Al Viola, RIP

[GA Russell]

This is from today's LA Times:

Al Viola, 87; longtime L.A. studio guitarist known for work with Frank Sinatra

By Dennis McLellan, Times Staff Writer

February 23, 2007

Al Viola, a versatile guitarist best known for his long association with Frank Sinatra and his memorable mandolin playing on "The Godfather" soundtrack, has died. He was 87.

Viola died of cancer Wednesday at his home in Studio City, said his wife, Glenna.

Viola, who arrived in Los Angeles as a member of the Page Cavanaugh Trio after World War II, became a prominent member of the local recording-studio scene.

"He was a chameleon and could play in any style — that was his great talent," said jazz singer Judy Chamberlain, a friend who performed with Viola in many settings, including a jazz salute to Sinatra at the Hollywood & Highland Center in 2005.

"He was a flawless player," she said. "You could barely see his hands move, he was so smooth and quick with his fingers. He was a marvel of dexterity on the guitar, even until the end."

Said jazz musician Buddy Collette: "Once you played with him, you knew how great he was. He had his own way of playing, his own style; you could tell within a couple of bars who it was. And you could ask him to play anything. He had a background that was unbelievable."

Sinatra, with whom Viola worked for about 25 years on recordings, TV specials, Las Vegas appearances and concerts, offered his own distinctive praise of Viola during a concert at the Lido in Paris in 1962, which can be heard on the 1994 CD "Sinatra and Sextet: Live in Paris."

After finishing a free-form vocal-guitar duet of Cole Porter's "Night and Day" with Viola, Sinatra called him "one of the world's great guitarists…. I think he plays beautifully. As a matter of fact, if you weren't looking at him, you'd swear he was an octopus."

For Viola, the positive feelings were mutual.

"I had to turn down a lot of work to go on a world tour with him for 10 weeks," Viola told Guitar Player magazine in 1994, "but I liked what he was puttin' down."

Viola, whose work with Sinatra took him from the Sands Hotel in Las Vegas to the Parthenon in Athens and beyond, can be heard on such Sinatra hits as "Witchcraft," "All the Way," "My Way" and "New York, New York."

He first met Sinatra after the war when the singer dropped in to hear the Page Cavanaugh Trio in a club on Sunset Boulevard. Sinatra liked them so much, Viola later recalled, that he took the trio to New York with him when he performed at the Waldorf-Astoria, followed by an appearance at the Steel Pier in Atlantic City, N.J.

The trio also did a recording session at Columbia Records with Sinatra, turning out two sides: "That's How Much I Love You" and "You Can Take My Word for It, Baby."

After quitting the trio in 1949, Viola remained in Los Angeles and began doing studio work.

He worked in the recording studio — and occasionally did local gigs — with the big bands of Harry James, Ray Anthony, Les Brown and Nelson Riddle. He also worked with jazz groups, including playing with Collette, Red Callender, Bobby Troup, Terry Gibbs and Shelly Manne.

"When I was working with Bobby Troup [in the mid-'50s], one of Sinatra's buddies heard me and told me that Frank needed a guitar player," Viola recalled in an interview on his website.

"What I enjoyed most about working with Frank is that he was unpredictable," Viola said. "When I accompanied him, I couldn't quite predict where he was going, which made it challenging and exciting. He always surprised me on stage. Although he wasn't known as a jazz singer, he ad-libbed like one and wouldn't sing a song the same way twice."

As a studio musician, Viola appeared on more than 500 albums with artists such as Julie London, Steve Lawrence, Marvin Gaye, Neil Diamond, Linda Ronstadt and Natalie Cole.

In addition to being the solo mandolinist who performed the classic "Godfather" theme, he played on numerous TV and film soundtracks, including "West Side Story," "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?" and "Blazing Saddles."

Born in Brooklyn on June 16, 1919, Viola grew up in a large — and musical — Italian family whose home was filled with guitars, mandolins and an upright player piano.

[sidewinder]

Sad news - a prolific and fine guitarist on the West Coast scene. Caught him just the once I think with an orchestra put together by Fred Katz and Pete Rugolo. RIP.

Edited February 23, 2007 by sidewinder

[wigwise]

I was talking to Sam Most yesterday and he mentioned this to me. Sam and Al were good friends and played around Southern California a lot together in the last 5-10 years. They did a nice recording with Bassist Richard Simon titled "Pacific Standard Time", back in 2002.

http://www.ufo-bass.com/cd.htm

(second from the bottom of the page)

[nemo7]

an american spanish guitar with small band orchestra

[king ubu]

Viola is on one of the two Buddy Collette Freshsounds (the ones with feghed up covers, "Tasty Dish" and "Soft Touch").

r.i.p.

There are a few images over here: http://classicjazzguitar.com/artists/artis...e.jsp?artist=31

[Big Beat Steve]

In my quest of getting the entire MODE LP series (minus a few vocalists' items I can do without) I also got Al Viola`s LP. Nice as a study object for budding guitarists but must admit I found it a bit too subdued. Maybe I will have to give it a closer listen once again.

[Alexander]

My favorite Viola performance was on the "Sinatra in Paris" live album where he performs a duo version of "Night and Day" with Sinatra. Absolutely perfect performance by both men.