Neal Hefti

[Don Brown]

I've just received an email saying Neal Hefti has died. I can find nothing so far to officially confirm.

[Teasing the Korean]

Nancy has posted this on the Sinatra Family Forum. It is also on the Batman forum. Haven't found an official obit yet either.

[GA Russell]

RIP. I have one of his albums, music from the Batman tv show. I also have a Best of compilation of Basie's Roulette recordings. I'll pull them out tonight.

[EKE BBB]

Hefti died this past Saturday evening (October 11, 2008), from heart attack.

[thomastreichler]

Sad news.

Hefti in my opinion did his best (jazz) work for Basie. I like the following albums with Hefti arrangements best:

Basie Plays Hefti (Roulette)

The Atomic Mr. Basie (Roulette)

Frank Capp did a great album with his big band in 1995 (ex-Juggernaut after Nat Pierce's death) playing charts by Neal Hefti, the title is "In A Hefti Bag" and it was issued on Concord.

[BillF]

When I think of Neal Hefti, I think of the the trumpet passage on Woody Herman's "Caldonia".

[Big Beat Steve]

One of the masterminds of what you have come to associate with "modern" big band sounds of the 50s.

R.I.P.

N.B. This truly has been a bad year for jazz history, with so many giants of the golden age of jazz leaving the building.

[Jazzmoose]

Hefti in my opinion did his best (jazz) work for Basie. I like the following albums with Hefti arrangements best:

Basie Plays Hefti (Roulette)

The Atomic Mr. Basie (Roulette)

I agree completely. But, as an eight year old in the fall of '66, you can imagine what I remember best...

[Fer Urbina]

To me his work with Woody Herman's First Herd is his best. Not only for the Caldonia trumpet passage, but for Blowin' Up A Storm, Wild Root and, especially, The Good Earth. What a trumpet section they had...

This is from Bill Crow in his Allegro column:

Bobby Knight was on the date that recorded the theme for the Batman TV show, one of Neal Hefti’s biggest moneymakers. At the top of each part was written: "Word and music by Neal Hefti."

F

[Teasing the Korean]

His album with Sinatra on Reprise from the early 60s - Swingin' Brass - is one of Sinatra's best ever albums IMHO. The version of "Serenade in Blue" on there is definitive.

A hard-to-find but gem of an album is "Jazz Pops" on Reprise, also from the early 60s.

[thomastreichler]

His album with Sinatra on Reprise from the early 60s - Swingin' Brass - is one of Sinatra's best ever albums IMHO. The version of "Serenade in Blue" on there is definitive.

I completely agree, a superb album!

[Man with the Golden Arm]

RIP

'Hefti In Gotham' is still out there on the "wires" for anyone interested ... esp to hear the lead in of "Mother Gotham" that later morphed into his theme from "The Odd Couple".

[Cyril]

An obit in the Los Angeles Times:

http://www.latimes.com/news/obituaries/la-...0,3619488.story

[Kalo]

Nice tribute here.

[AllenLowe]

I met Hefti when he first moved to Brookline Massachusetts, probably around 1975, 1976 - I was writing for a music paper and went to interview him - I met his wife, Francis Wayne, a beautiful woman - he explained to me that for years she had been trying to get him to leave Hollywood as she hated the place, and he finally agreed, but as soon as they moved East she was diagnosed with cancer. It was very sad, because as I recall she died not long afterwards -

[AllenLowe]

by the way, I always liked his stuff but was surprised Milt Jackson never sued him for the Odd Couple theme (think Bag's Groove) -

[Free For All]

by the way, I always liked his stuff but was surprised Milt Jackson never sued him for the Odd Couple theme (think Bag's Groove) -

Similar but not lawsuit-worthy IMHO.

"Repetition" from Bird w/strings is a great tune, fun to play. Frank Tiberi did an arrangement of it for Woody's band, never recorded though.

[Guest youmustbe]

I was listening to Bird play 'Repetition', one of my favorite jazz performances when I saw the notice on the NY Times. Coincidence, I guess, eh?

I have Hefti's album "The Leisurly Loveliness of Neal Hefti' which also has 'Repetiton' played on harpsichord.

[AllenLowe]

they are identical melodies - Bags Groove and the Odd Couple Theme -

[Larry Kart]

they are identical melodies - Bags Groove and the Odd Couple Theme -

What about the intro riff/vamp? And isn't "Bag's Groove" in the minor and "Odd Couple" major? Certainly the former was the model for the latter, but the feel is different, no?

[Free For All]

they are identical melodies - Bags Groove and the Odd Couple Theme -

What about the intro riff/vamp? And isn't "Bag's Groove" in the minor and "Odd Couple" major? Certainly the former was the model for the latter, but the feel is different, no?

Both are minor keyed themes, although on some recordings the blowing changes for Bag's Groove are dominant chords instead of minor. The grooves for the two are also both within the swing genre, but I think the opening/returning vamp of the Odd Couple theme is definitely the "hook" of that tune.

And the melodies are definitely similar but not identical.....IMHO. At least that's the way I hear it, Allen.

And thank you, Neal Hefti. Playing The Good Earth on Woody's band was always big fun. RIP

EDIT: I also love Clifford w/strings, especially Portrait of Jenny.

Edited October 16, 2008 by Free For All

[7/4]

But, as an eight year old in the fall of '66, you can imagine what I remember best...

Me too.

.

[sidewinder]

But, as an eight year old in the fall of '66, you can imagine what I remember best...

Me too.

.

ditto x 2

More sad news. Always really liked his arrangements for Basie, especially. RIP.

Hefti Obituary

[Teasing the Korean]

Love this part of the LA Times article, regarding Batman:

"I tore up a lot of paper," he told Jon Burlingame, author of "TV's Biggest Hits," a 1996 book on television themes. "It did not come easy to me. . . . I just sweated over that thing, more so than any other single piece of music I ever wrote. I was never satisfied with it."

"Batman," he said, "was not a comedy. This was about unreal people. Batman and Robin were both very, very serious. The bad guys would be chasing them, and they would come to a stop at a red light, you know. They wouldn't break the law even to save their own lives. So there was a grimness and a self-righteousness about all this."

Hefti said it took him "the better part of a month" to come up with the theme.

"I was almost going to call them and say, I can't do it," he said. "But I never walk out on projects, so I sort of forced myself to finish."

Hefti's "musical solution to a combined dramatic and comedic problem," Burlingame wrote in his book, "was perfect: bass guitar, low brass and percussion to create a driving rhythm, while an eight-voice chorus sings 'Batman!' in harmony with the trumpets. It was part serious, part silly: just like the series."

[AllenLowe]

there are parts that are different - however - the main thematic intervals are the same -

I would sue - but than, I need the money -