bill finegan remembered

[alocispepraluger102]

bill finegan remembered

"When master big band arranger Bill Finegan died at the age of 91 on June 4th, many jazz fans had forgotten that he had directed the Cleveland Jazz Orchestra in an unusual concert of his inventive and pioneering arrangements for the 1950s Sauter-Finegan Orchestra. The concert in November of 1991 at the Tri-C Metro Campus Auditorium was the first time Finegan had conducted any other band playing the arrangements of the revolutionary orchestra he co-directed with Eddie Sauter.

Before that concert, Finegan told me he had some second thoughts. "Before I got here," he said, "I thought 'I don't think I want to do this any more. I did it for years with the band, but after hearing the way these fellows play – and they're such marvelous players and work so hard on these charts – yes, I would like to do some more if I could find guys like this to play it.""

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CAN YOU IMAGINE THE SAUTER-FINEGAN AGGREGATION PLAYING A HIGH SCHOOL PROM?????

Edited January 22, 2012 by alocispepraluger102

[fasstrack]

bill finegan remembered

"When master big band arranger Bill Finegan died at the age of 91 on June 4th, many jazz fans had forgotten that he had directed the Cleveland Jazz Orchestra in an unusual concert of his inventive and pioneering arrangements for the 1950s Sauter-Finegan Orchestra. The concert in November of 1991 at the Tri-C Metro Campus Auditorium was the first time Finegan had conducted any other band playing the arrangements of the revolutionary orchestra he co-directed with Eddie Sauter.

Before that concert, Finegan told me he had some second thoughts. "Before I got here," he said, "I thought 'I don't think I want to do this any more. I did it for years with the band, but after hearing the way these fellows play – and they're such marvelous players and work so hard on these charts – yes, I would like to do some more if I could find guys like this to play it.""

article continues with link

CAN YOU IMAGINE THE SAUTER-FINEGAN AGGREGATION PLAYING A HIGH SCHOOL PROM?????

Thanks for this. Bill was my friend, teacher, and one of three great men I was able to interact with and study in my own life.

I think Bill, like many idealists, wanted the world---and music business particularly---to be the way he wanted it to (meaning real art and people to be appreciated and creative people renumerated fairly). That's rarely the case and Bill had a bit of a problem with that perhaps. He wasn't bitter---he was the warmest of guys---but he, at least privately---spoke his mind about shallow, stupid music, certain arrangers he didn't have much respect for, and especially what he felt to be the idiotic values of the nation ('a nation of barbarians' he once called us), and (with special relish) then president George W. Bush.

When he did respect someone he would voice that just as strongly. The composers (outside of classical music) he raved to me about most often were Billy Strayhorn and Alec Wilder. Players were Bob Brookmeyer (he liked his writing too), Jim Hall, Jimmy Raney, Joe Puma---and naturally all the Sauter-Finegan crew.

Sauter-Finegan lost a lot of money and had to stay on the road to pay back advances from various agents and promoters. They also had to create a dance book on the fly---literally in hotel rooms in strange cities) because the big-band audience (what was left of it) mostly wanted to dance, not hear brilliant and often hilarious orchestrations that sometimes featured glockenspiels and kazoos. But they could write so quickly and well they did create a dance book---although it never really got them out of debt, just perhaps more palatable to the public.

One interesting reflection I could put forward from a conversation between us speaks volumes about not only Bill's regard for Sauter, but also his modesty: I asked him who wrote what (because I was a student of their styles, especially his, and wanted to know), Bill, with no further elaboration, simply said

'We wrote them together'.

(edited for grammar. JF)

Edited January 22, 2012 by fasstrack

[alocispepraluger102]

thank you, sir.

your very personal recollections of bill gives considerable insight into the perils of a true artist and this uncaring world.

[fasstrack]

thank you, sir.

your very personal recollections of bill gives considerable insight into the perils of a true artist and this uncaring world.

You're welcome. I'll add more as time allows. Maybe I'll put some stories about Bill and others on a blog.

[alocispepraluger102]

thank you, sir.

your very personal recollections of bill gives considerable insight into the perils of a true artist and this uncaring world.

You're welcome. I'll add more as time allows. Maybe I'll put some stories about Bill and others on a blog.