Elliot Lawrence

[king ubu]

I recently bought Lawrence's two Fantasy releases "Plays Mulligan Arrangements" (a straight album reissue, OJCCD), and "Swings Cohn and Kahn", compiling the album "Swinging at the Steel Peer" with selections from three other albums (including five tracks from one where Zoot Sims was added). The main soloists are Nick Travis, Eddie Bert and Al Cohn, also you get to hear some Hal McKusick. Bert and Cohn's playing struck me as especially fine, and the tracks with Al & Zoot together are a treat (great to hear them with big band backing, for once)!

The arrangements I guess aren't all that special in the end, though on the Mulligan disc, there are some fine ones.

The first time I heard Lawrence, btw, was on the two titles of his on Mulligan's "Mullenium" (Columbia, reissue of an LP titled "The Arranger", I think - mostly a 1957 date, with some early arrangements for Lawrence and Krupa as fillers).

AMG once more isn't helpful at all... the bio is as short (and Scott-y) as the reviews for the two CDs.

Here's the Lawrence entry from nfo.net:

Elliot Lawrence Orch

ne´: Elliot Lawrence Broza

b. Feb. 14, 1925, Philadelphia, PA, USA.

Theme Song: Heart to Heart

Overview

There were a great many "studio" bands working the radio tions and recording studios, during the big band era. Some of these bands did achieve a more sophisticated musical level. Raymond Scott's group, in New York City was one such band, but Philadelphia could boast of three studio orchestras that would go on to well deserved fame; Joey Kearn's; Jan Savitt's, and Elliot Lawrence's orchestras. During the late 1930's, Elliott had a radio show called the "Horn and Hardart Hour", - a sort of 'Amateur Hour' for kids.

Elliot grew up within a musical atmosphere. His father was the producer of the Horn & Hardart Children's Hour radio show on station WCAU, on which Elliot made several appearances while still a child. Between 1937 and 1941, he led a children's band on WCAU and then went on to attend the Univ. of Pennsylvania.

Elliot graduated (1944) from the Univ. of Pennsylvania, where he received the school's Art Achievement Award in Music. He was also leader of the football band. Elliott wrote his own arrangements, and the band also played for many local dances in the area. At UPenn, he studied piano under famed conductor Leon Barzin who thought so highly of him that he offered Elliot a job as his assistant.

Elliot's father, Stan Lee Broza, was general Manager of one of Phuiladelphia's most popular radio stations - WCAU. The station's owner, Leon Levy, thought highly of Elliot, and after graduating (in 1944), Elliot became musical director of WCAU, where he brought together his first (studio) band. Elliot did the arranging himself. It was a good band, with good sidemen.

In 1945, CBS signed him due to the rave notice that George T. Simon gave Elliot in the March 1945 issue of Metronome Magazine, and due also to the tie in that Columbia's Recording Director, Manie Sachs, had with Leon Levy. Columbia's recording supervisors were led by former band leader Mitchell Ayres. Elliot's band played the Paramount Theater and the Pennsylvania Hotel, both in New York City. Initially, former band leader Frank Huntermark (la Frank Hunter) set the band's playing style, but Lawrence couldn't turn down an eager West Catholic High School tenor sax player named Gerry Mulligan. Gerry went on to write some real swinging scores, and whenever anyone was absent for whatever reason, for rehearsal, or radio or dance dates, Gerry was ready and willing to blow tenor or alto. (Mulligan left for the Claude Thornhill Orch, but a little later, Mulligan and Red Rodney - trumpet, also from Thornhill - would play again briefly with Elliot's band, before they left to join Gene Krupa's orch., in 1946.) These nightly broadcasts ove CBS Network paid $45.00 per week for the sidemen and $60.00 for the pianist/leader Elliot. The band became popular and started playing high school and college prom dates.

The interaction between musicians is always an interesting subject. Elliot was a real fan of the Claude Thornhill orchestra (who wasn't?). Some folks have even remarked how similar some of Elliots piano solos were to Claude's. B oth Red Rodney and Gerry Mulligan were in the Thornhill band, as were Gil Evans and Lee Konitz. (Red Rodney and Gerry Mulligan played both with Elliot and with Thornhill.) Al Cohn, writing for Elliot, had played in Henry Jerome's band with drummer Tiny Kahn. Later, these men would found a new "cool" jazz school.

In 1946, Elliot went big time by opening in the Cafe Rouge of New York's Pennsylvania Hotel. His father gave up his job at WCAU to be Elliot's manager. The band was a hit, and started recording for Colunmbia Records. The band still had Gerry Mulligan on sax and arranging; Alex Fila was on lead trumpet; Red Rodney, also on trumpet, had been with Claude Thornhill and Gene Krupa. Roz Patton and Jack Hunter were the boy and girl vocalists. It was a very good swing band, and soloists like Mulligan, Fila and Rodney really made it jump. It became even more interesting when Elliot began commissioning writers like Al Cohn; Tiny Kahn and Johnny Mandel to write for him. >

By the 1 950's, the big band era had ended. Elliot continued to work in the radio and television studios, where he wrote jingles and was also a consultant to N.W.Ayer, Inc., a major advertising agency. On weekends, he accepted gigs at colleges and universities. For these bands, he often had musicians such as Urbie Green on Trombone; Tiny Kahn or Sol Gubin on drums; Hal McKusick; Sam Marowitz and Al Cohn on Saxes; and such trumpeters as Ernie Royal; Nick Travis and Bernie Glow.

Elliot Lawrence was involved with musical theater for many years after giving up his big band. He is the conductor on the original-cast recordings of 'The Apple Tree', 'Bye Bye Birdie', 'Golden Boy', 'How To Suceed In Business Without Really Trying' and wrote the songs to a 1 performance Broadway flop, 'La Strada'. For many years he was conductor of the Tony Awards presentations orchestra. All of this, earned him not only respect, but also a good income.

[king ubu]

and looking around a bit I found this long entry in the "Mulligan International Newsletter" (homepage) from June 2005.

Now I need to read this tonight, I guess...

ELLIOT LAWRENCE

A Review of the Elliot Lawrence Career by DREW TECHNER

A very complete review by a man who is a great collector of the Elliot Lawrence works. A lot of rare information. I thank him very much for his agreement to include this work in the newsletter.

Joe Techner was my father. He had the jazz chair for trumpet in Elliot's band from November 1948 to July 1951. His solos are on Columbia singles "Elevation" and "Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea."

Elliot Lawrence was born Elliot Lawrence Broza on February 14, 1925. He grew up in Devon, just outside Philadelphia. His first public performance was at age 4 conducting a kid band on the Children's Hour. He began taking piano lessons at the age of four from child specialist Christine Reebe, and by age six wrote his first composition, a tune called "Falling Down Stairs." Elliot was a veteran of several public appearances when, in 1931, he was stricken with polio and for six months fought the illness. At the age of twelve he formed his first band, a 15-piece unit called the Band Busters.

From 1937 to 1941 he led a children's band on Philadelphia CBS flag radio station WCAU on the Children's Hour, a Sunday show sponsored by the local restaurant chain Horn and Hardart. Since 1928, Elliot's father Stan Lee Broza was an executive at the station, over the years filling the spots of general manager, vice president and program manager.

Elliot finished high school at age 16 and entered the University of Pennsylvania on a four-year scholarship. He majored in piano under the tutelage of Erno Barlough. During his junior year, his band, now renamed the Elliot Broza Orchestra, played proms at Villanova and Temple. Also while at Penn, he studied piano and symphonic work under Leon Barzin, famous New York conductor and composer, who thought so highly of him that he offered Elliot an assistantship. In 1944, after only three years, Elliot graduated at age 19 with a Bachelor of Music and received the school's Art Achievement Award in Music. This was only the second time in the university's history the award was given in the field of music.

Elliot remembered that his orchestra was basically formed from the football band that started at the beginning of World War II. It had guys dressed in Penn, Army khaki and Naval Reserve uniforms; others wore Penn uniforms. The band performed during games at Penn's Franklin Field in front of audiences of 80,000. Elliot explained that in October 1944, this football band appeared on the front page of the Evening Bulletin, the owner of radio station WCAU read it and told Elliot that when he graduated, he wanted him to become music director of the station's house band. Elliot accepted and took over the band the following January. Elliot's predecessor was Johnny Warrington who went on tour. Besides Warrington, the forefathers of the WCAU band baton were Jan Savitt and Lynn Murray. The station's old studios were at 1622 Walnut St .

On November 1, 1944 Elliot began rehearsing his first studio band composed mostly of the old Band Busters. On Thursday night, January 18, 1945 the band premiered for the first time as the Elliot Lawrence Orchestra in a weekly half-hour midnight "Listen to Lawrence" broadcast. The orchestra was composed of three trumpets, three trombones, a French horn, five saxes, and a four-piece rhythm section; including solo piano, orchestra piano, bass and drums.

In an interview by Laura Lee of the Philadelphia Evening Bulletin, Elliot said he "dropped the name Broza, retaining only his first and second names, when he and his band played for WCAU because he didn't want to trade on his pop's name."

Elliot got another break when his midnight broadcasts were heard by reviewer George T. Simon in New York City. There was a war-time "black out" in New York at the time and local bands stopped playing at midnight. Consequently, Simon flipped the dials at that hour and picked up Elliot. Simon gave Elliot a "rave" review in the March 1945 issue of Metronome magazine. That year, CBS signed Elliot based on the Simon review and due to the tie that Columbia's Recording Director, Mannie Sachs, had with Leon Levy. The CBS network picked up the "Listen to Lawrence" show and began nightly broadcasts that paid sidemen $45.00 per week and $60.00 for pianist/leader Elliot.

The theme song was "Heart to Heart," an Elliot original. The band's address in Devon, Pa. was "Box 155" - the name of another original Elliot arrangement. Elliot's phone number was Wayne 1577.

As drummer Howie Mann recalled, "Elliot was a top-flight arranger. He gave the band style. You knew when you heard it, that it was Elliot's." Besides Elliot, the primary arranger for many of the ballads was former bandleader Frank Hunter. His name was originally Hundertmark and he officially shortened it before joining Elliot when he had his own small band.

Gerry Mulligan would later join Hunter as an arranger for Elliot. Sax player Merle Bredwell later noted, "Elliot and all the musicians he hired were all high class talented musicians, but even they were not going to be the answer to it. It was the orchestrations that really made the greatest impression and, as we know, Gerry Mulligan contributed an awful lot to all of his orchestrations and compositions." Bredwell also added that it was Nelson Riddle that did most of the band's full orchestrations for concerts and theaters. Nelson Riddle was a composer for only a brief time with Elliot in 1946 and arranged the band's versions of Rhapsody in Blue, Fire Dance.

Laura Lee of the Philadelphia Evening Bulletin reported, "the lyrics of most of his [Elliot's] pieces are written by Bix Reichner, Bulletin reporter with whom he is writing a full-length comedy score."

Elliot's initial studio recording work was in February 1946 making Associated transcriptions in New York. On May 1, 1946 the band recorded their first Columbia sides, including "In Apple Blossom Time." Former bandleader Mitchell Ayres led Columbia's recording supervisors. Personnel included: Alec Fila, Johnny Dee, Bob Berger (tp) Frank Rodowicz, Joe Verrechico, Tony Lala (tb) Ernie Angelucci (f-hn) Ernie Contonucci, Mike Giamo (as) Gerry Mulligan (ts/arr) Frank Lewis, Andy Pino (ts) Mike Donio (bar) Elliot Lawrence (p/arr) Andy Riccardi or Artie Singer (b) Max Spector (d) Jack Hunter, Rosalind Patton (vo).

Elliot recalled how happy he was to record for Columbia. George T. Simon noted the following about Elliot in his book, The Big Bands, "Elliot's faith in people, his desire to please and an apparent lack of self-assurance raised some problems. He could be overly polite, overly receptive. On his record dates, instead of calling Columbia's recording director "Mitch," the way other artists did, Elliot would address him as "Mr. Ayres." So anxious was Elliot to please and to succeed that he would listen patiently to all kinds of advice, much of it conflicting."

Among the recordings Elliot made on Columbia that Spring were two Elliot arrangements; "Five O'clock Shadow," and "Once Upon A Moon" featuring Mitch Miller on oboe and Jack Hunter, vocal. By the end of the month the Elliot Lawrence Orchestra was playing the Cafe Rouge at the Hotel Pennsylvania. Elliot promoted the band as the "Band of 1952." Despite the lack of any previous "big name" booking, Elliot appeared on twenty radio shows and his band was on the NBC Chesterfield Supper Club while performing at the Cafe Rouge over the summer of '46.

The beginning of October 1946 brought some changes. Elliot introduced a "woodwindette" section composed of bassoon, French horn, English horn, oboe, clarinet, guitar, bass and the Lawrence piano. Levy was preparing to sell WCAU to J. David Stern. Elliot's father resigned his program manager post at WCAU to become promotion manager for his son's band (Pianist Dave Stevens took over the WCAU house band for Elliot's departure on the road. Elliot Lawrence Orchestra personnel highlights: Walt Stuart (Lyszkowski) on trumpet and Vince Forchetti on trombone (both joining June 1946), Marty Masters took over drums, Ex-Band Buster Bruno Rondinelli (tenor) rejoined Elliot after the military, Jerry Field moved to the jazz tenor chair replacing Andy Pino. Thin-necked Merle Bredwell (of Beatrice, Nebraska) left Bobby Sherwood to join Elliot playing baritone and alto sax, flute, bassoon, French horn, bass clarinet and B-flat clarinet. The Elliot Lawrence Orchestra was now a road band performing one-nighters at ballrooms, hotel rooms, proms, and college campuses. That fall, the band went on their first true road tour across New England and the Midwest. Bruno Rondinelli remembers the starting point for this tour - a one-nighter at Mahanoy City, Pa. just after the Pennsylvania Hotel. The management at Cafe Rouge didn't forget how much they enjoyed Elliot over the summer. Upon their request, he returned in late November and played there until Christmas. During his first week, Elliot topped the Hotel Pennsylvania's record gross for the year.

Elliot's vocal duo was Rosalind Patton and Jack Hunter. Rosalind was born Roselyn Mae Piccurelli in Philadelphia on June 5, 1922. She was an original Band Buster, joining Elliot in 1935. She was 5'2" and served as a WAVE in the Marine Corps during the war. Male vocalist Jack Hunter's real name was John Averona. He was born July 15, 1919 in South Philly. Probably the oldest band-member, he spent five years as a Marine having joined before Pearl Harbor. He was married to wife Marie. Elliot recalled that Hunter eventually left the band because he was married at the time and wasn't making enough money.

Despite the changes, the band about this time still had six of the original Bandbusters and half his band members were Philadelphians.

The December 1946 issue of The Saturday Evening Post featured trumpeter Alec Fila. in a lengthy article entitled "Sideman with a Horn." Fila had worked Jack Teagarden, Bob Chester, Benny Goodman and Glenn Miller. He had studied under Del Staigers and Max Schlossberg and was awarded a Julliard scholarship. Fila solos on "Five O'clock Shadow."

Details into the routine of Elliot's sidemen are gleaned from the Elliot Lawrence Band Manual. Elliot prescribed that five bandsmen would travel in each car. Instruments and luggage were transported on a 1-1/2 ton truck sporting a clothing rack for uniforms. Bulk clothing belonged on the truck. "We allow three hours driving for 100 miles" and musicians were obligated to arrive three hours before a job. Rooms were reserved in advance. "Of course there will be no night driving. This is a union law."

The Manual noted that Elliot held orchestra rehearsals before broadcasts and prior to each recording. A section rehearsal and one full band rehearsal was held each week. The Post article noted that, as preferred by the musicians, these rehearsals were often held during the week in the wee morning hours after a performance. A daily daytime rehearsal was held when the band had a couple days off in a row during a run of one-nighters. However, as Howie Mann remembered, the band often had only about three days off a month and there weren't that many rehearsals because the band was traveling a lot; just a lot of warm-ups. Musicians were prohibited from "jamming" less than one hour before a performance and were to warm-up back stage or next to the bandstand. Tuning on the bandstand was allowed fifteen minutes prior to playing. While in New York, Elliot often conducted his daytime rehearsals at Nola Studios, 113 W. 57th St.

When the band was free, it was usually on Monday nights because it was the one night that colleges didn't normally hold dances. The guys looked forward to the few opportunities they had to stay in one place for a few weeks. This is why they forgot playing the many one-nighter ballrooms and proms but still remember the Hotel Pennsylvania, the Hotel Roosevelt, Galveston's Pleasure Pier, Bop City, the Blue Note and the Paramount Theater at Times Square. The reason why they played so many one-nighters was because the colleges paid the most money.

The basic uniform for Elliot's sidemen was a maroon cardigan, gray pants, white shirts and a multi-colored bow tie. The Band Manual added that musicians would carry a white handkerchief in the suit coat breast pocket, dark socks, and shined browned shoes. Howie Mann recalled additional uniforms including a tan suit with straight tie; a navy blue suit with straight tie or bow tie for formal jobs; and a brown corduroy jacket tailor made by Fox tailors in Chicago.

Elliot wore purple plaid jackets, yellow monogrammed shirts and flowered ties.

Elliot started musicians at $110 and paid them an average of $150 in cash once a week. Merle Bredwell, for example, made a few dollars more to cover the cost of driving his own car (including nine cents a mile reimbursement) and being the "road manager." From their wages, personnel had to pay for their own meals and lodging.

"He travels about 100,000 miles by car every year, is in a different town almost every night of the week, works six nights a week and sometimes seven, has been in hillbilly towns where it is impossible to get a decent square meal, gone without enough sleep most of his adult life and never had time for girls, yet Elliot Lawrence says he loves his work," Philadelphia Bulletin writer Laura Lee reported in 1949. He may have loved the work, but Elliot suffered from asthma and allergies while traveling on the road. This would ultimately force him to leave the road.

The musicians carried mostly Local 77 (Philadelphia) or Local 802 (New York) union cards for Jimmy C. Petrillo's American Federation of Musicians (AFM). Elliot's aggregation was predominantly from Philadelphia.

Reviewers typed Elliot as a Claude Thornhill clone. While Elliot was at the Cafe Rouge in 1946 reviewer Michael Levin wrote, "As for the charge that the band imitates Claude Thornhill, Lawrence's piano playing sounds more like CT than anything else in the band. His use of French horn tends toward a single moving voice with reeds where as Thornhill is more interested in brass section tonalities and "room tone." Both bands are concentrating on harmonic color overlaid with woodwind delicacy. It's parallelism of effort rather than copying."

Elliot responded to Levin, "My piano does not sound like Thornhill's. Claude concentrates on effects played in the higher register against the band, whereas I play melody on the middle keys." However, in October 1944 Elliot prepared an Arrangers Guide that stated, "Piano is the featured instrument of band, and should be featured in almost every arrangement. The piano will be in the style of Teddy Wilson-Claude Thornhill - light - usually single note right hand - never heavy chorded playing."

A year later, Elliot's December 1947 opening at the Hollywood Palladium was reviewed, "Many thought it was great and sat nodding approvingly as Elliot put the band through its paces, yet others felt that although it sounded good, it resembled too closely an illegitimate child born out of Stan Kenton by Claude Thornhill" A few dyspeptic listeners drew the Kenton-Thornhill comparison, but for the most part it was considered a good and welcomed opening."

Elliot told me, "The band was two kinds; one on the ballad side, somewhat like Claude Thornhill's band, somewhat moody; and yet on the jazz side had Gerry Mulligan writing for us." Many of Thornhill's personnel were in Elliot's band, including Red Rodney, Gerry Mulligan, Gil Evans and Lee Konitz.

"I had every intention of going into symphonic work. However, I started having fun and earning money in the dance field and just stayed there," Elliot recalled in a 1952 interview. Elliot's own piano style was suited more for symphonic performances rather than jazz solos. By 1948, Elliot completed a full-length musical score and Robbins Music contracted for a series of his works to be used for piano studies. Elliot reported Art Tatum as favorite piano soloist and his ambition was to compose "classical music ." In 1946, reviewer Michael Levin remarked, "Lawrence himself confines his piano playing to short intervals of melodic snatches. If he is to establish claim to musicianship as well as arranging and leading, there should be more straight piano and a little less cuteness." Levin again reviewed Elliot at Bop City in January 1950 and stated, "His piano playing was never easy nor flowing, always carried with it a sense of working stiffness that hampered the ideas." For an illustration of Levin's points, listen to the original Columbia release of "Elevation." Then, compare it to the alternate take of "Elevation" recorded at the same session and released on Gerry Mulligan's posthumous Mullenium album. Bob Karch performs the piano solo on the original release. Elliot does the keyboard work on the alternate take.

The sweet sound was Elliot's primary commercial output. Initially, he favored it and saw it as a medium to ease in his symphonic leanings; "We're trying to get more classical sounds. That way we get a sort of purple mood. Overseas, the kids loved wild razz-ma-tazz. But now they're back, they want to put their arm around their girlfriend and romance slowly."

At the end of 1948, Elliot attempted to shrug the sweet profile when talking to trade pub Metronome, "We're not strictly a sweet band, not by any means. Maybe when you hear us in hotel rooms and spots like that you think so, but listen to us on one-nighters and on college dates, and you'll hear us jump, too. I'd die if we didn't and so would the guys. Trouble is, though, we've been typed, because when we first started at station WCAU in Philly, we had to play a lot of sweet stuff. That's radio. You know."

However, the "sweet" sound was Elliot's popularity. In January 1947, Look Magazine selected Elliot's ork as Band of the Year. That year, the band grossed a quarter million dollars. Then, for three years in a row (1947 - 1949), the sweet sound made Elliot the campus choice as most promising newer orchestra on Billboard's Annual College Poll. The band also enjoyed high ratings in polls taken by Orchestra World and Billboard, both trade papers. In addition, Down Beat and Metronome put Elliot among the ten best bands in the country. The June 1949, Billboard ranked Elliot as the #7 All-Around Favorite, behind Vaughn Monroe, Tommy Dorsey, Tex Beneke, Les Brown, Stan Kenton and Guy Lombardo; respectively.

So, on March 16, 1949, three weeks before recording the famous Mulligan arrangement of "Elevation" Elliot had this to say about bop, "Jump and bop tunes cause dancers to stop and crowd around the bandstand and watch an orchestra perform. They'll applaud, sometimes" But it's when they're able to move around - hold each other close - in a slow, sweet number, that we get our best response." Elliot explained that he had just finished another nationwide tour of colleges and the colleges preferred sweet and low rhythms.

At the time that Elliot made the above bop-disparaging remark, the band was performing a three-week stint at the Paramount Theater at Times Square with the Nat King Cole Trio. Author Jerome Klinkowitz in his book Listen: Gerry Mulligan, recalled that Elliot's show at the Paramount opened with a novelty Mulligan arrangement of John Philip Sousa's "Strike Up The Band." Drummer Howie Mann fondly remembered those three weeks and recalled at the end of every show, Cole would sit in on piano with the band. The climatic number was always "Elevation." Howie noted that, since there were five shows a day, the band drilled this tune about 100 times while at the Paramount. This was a big departure from all the ballad work the band played at proms and recorded commercially. After three weeks at the Paramount, the boys in the band decided they had to record it.

Elliot was playing "Elevation" as early as the Hollywood Palladium days in late 1947. It was purportedly the first tune Mulligan that ever wrote as a teenager in Philadelphia. On January 29, 1947, Red Rodney originally recorded it on his Bebop album (Keynote Records). Mulligan later expanded it for Elliot. Although the Elliot Lawrence Orchestra could be picked up playing it at the end of every broadcast and one-nighter, Elliot had not yet recorded it commercially.

Howie Mann recalled "Elevation" as the only memorable recording for the band and remembered the boys had a difficult time convincing Elliot Lawrence to record it. The band pressured Elliot and, once he agreed, Elliot had difficulty convincing Columbia's A & R man.

Howie explained that Elliot came back from Columbia with a deal; the band could record it but the members of the band had to personally promote it by visiting radio stations town-to-town and handing out copies. At first the band thought this was tacky but they agreed.

During a week in April that the band was originally scheduled off, Elliot secured a recording date. He wrote band members a letter with details for the "Elevation" recording session. On April 12, 1949 the band met at the AFM rehearsal hall at 18th & Arch Streets in Philadelphia. The rhythm section met at 1:45 p.m. A full band rehearsal from 2:00 to 5:00 p.m. The next day at 1:30 p.m. they began the recording session at Columbia's 30th Street studio.

Columbia purchased the 207 E. 30th Street Midtown Manhattan studio in 1949. In 1998, Columbia engineer Howard Scott remembered the studio; "It was one big room with 45 foot ceilings, about 120 feet long and 55 feet wide." A 1953 article in Time magazine described the scene, "The stained-glass windows are bricked up, the pews are gone, and in place of the organ there is a glass-fronted control room which bristles with switches, plugs and dials." The Time article identified the church as the Adams Memorial Presbyterian Church.

I received corroboration of this by an engineer that worked there. Everyone agrees, however, that this was one of the recording industry's most renowned studios. Howie explained this was because it had a natural echo. My father noted that Columbia selected it because of the extraordinary acoustics that only a large empty church could offer. It was knocked down in 1982 and an apartment building is there now.

Columbia's deal also required Elliot to record two songs that he didn't want to do; "Gigolette" and "Every Night Is Saturday Night." The session's first cut was "Gigolette" a ballad using an electronic musical instrument called a "Theremin," named after a Russian scientist Leon Theremin. "This instrument is played by passing a wand through two beams of light, breaking the circuit of the two electric eyes. His is the only dance band in the country that has employed this instrument for the weird effects it creates." Dr. Samuel Hoffman, a chiropractor and former Meyer Davis violinist, played it during a Spellbound Hollywood score and won an Academy Award. However, this session had Lucie Bigelow Rosen operating the clumsy instrument and the results were less than satisfactory. It whimpered around the oboe and bassoon in the ballad background. Numerous takes were made but the final product was still out of tune.

The second cut was "Every Night Is Saturday Night" which gave the trumpet section a chance to warm up. Elliot used a vocal chorus on the record.

Then came time to record "Elevation." Down Beat would point out in its review of "Elevation" that it was not recorded right, "With Elevation, you can hear what happens when the boys go hog wild with resonance, and don't control it properly. I would guess that this record was made in Columbia's East 30th Street church studios in New York city, with the new Altec Lansing microphone, which has a wide range pickup. Because the session was done without proper attention to control, the entire side is mush, with no definition between sections."

The recording of "Elevation" that made it on the Columbia sides - and was later part of the Smithsonian Institute's Big Band Jazz Collection as one of the top 50 jazz recordings of the 20th century - was actually a warm-up take meant for setting recording levels. Elliot Lawrence is NOT on the piano as commonly believed. It was the first take and Elliot was in the control room with Columbia's engineers checking the sound. Bob Karch is the piano soloist. After performing alternate takes, the band picked the initial recording with Karch on piano as the best. Elliot didn't object since the record was really meant for the boys in the band. Years later, Elliot recalled, "I believe we got such an excellent performance of 'Elevation' because the guys in the band were so happy to have a chance to record it. The company was a little leery about letting us do it. Columbia executives wanted to develop interest in our ballad things rather than our jazz arrangements and soloists."

Burt Korall's liner notes for Jazz In Revolution eloquently reviewed the recording, "On 'Elevation,' Gerry Mulligan's treatment of the blues, the band gives every indication of having matured and fully come to terms with the sounds and rhythms, the language of modern jazz. The score is lean, harmonically interesting (using ninths, elevenths, and augmented elevenths), and compactly made. Based on a long sweeping twelve-bar line over blues changes, it allows sufficient room for soloists Phil Urso, Vince Forrest, Joe Techner, Lawrence [bob Karch], and Howie Mann to have their say. Excellent ensemble writing tightly links thematic material and solos, giving the work flow and a strong pulse."

Merle Bredwell also remembered the recording, "I think we made a pretty good recording. I'm sure, you know, when you play the same arrangement every night and each soloist has maybe a little addition he wants to put into it, its going to change from night to night. So, I would say probably there were a lot of other times we played the arrangement - maybe at a dance or a concert - that might have been better than the recording, but still I think the recording was a blessing for the musicians that were involved in it." The following is the personnel for the "Elevation" recording; Joe Techner, Johnny Dee (John DeFrancesco), and Jimmy Padget, trumpets; Sy (Seymour) Berger, Vince Forchetti, and Chuck Harris, trombones; Bill Danzien, trumpet and French horn; Joe Soldo, Louis Giamo, Phil Urso, Bruno Rondinelli, and Merle Bredwell, saxophones; Bob ("Otto") Karch, pianos; Tommy O'Neill, (string) bass; Howie Mann, drums. Gerry Mulligan was also present for the recording. Originally issued on Columbia 38497.

The band members kept their promise to Elliot. The boys in the band visited record stores and radio stations giving out copies of the record. Howie Mann was probably the biggest promoter and rushed a copy to Al "Jazzbo" Collins at station KALL in Salt Lake City. Howie had befriended Collins back in '47 when the band played at Jerry Jones' Rainbow Rendezvous. Jazzbo later moved to New York where had the popular late-night program "Purple Grotto" on WNEW. Elliot later remembered that "Elevation" didn't sell a lot of copies right away.

Bop was at its peak during the summer of 1949. The Click in Philly opened in July decorated in bop style featuring Dizzy Gillespie. The band started to pursue the progressive bop style with or without Elliot. Howie Mann, Tom O'Neill, Bob Karch and Phil Urso formed a combo called "Phil Urso's Swingsters" and made recordings on the Futurama label.

The decline of the dance bands, the success of "Elevation," the Mulligan charts, and the creative pressure from the boys in the band all had an influence on Elliot. He began taking steps to secure the emerging audiences and music styles. Elliot noted that, "kids don't go to the dance halls as much as they used to." Elliot gave up his free Monday nights to visit high schools to, "acquaint high school students- first hand - with what they're missing." The November 4, 1949 issue of Down Beat noted that Elliot's library was tending more and more toward originals mostly by Mulligan, "I want to be a dance band that's going ahead," Elliot said, "I want to play stuff with a modern sound (23)."

Gerry Mulligan officially joined the band on October 8th and formed his own quintet within the band with Elliot's blessing. It included Mulligan on baritone sax, Phil Urso on tenor, Tom O'Neill on bass, Howie Mann on drums and Bob Karch on piano. Among their favorites was "Elegy to a Man" and "The Gold Rush."

Howie Mann recalled how brilliant Mulligan really was. Once, while rooming with Gerry, he went asleep while Gerry was working on an arrangement. When Howie woke in the morning, Gerry was still working on the arrangement. He hadn't slept at all.

Two days after Mulligan joined, Elliot recorded his last sides on the Columbia label, including an instrumental version of "Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea" - a tune normally performed with lyrics by prominent vocal artists. The second cut was "Ritual Fire Dance" - a tune not arranged by Mulligan. Arranger Frank Hunter played lead trombone on this last record date.

Elliot still had to contend with the heavy resistance from Columbia records. In the Down Beat interview, Elliot added, "The record companies are neglecting bands, they're making them cut the same pop ballads that all the big singers are doing. A band vocalist can't compete with name vocalists with those 40-man backgrounds, so naturally the band records don't sell as well. Bands should be cutting more originals, things that are strictly instrumental pieces and which don't have to go out and compete directly with the big vocalists."

When Elliot's contract with Columbia was discontinued, he picked up opportunities to record transcriptions. He had done a lot of recordings for Associate Transcriptions in 1946 and 1947. Like all the bands, his studio output ceased during the 10-month AFM recording strike of 1948. He had made a lot of recordings for Columbia while at the Hollywood Palladium immediately before the strike. From October 1949 to mid-1950 he found recording work for such transcription programs as Here's To Veterans and Land's Best Bands.

On November 17th, the band met in Columbia's Studio D at 799 Seventh Ave. in New York and made a few cuts for an upcoming 1950 March of Dimes transcription program. Because of Elliot's childhood struggle with polio, he was named chairman of the "bandleaders' division" of the March of Dimes for 1950.

By the fall of 1949, the band saw the following changes in personnel over the past two years: Howie Mann (Tittman) of Glendale, Long Island took over the drums in September 1947. In May 1948 Fred Schmidt, for years first French horn with the Indianapolis symphony, replaced John St. Amour, who joined the Columbus, Ohio symphony. Johnny Dee left the band to help his father who suffered a nervous breakdown by managing the family hotel in Atlantic City. Stan Kenton found him and berated him for leaving the business. Dee called Elliot and he got his job back as first trumpet. In November 1948, the same time of Dee's return, Joe Techner took over the trumpet jazz chair replacing Walt Stuart. Red Rodney had recommended Joe for the position. Joe had been with the Bob Sheble band and played in the 106th army band at Camp Shelby, Miss. during the war. Also in November 1948 Howie talked Elliot into getting Bob Karch as a second piano on the band, thus letting Elliot front the band in his flashy sport coats. Until Karch came, the band only had a rhythm guitar to fill in when Elliot was not at the keyboard. Joe Delaquilla was added on French horn during this time. In June 1949, Bobby Hunter came on board playing trombone and Frank Hunter official joined the band as full-time arranger. This was in addition to Mulligan, of course.

The 17th band member during this period was "Pres," a little dog named after Lester Young that sat atop Lawrence's piano during performances. The band picked Pres up in Sauk City, Wisconsin on October 26, 1950 while playing at the Riverview Ballroom. Stan Weiss recalled that everyone enjoyed Pres. The band would call him and he would come running - sliding across dance floors, making everyone laugh hard. Elliot recalls he went with Roz after the band's break-up.

Elliot set his eyes for dates at Bop City on New York's Broadway and the Blue Note in Chicago. "If we do play those spots a lot of people will be knocked off their chairs at what they hear," Elliot promised. As it turned out, as Merle Bredwell later recalled, these were the two most outstanding performances of the road band.

1950 arrived with Elliot performing at Bop City. Elliot spent three weeks there with Frankie Laine and the Slam Stuart Trio. Michael Levin gave the band an overall impressive review. He found the band more mature. Variety also reviewed the Bop City gig and found the band performing tricky musical patterns with some unusual sound effects. The arrangements were sometimes too embellished and Mulligan's "Elegy for a Man" was too elaborate.

Spring was baseball season. Elliot's band performed during the opening game of the Phillies at Shibe Park. About a year earlier, Elliot and arranger Bix Reichner had joined together to form the Elliot Music Company as an outlet for their compositions and arrangements. For the occasion, Elliot and Bix wrote "The Fightin' Phils" that sold over 2,000 copies during the 1950 season. The band never actually recorded the record. It was recorded by the Delaware County String Band.

In June 1950, Elliot began recording for Decca with studios at 50 W. 57th St. in New York. At the front of the small studio, watching over the musicians, was a famous picture of an Indian with outstretched arms and a tear coming down his cheek. A sign above him stated, "Where's the melody?" If Elliot felt he was strangled at Columbia with sleepy ballads, then Decca was worse. Decca was only interested in building Elliot up as a sweet band. The selections badly plied to the college crowd and would be enough for two 10" LPs and 12" LP reissue entitled Prom Night. A reviewer noted, "Mostly, this LP is a melange of dull, deadly tempos, male choirs, and Lawrence's harmless piano playing, though Roz Patton sings well in her solo chores." Neither Elliot nor his band enjoyed Decca's muffled and flat ballad recordings.

Stan Weiss recalled the Decca college albums and noted, "Elliot wrote them a la "The Four Brothers" voicing with myself playing lead tenor and Herbie Steward filling in jazz obligatos on the alto." More about the Four Brothers and Steward later in this article. If it weren't for drummer Howie Mann and his friend Rudy Van Gelder, most of the band's best material would have been lost. In 1950, Howie bought a Pentron open-reel tape recorder. He carried it to one-nighters and sat it next to him during performances. A few of the rare one-nighters survived from these ten-inch reels.

Elliot and "Mr. Rhythm" Frankie Laine spent most of the summer during 1950 together. First, they billed together with Pattie Page "The Latest Rage" at the Paramount Theater in May and June. Elliot and Frankie were together again at Pleasure Pier at Galveston, Texas playing "Apple Core" renamed as "The Texas Hop."

In the fall of 1950, personnel infused the band from Woody Herman's Second Herd that had recently folded. New additions included Rob Swope, Earl Swope and Ollie Wilson, all trombonists; Mert (Bass Fiddle) Oliver, Herbie (Alto Sax) Steward and Buddy (Tenor Sax) Savitt. In September 1950, Danny Riccardo joined the band as male vocalist, replacing Jack Hunter. Riccardo, who was 5'8" with black hair and brown eyes, couldn't read music.

Elliot spent the last week of 1950 showcasing his ex-Herman personnel at the Blue Note. Elliot's band was now at its peak of creativity and talent and the 88-er had everything he wanted: seasoned professional sidemen, Mulligan arrangements and compositions, and the Blue Note. Of all the ex-Herman personnel, Elliot spotlighted Herbie Steward. He had been one of the 2nd Herd's "Four Brothers." This was the name of a combo and the most popular tune of Woody's - after Woodchopper's Ball. Under Woody, the combo had included Zoot Sims, Herbie Steward, Stan Getz on tenor and Serge Chaloff on baritone.

Elliot's often played "Four and One Moore" (sometimes called "Lawrence Leaps"). This Mulligan arrangement was recorded on April 8, 1949 by Stan Getz joined by four other tenors (Al Cohn, Allen Eager, Zoot Sims and Brew Moore) and is based on the Four Brothers. At one nighters, Elliot would often jokingly introduce his version as "Three Gents And A Gentile" and it was performed in Elliot's band by Herb Steward, Stan Weiss, Buddy Savitt and Mike Gordon (Goldberg).

In addition to these problems, Elliot was craving more than leading a big band. He wanted to use more of Leon Barzin's symphonic training and saw how the new medium of television offered many opportunities for a young and ambitious man to arrange and lead orchestras. His interest in television and the camera started with an interest in developing musical film shorts way back in December 1947, during Elliot's only visit to Hollywood. While there, he produced a ten-minute film short for Columbia featuring "Five O'clock Shadow" and members of the band. Also while there, Elliot signed a deal with MGM for a musical short based on Elliot's life. In June 1948, Lawrence explained the value of movie shorts, "Band telecasts could also capitalize on the curiosity of the public about the men behind the songs - composers, arrangers and the song pluggers." Curiously, Elliot added, "I have other ideas, too, but these I shall not reveal just now. However, I'll tell you this: My crew is already at work rehearsing bits and specialties for the television camera. Before we're through, every member of our band will be a complete entertainer." By June 1949, Elliot was working with Bix Reichner to prepare a series of simple ten-minute musical comedies acted by band members. Although Elliot made several television appearances with his road band, his musical shorts concept remained undeveloped. Elliot knew that, if he were to remain successful, he would have to leave the road.

As 1951 progressed, Elliot appeared on Kate Smith's television show. As Howie Mann noted, the band wasn't working six nights a week anymore. As the itinerary got lighter and dates were cancelled, the boys saw the writing on the wall. Despite the loss of revenue, Elliot was still paying his men full salary. No one, including Elliot, seems to recall what announcement was made, if any. Howie Mann and vocalist Danny Riccardo left in May. Merle Bredwell remembers that the band was not as good as it was the year before. In fact, he said the band "may have been the best band in the country a year before it broke up." Frank Driggs, in his liner notes for The Uncollected Elliot Lawrence leaves us with the following report; "Young and ambitious, Elliot Lawrence stayed at the head of an always interesting and exciting big band for ten years and wound up ill and $20,000 in debt. A poignant note, when he finally decided to throw in the towel, he was given an impassioned speech by Stan Kenton who told him how much the band business needed him, how important it was to keep going, etc. Lawrence remembers how moving it all was and how Kenton felt, but it was too late. Another chapter in music closed, leaving lots of warm memories behind."

Elliot confirmed Driggs' report and explained that Stan Kenton was his friend and when Kenton heard he was planning to move to New York to do studio work and only play on the weekends, he immediately flew in from California and stayed up all night with Elliot trying to talk him out of it. Kenton told Elliot there were only a few bands he liked, the Lawrence Orchestra was one of them and he wanted it to continue. Elliot said he had $18,000 in the bank when he left Philadelphia for the road in 1946 and was $20,000 in debt when he finished. Financially, he "worked very hard for zero." Elliot explained that, yes, the band did well for the first several years, but it tapered off and got bad. As for being ill, Elliot explained that he had bad allergies that couldn't be treated like they can today with sprays. He was getting sick and his brother told him he was going to have to leave the road or he was going to kill himself.

The road band essentially declined after its stay at the Blue Note. A few years after leaving the road, Elliot told Down Beat, "The last year I was on the road the boys in the band weren't up to snuff, and you find that after a few months of one-nighters your ear begins to get dulled to what's right and what's wrong."

The road band's last appearance was Atlantic City's Steel Pier, July 6 to 12, 1951. All agree that the big bands were on the demise during this time.

Elliot Lawrence settled in uptown Manhattan near Central Park. He worked Monday thru Thursday in New York doing studio work and took out the band on the weekends, accepting gigs at colleges and universities. The Elliot Lawrence Orchestra was made up of mostly pick-up musicians and a small remnant of the road band personnel. Elliot increasingly worked in radio and television studios.

Elliot told me that his band in New York was very good but not the same as the road band, "Your father was with my band at the height of our popularity and after that, I had a good band, later on a couple of times, but it never hit like that original one." Opportunities in television quickly followed for Elliot. He conducted an orchestra on the Guide Right television show from February 1952 until the fall of 1953. Throughout '52 and '53, Elliot conducted a 13-piece band each week on the Red Buttons show, using mostly CBS studio men, and daily on the Jack Sterling CBS radio show. He also did an eight-month appearance on the Philip Morris Playhouse.

Elliot's "all-star" weekend band, included vocalists Danny Riccardo, Rosalind Patton; saxists Al Cohn, Al Steele, Sam Marowitz, Hal McKusick and Steve Perlo; drummer Tiny Kahn; trombones Johnny Mandell, Ollie Wilson and Al Robinson; bassist Buddy Jones; trumpets Travis, Porcino, DeRisi and Sherman. A few sides were put out on the King label. Elliot changed his dance book and scrapped the French horn, referring it to an "introverted instrument" and replacing it with the "extroverted" bass trumpet (5).

In my recent interview with Elliot, he candidly revealed that Ollie Wilson approached him about this weekend band and told him that 12 to 14 of the guys were on heroin. The drug problem was even worse than while on the road.

As the decade moved on, Elliot continued to work in television and his studio band centered more on instrumental arrangements. Some of the more well-known players included Urbie Green on trombone, Tiny Kahn or Sol Gubin on drums, Hal McKusick; Sam Marowitz and Al Cohn on saxes, and such trumpeters as Ernie Royal, Nick Travis and Bernie Glow. Some of his weekend work showed up on the Fantasy label and much of his studio work can be found on Vik, Sesac and Air Force transcriptions.

By the mid-fifties, Elliot finally made commercial recordings of the dozen or so Mulligan arrangements that were the main book of the road band during 1950-51. In Ira Gitler's Swing to Bop (page 287), Mulligan lamented that it was not the same, ""the New York guys were so rigid. And the terrible thing, man, that their orientation, the idea than an all-star band in this town, if you didn't play Count Basie's stocks, you were dead. They couldn't play my charts worth a damn. None of them. One of the proofs of it is when Elliot [Lawrence] finally recorded some of the charts that I wrote [Elliot Lawrence plays Gerry Mulligan Arrangements, Fantasy 3-206, July 1955], long after I wrote the things and long after the band was really terrific. But he got a bunch of the New York guys together and, of course, this is partially unfair, because they did not have adequate rehearsal time, and Elliot never invited me to come rehearse the band. Those guys could have played the things, but left to their own devices, it just didn't really come out well. Anyway, that kind of atmosphere prevailed in this town. The dopers were terribly hip, and anything that didn't fit their particular standards""

Elliot told me that he had "one of those love-hate relationships" with Mulligan after he left his band, "We were very close. He got on drugs, as you know, and he was in a really bad way and the second wife got him off drugs completely. And then what really was the big argument and fights we had was, even though he couldn't work anywhere else, I always hired him and had him write for me. And he signed contracts for all these pieces that I published and years later he wanted everything back for free and I said, 'Gerry, that isn't the way it worked.' I published that music. That was our problem. Then at the end of his life he became my friend again. When he was dying, his wife said - just like your talking about your father's early life - she said he talked about his early life that was the best time of his life. So I talked to him, talked to her, talked at his funeral. It was a very interesting relationship that went back 30 or 40 years."

source: http://www.gerrymulligan.info/news_june2005.html

[BillF]

The Lawrence/Mulligan album has long been a great favorite of mine and I play it often. It's a long time since I heard the Cohn and Kahn album but I was far less impressed, IIRC. I also have Mulligan's The Arranger, which has a variety of great things on it.

[king ubu]

Yes, it was the same here, the Mulligan album had much more impact!

One more thing: I just recently got George T. Simon's big bands book (in german - on sale at zweitausendeins.de as is Hennessy's Klook book, just in case) - he produced and wrote liners for these Lawrence sessions, but there's no mention of him in the book (there's no index, but there's not chapter for Lawrence).

[Peter Friedman]

I have a third Elliot Lawrence CD in my collection.

Jazz Goes Broadway - RCA

This one has 10 Broadway tunes arranged by Elliot Lawrence (4), Al Cohn (3) or Manny Albam (3).

Two slightly different octets play the arrangements. Al Cohn, Zoot Sims, and the rhythm section of Elliot Lawrence, Chubby Jackson and Don Lamond perform in both octets.

Art Farmer or Nick Travis, Jimmy Cleveland or Urbie Green, Gene Quill or Hal McKusick fill out the remainder of the octets.

[Big Beat Steve]

I just recently got George T. Simon's big bands book (in german - on sale at zweitausendeins.de ...) - he produced and wrote liners for these Lawrence sessions, but there's no mention of him in the book (there's no index, but there's not chapter for Lawrence).

What book would that be exactly?

Cannot possibly be a belated German version of his "The Big Bands" book (belated because this major opus was released some 40 years ago!). And this book DOES have an Elliott Lawrence entry in the main section of the "major" big bands.

So ....

Anyway, thanks for the info. Though I am a bit wary of German translations of this kind of book (especially if the editor is Hannibal) I'll have to check out my local 2001 store, I guess.

As for Elliott Lawrence discs, I personnaly did not find that companion volume to the Gerry Mulligan arrangements album on Fantasy (i.e. his "Plays Tiny Kahn and Jophnny Mandel arangements") that much of a letdown compared to the Mulligan disc. But will do some aural comparison later tonight!

Also, for those who're into vinyl the earlier Eliott Lawrence recordings/airshots on the First Heard and Big Band Archives labels are interesting listening too. Great stuff to show where this band came from!

Edited January 26, 2009 by Big Beat Steve

[king ubu]

Hm, not in my edition (yes, that book, yes Hannibal, 5 euro or some, I don't complain) - there's Krupa, Kyser, then Guy Lombardo and Lunceford, no Lawrence in between!

[king ubu]

up?

[Niko]

up?

funny, i actually had that lawrence cohn kahn cd in my hand ten minutes ago but then decided in favor of the john dennis ojc

[hermosotrozo]

Laura Lee of the Philadelphia Evening Bulletin reported, "the lyrics of most of his [Elliot's] pieces are written by Bix Reichner, Bulletin reporter with whom he is writing a full-length comedy score."

whoever has written the lyrics, the sound and the way of singing is just waesome, and it surely leaves an impression on the heart!

[AllenLowe]

Tiny Kahn's arrangements are far superior to anything Mulligan ever did -

[Larry Kart]

Tiny Kahn's arrangements are far superior to anything Mulligan ever did -

Tiny Kahn was a fine and distinctive arranger, but why disparage Mulligan's work? At its best, his writing for big band was superb (e.g. his chart on "All The Things You Are," featuring Don Joseph). Also, FWIW, in Ira Gitler's "Swing To Bop," p. 287, Mulligan says this of the band of New York freelancers who recorded the "Elliot Lawrence Plays Gerry Mulligan" album:

"...the New York guys [here Mulligan is speaking in general] were so rigid..... They couldn't play my charts worth a damn.... One of the proofs of it is that when Elliot finally recorded some of the charts that I wrote, long after I wrote them and long after the band was really terrific. But he got a bunch of the New York guys together, and, of course, this is partially unfair, because they did not have adequate rehearsal time, and Elliot never invited me to come rehearse the band. Those guys could have played the things, but left to their own devices, it just didn't really come out well."

Lord knows that Mulligan could be a prima donna, and I like the Lawrence-Mulligan album myself, but he has a point -- the interpretations probably are a fair bit more generically "swingy" than Mulligan intended. Again, hear that "All The Things You Are." That's the kind of phrasing (in terms of rhythm and shifts in texture) that he had in mind, as flowing as Gil Evans' but with a flavor of its own.

[AllenLowe]

well...I never liked Mulligan; even the writing - I would assume the Concert Band was to his liking - and I find those things somewhat modern-generic. Well written, well played, but disappointing in terms of how highly they are touted -

Kahn's writing, on the other hand, has a deep-rooted swing (try Tiny's Blues, eg, from 1949) and a fullness that I just love.

I have tried, but Mulligan is on the list of those that do little for me. Gil Evans I find just so much deeper, the little dissonances, the imbalances, the sense that things are unfolding as they are played.

Mulligan is just, to me, more of a craftsman. Obvious in his effects -

[ghost of miles]

The Lawrence CD of Mulligan arrangements is being sold by Newbury for $2.99 right now through Amazon Marketplace.

[Free For All]

The Lawrence CD of Mulligan arrangements is being sold by Newbury for $2.99 right now through Amazon Marketplace.

Thanks for the heads up, David. I have this on vinyl but have been wanting to get it on CD. Great price!

And count me in as a fan of Mulligan's writing (as well as Tiny Kahn).

[fasstrack]

Elliot Lawrence was a participant at a recent event at the NYPL Bruno Walter auditorium. It was a syposium on the work of Broadway arrangers, orchestrators, and conductors. Jonathan Tunick, Sid Ramin, Hal Prince, Sheldon Harnick, and others also took part. Mr. Lawrence has written for Broadway for years. His colleagues showed great respect for his work.

I wanted to ask him about the Mulligan connection, but it wasn't the right time or place. I met him briefly afterwards and he was very nice. We spoke briefly about Bill Finegan----since Finegan partner Eddie Sauter was brought up as a Broadway writer, and spoken about with great reverence.

So a lot of jazz arrangers (Billy Byers the most notable) found viable careers writing for shows.

Edited November 9, 2009 by fasstrack