved to New Zealand soon after and live in a small cottage on the Keri Keri Inlet on the North Island.

Garcia's Fantastica is one of the choice pieces of space music, although critic Ralph Gleason dismissed it as "More like the soundtrack of a horror movie than anything else." "There is a wide range of sound," Gleason wrote, "and a sort of ominous overtone throughout.". Sounds in the Night, which features Marni Nixon's soprano on wordless vocal effects and a power-packed swinging chorus is one of the best vocal group albums ever.

Recordings

* Sounds in the Night, AAMCO Records ALPS-76 (also released as Bethlehem BCP-5006)

* The Johnny EverGreens, ABC-Paramount ABC-147

* Modern Jazz Gallery, Kapp

* Listen to the Music of Russ Garcia, Kapp KL-1050

* Jazz Music for the Birds and the Hep Cats, Bethlehem 6039

* Rocky Road, Bethlehem 6040

* I'll Never Forget What's Her Name, Bethlehem 6044

* Four Horns and a Lush Life, Bethlehem BCP-46

* Sleepy Lagoon (featuring Si Zentner), Liberty LRP-3055

* Hi-Fi Music for Children, Liberty LRP 3065

* With Muzzy Marcellino, Birds of a Feather, Liberty LRP-3075

* Fantastica!, Liberty LST 7005

* The Torch is Burning, Liberty LST 7086

* Half-Time: University Brass Band, Liberty LST 7115

* Variations for Flugelhorn, Strings, Bass, and Drums, Trend 522

http://www.spaceagepop.com/garcia.htm

That "Four Horns and a Lush Life" has some really good moments.

[jazzbo]

An interview from 1999. Note some of his students!

http://www.jazzprofessional.com/interviews/Russ%20Garcia.htm

Possibly you think of Russ Garcia solely as a superb jazz arranger. In Hollywood, he is equally acclaimed as a film composer and a symphony man.

Russ, and his young wife, have spent the last few years just travelling the world in their sailboat. They are now domiciled on a New Zealand isle. Notwithstanding, Russ is still extremely musically active and in great demand world- wide.

Russ was born in Oakland, California, on 12th April 1916. He attended San Francisco State College and then studied with the famed Tedesco (and others). In high school he was a trumpet/arranger leading to local bands and then to Horace Heidt and Al Donahue.

Garcia jazz arrangements have been prominent for Buddy de Franco, Anita O’Day, Oscar Peterson, and Sam Most (among so many others). His dramatic film scores are features at Universal, Disney, Warner’s and NBC.

Humorously and modestly, Russ laughs at his first films, which he did with Dick Hazard. Titles were ‘Radio Secret Service’ and ‘Operation Haylift’ (dropping food from the air to cattle). “You can imagine what kind of films they were,” Russ admitted.

He went on: “I’ve had some weird jobs in this business. Once they flew me to Las Vegas to film with Jayne Mansfield. She did a striptease to Night Train. Purposely she bumped off the beat because she wanted to do it again and again. Zaza Cabor, Bette Davis; I have hundreds of such stories!”

Russ’ first really major job was in radio. He scored a drama every seven days. The network also had a show every week with a name act—like Dinah Shore, The Mills Brothers, Frances Langford. The conductor got sick and Russ was called in. “I must have done a good job,” he said, “because they called me for next season. Then they had me write two arrangements, which they liked, and I became staff arranger at NBC.” Later the NBC music chief (“a mad Italian”) told the network heads “not to send him any more stupid directives.” The whole orchestra was fired, including Russ, of course.

Russ took a job at the then famous (long defunct) Westlake School of Music, in Hollywood. There he taught a daily, three hour arranging course. His students included “most of Les Brown’s band, Stan Kenton’s brass section, Bill Holman, Bob Graettinger and Gene Puerling.” He recalled: “A very good thing came out of this. I wrote an outline (on arranging) with musical examples. This became my book ‘The Professional Arranger.’ And that silly thing has been selling about 40 years. It’s all over the world in five languages.” Following Westlake, Russ became the busiest ever with arrangements for all the top bands and singers. Then came a long stint as staff arranger at Universal Pictures (“Benny Carter and Pete Rugolo were also there”).

After I5 years working “flat out” at Universal, Russ and his wife took off in their little boat. Starting in Florida they sailed across the Pacific via the Caribbean. “It was a wonderful trip, via the Florida Keys, Bahamas, Jamaica,” Russ informed.

Russ talked enthusiastically of his very early beginnings in music. Every Sunday morning he would be fascinated to listen to the Oakland Philharmonic, on radio. His brother bought him a comet. He learned to play it and formed a band at his high school. He remembered: “I said I must do an arrangement. So I bought a piano copy and had to put everything in the chart. Then I looked analytically at stock arrangements. When I was 10 or so years old I wrote an arrangement for the Oakland Symphony. I still have it. There are some good ideas in it. But, like every first arrangement, I put everything in it.”

How did Russ get into pictures—his start at Universal? Well, you will remember when Henry Mancini was doing ‘The Glenn Miller Story,’ at Universal. They asked Hank: “Who can take down the Miller records, note for note.” Hank replied: “Send for Russ Garcia.” So that’s how Russ commenced in movies.

Russ pointed out that many good composers find that film writing is a very different art. “I took Quincy Jones through his first two films. Quincy gave me ASCAP (performance fees) for any cues that I wrote that he didn’t give me a sketch for.” Universal gave singer Bobby Darin the composing for one film. Darin gave Garcia just eight bars of melody and Russ scored the whole film. Darin told Russ: “I didn’t recognise my theme.” Russ told him: “Sometimes we turn the theme around for film.” Later, in a TV talk show, about the movie, Darin said to the interviewer: “Sometimes I turn the theme around for a film.” Russ mused: “Those were the bad old days. Now I’ve got a lovely wife, much younger than I. I’ve got my beautiful Bahia faith which keeps me on which is logical, keeps me on track. At my age I’m still working, all over the world. I do work for television in Prague. I try to wear two hats—my big band hat and my symphonic hat.

“I do a few concerts in New Zealand (now my home). They don’t pay much but I love it there. I used to write music for money. Now (with Bahai faith) I want to do good in the world. We use our talents for the good of others. We teach life skills. We teach 100 kids trustworthiness, honesty, self–esteem. We teach them sneakily, with music.”

This article was first published in Crescendo & Jazz music, December, 1999

[couw]

try this one on for size:

http://www.basichip.com/

pretty schlocky but with some choice moments.

[ghost of miles]

From, appropriately "Space Age Pop" the website:

http://www.spaceagepop.com/garcia.htm

←

A great website that I've utilized several times for program research.

[Guest youmustbe]

Fresh Sound Records has reissued some of his stuff recently.

BTW I'm sure most of you know that Pete Rugolo, among a lot of other things did the Leave It To Beaver theme. But, some of the folks before my time told me that the 1952 big band he had was one of the hippest big bands ever.

[sheldonm]

Man, you guys are a wealth of information! Thanks for all the tips; I'll dig into his stuff a little more!

Mark

[rostasi]

Don't know much about him except for his work on some Bethlehem sides

and I have a Discovery recording that I picked up in the early 80's that I

haven't seen mentioned called, "I Lead a Charmed Life"

which has Bill Watrous, Teddy Edwards, Chuck Findley, and others.

---

Now playing: Jade - Music Slave

[ghost of miles]

How is the JAZZ VARIATIONS album that got reissued on CD in the early 1990s? I think it comes from around 1979-80.

[Teasing the Korean]

Russ Garcia's autobiography is available:

http://www.bearmanormedia.com/index.php?route=product/product&product_id=657

Russ's outer space album "Fantastica" is one of the greatest albums ever made.

[alocispepraluger102]

i love the beautiful german verve mood recording russ arranged and conducted with a huge string section featuring stan getz in the late 50s.

and a similar warm mild offering for roy eldridge. russ could do strings second to few.

Edited August 1, 2013 by alocispepraluger102

[Head Man]

Russ Garcia's autobiography is available:

http://www.bearmanormedia.com/index.php?route=product/product&product_id=657

Russ's outer space album "Fantastica" is one of the greatest albums ever made.

Thanks for the heads-up, TTK.

It looks like it might be a good read so I've ordered it.

[Teasing the Korean]

Russ Garcia's Hollywood Hills home, designed in 1962 by John Lautner.