Bill Finegan R.I.P.

[Big Beat Steve]

Did I overlook something or did this really go totally unnoticed here?

Famous arranger Bill Finegan left the building on June 4.

R.I.P.

http://www.artsjournal.com/rifftides/2008/...n_19172008.html

[JSngry]

Sorry to hear about this, but glad he went peacefully. One of the true greats at what is becoming a lost art.

[sidewinder]

Another sad loss, way too many of them of late - RIP.

Edited June 7, 2008 by sidewinder

[JSngry]

Again, please allow me to implore anybody & everybody who gives even half a damn to go back and listen to the intro on Finnegan's chart of "Serenade In Blue" for Glenn Miller & then ponder why it means to write something like that for a song like that for a band like that and have it pass into the "popular canon" w/o anybody seemingly as much as batting an eye.

It means you a bad mutterfunker, that's what it meansl.

[AllenLowe]

years ago I took a workshop that Finegan ran at U Bridgeport (where he was teaching) with his guest Jim Hall - interesting experience - crusty guy, knew just about everything there was to know about arranging -

[mmilovan]

Sauter-Finegan orchestra was really something worth listening to, every note! And he turn inside out tired Goodman's band begin 1940s!

RIP Mr. Finegan!

[Big Beat Steve]

Actually the one who "turned the tired Benny Goodman band inside out" in the early 40s was the other half of Sauter-Finegan: Eddie Sauter.

Still very nice recordings that resulted.

BTW, anybody know of a good facsimile reissue source of the Sauter-Finegan LP "Sons of Sauter-Finegan"? (Preferaby vinyl, because THAT zany Jim Flora cover you just GOT to have in its original size!)

[Ian Bradley]

Again, please allow me to implore anybody & everybody who gives even half a damn to go back and listen to the intro on Finnegan's chart of "Serenade In Blue" for Glenn Miller & then ponder why it means to write something like that for a song like that for a band like that and have it pass into the "popular canon" w/o anybody seemingly as much as batting an eye.

It means you a bad mutterfunker, that's what it meansl.

Billy may wrote the intro to Serenade in Blue after Bill Finegan couldn't quite come up with what Glenn Miller wanted - although the rest of the arrangement is his. But yes - Bill Finegan was a superb arranger. Billy Strayhorn was a great fan of his work with Glenn Miller - which says everything about the quality of his work. Miller's work is often denigrated and whilst its true, it was 'pop' music for the kids and they played far too many novelty numbers, Miller never short changed his audience with the quality of the band's writing - and Bill Finegan was an essential part of that - not just 'Little Brown Jug' or 'Song of the Volga Boatmen' but even on the ballads his work is rich. Check out the end of Finegan's arrangement of the ballad 'Don't Cry, Cherie' where he manages to interweave the French National Anthem! I honestly believe Glenn Miller's band - and Bill Finegan's writing in particular - influenced the Claude Thornhill band (Thornhill played piano for Miller in his first band IIRC) - and thereby Gil Evans' writing. If Gil Evans created the Birth of the Cool, the 'Miller Sound' was its conception.

[JSngry]

Again, please allow me to implore anybody & everybody who gives even half a damn to go back and listen to the intro on Finnegan's chart of "Serenade In Blue" for Glenn Miller & then ponder why it means to write something like that for a song like that for a band like that and have it pass into the "popular canon" w/o anybody seemingly as much as batting an eye.

It means you a bad mutterfunker, that's what it meansl.

Billy may wrote the intro to Serenade in Blue after Bill Finegan couldn't quite come up with what Glenn Miller wanted - although the rest of the arrangement is his. But yes - Bill Finegan was a superb arranger. Billy Strayhorn was a great fan of his work with Glenn Miller - which says everything about the quality of his work. Miller's work is often denigrated and whilst its true, it was 'pop' music for the kids and they played far too many novelty numbers, Miller never short changed his audience with the quality of the band's writing - and Bill Finegan was an essential part of that - not just 'Little Brown Jug' or 'Song of the Volga Boatmen' but even on the ballads his work is rich. Check out the end of Finegan's arrangement of the ballad 'Don't Cry, Cherie' where he manages to interweave the French National Anthem! I honestly believe Glenn Miller's band - and Bill Finegan's writing in particular - influenced the Claude Thornhill band (Thornhill played piano for Miller in his first band IIRC) - and thereby Gil Evans' writing. If Gil Evans created the Birth of the Cool, the 'Miller Sound' was its conception.

I did not know that about Billy May!

As for the Miller/Thornhill/Evans evolutionary link, so long as we don't go too "literal" on that, I can see that, yeah, for sure. The thing about Miller's band that sometimes gets overlooked is it's extreme diversity in repertoire, and as you note, the sheer quality of the writing no matter what the "type" of material. Perhaps that's a "technical" vs "spiritual" issue, but there's no way that muisc of any kind is strictly "either/or" when it comes to that!

[Teasing the Korean]

RIP. The Sauter Finegan records are among the best in the Space Age Bachelor Pad section of my collection.

[Ian Bradley]

As for the Miller/Thornhill/Evans evolutionary link, so long as we don't go too "literal" on that, I can see that, yeah, for sure. The thing about Miller's band that sometimes gets overlooked is it's extreme diversity in repertoire, and as you note, the sheer quality of the writing no matter what the "type" of material. Perhaps that's a "technical" vs "spiritual" issue, but there's no way that muisc of any kind is strictly "either/or" when it comes to that!

[alocispepraluger102]

RIP. The Sauter Finegan records are among the best in the Space Age Bachelor Pad section of my collection.

and mine.

[Big Beat Steve]

RIP. The Sauter Finegan records are among the best in the Space Age Bachelor Pad section of my collection.

I see what you mean.

But out of sheer curiosity: What else does the "Space Age Bachelor Pad" section of your collection include?

[Teasing the Korean]

But out of sheer curiosity: What else does the "Space Age Bachelor Pad" section of your collection include?

Stan Kenton, Pete Rugolo, Esquivel, certain Mancini, certain Les Baxter, certain Shorty Rogers, Dick Schory, many others.

Of course, particular albums by these artists may be filed in the Latin, exotica, now sound, or crime jazz sections.

I may have 30 albums by a particular artist broken up between, say, 5 sections.

All of my Sauter Finegan are in Space Age Bachelor Pad.

[Ken Dryden]

Bob Brookmeyer wrote a warm tribute to Bill Finegan in his blog.

[GA Russell]

I saw Buddy DeFranco speak and perform at a workshop in Atlanta about 1990. He made a special point to say how much he liked the Sauter-Finnegan Band.

Here's his LA Times obituary from today:

http://www.latimes.com/news/obituaries/la-...,0,599161.story

Bill Finegan, 91; arranger for Tommy Dorsey, Glenn Miller bands

ORIGINAL, INVENTIVE: Bill Finegan wrote more than 300 arrangements for Glenn Miller, including "Little Brown Jug," "Sunrise Serenade" and "Song of the Volga." Nelson Riddle was his student. By Jocelyn Y. Stewart, Los Angeles Times Staff Writer

June 9, 2008 Bill Finegan, an architect of the big band sounds of Tommy Dorsey and Glenn Miller who later traded in commercial success to co-create the Sauter-Finegan Orchestra, which produced music that still stands as some of the most experimental of the swing era, has died. He was 91.

Finegan died Wednesday at a Hospital in Bridgeport, Conn., from complications of pneumonia.

In 1938, Dorsey bought Finegan's score for "Lonesome Road" and played it for Miller, who offered the young arranger a job. Between 1938 and 1942 Finegan wrote more than 300 arrangements for Miller, including some of the band's biggest hits: the classic "Little Brown Jug," "Sunrise Serenade" and "Song of the Volga." Finegan also wrote arrangements for the films "Sun Valley Serenade" in 1941 and "Orchestra Wives" in 1942, and had begun a lifelong profession as a teacher.

One of his students was Nelson Riddle, celebrated arranger for Frank Sinatra.

"Bill's arrangements for Glenn [Miller] demonstrated that great originality and inventiveness are possible even within the restrictive confines of a highly stylized band, which the Miller Orchestra was," Riddle said in the book "September in the Rain: The Life of Nelson Riddle."

When they met, Riddle was a young trombone player, intent on becoming a professional musician. Finegan encouraged him to leave the trombone behind and focus on writing.

"I cared a lot about what I did, and I think I transferred that to Nelson," Finegan said in "September in the Rain." "I once saw a documentary on the artist Chagall. In it, Chagall said, 'Never say "That's good enough." ' That's what I think I taught him."

Finegan worked intermittently for Dorsey and wrote arrangements for the film "Fabulous Dorseys" in 1947. He also wrote for bandleaders Horace Heidt and Les Elgart.

But Finegan bristled at the restrictions placed on the writing by the industry and bandleaders. In 1952 he teamed with another leading arranger, Eddie Sauter, to create a band that would explore and expand the concept of the jazz orchestra.

Time magazine called the group "the most original band heard in the United States in years." Their albums include "New Directions in Music," recorded in 1953, "The Sons of Sauter-Finegan" (1955) and "Adventure in Time" (1956).

The band lasted about five years and became known for its rich harmonics, extraordinary voicing and varied instrumentation. In addition to the standard instruments, the orchestra included kazoos, toy xylophones and recorders.

"They came up with this idea to supplement the big band with all this extra orchestral instrumentation that would allow them to expand their writing and give them more color to work with," Finegan's son, James Finegan, who is also a musician, told The Times. "They had very specialized musicians, very high level musicians."

Humor, fun and adventure came with the music. When the orchestra's record label required them to play show tunes, the group responded by playing them on kazoos.

Born April 3, 1917, in Newark, N.J., Finegan grew up in a family of musicians. Like his parents and siblings, he played piano. While still in high school in Rumson, N.J., Finegan formed a band and began writing for it.

In the early 1930s the band played on Major Bowes' Original Amateur Hour, a popular radio program that featured a talent competition.

Finegan's band won and was hired to tour the U.S. and Canada, performing in Bowes' vaudeville-style shows on a bill that might include a dog act, an opera singer and somebody playing a classical piece on the piano while wearing mittens.

"The humor of it all never escaped him," James Finegan said.

During World War II Finegan served in the Army, and after his discharge he spent time in Europe and studied at the Paris Conservatory; he also studied with composer Stan Wolpe.

In the years after the breakup of the Sauter-Finegan Orchestra, Finegan wrote music for commercials and taught at the University of Bridgeport and elsewhere.

He also wrote and arranged, notably with vocalist Carol Sloane, saxophonist Sonny Stitt and the Mel Lewis Ensemble in the '80s. His most recent work includes arrangements for Warren Vache's "Don't Look Back" and for the Gotham Wind Symphony in 2007.

"My father is obscure because he never was interested in the limelight," James Finegan said. "He was a behind-the-scene guy until the end. He just cared about his work."

Finegan, who was a widower, is also survived by a daughter, Helen Dzujna, of Shelton, Conn., and three grandchildren.

[Guest Bill Barton]

R.I.P.

[Michael Weiss]

Playing with the Vanguard Jazz Orchestra last Monday, we dusted off a wonderful Bill Finegan arrangement of "How Long Has This Been Going On," which he wrote for Mel when he was leading the band.

Finegan had a protege, Julie Cavadini, who also contributed some great pieces to the band.