Neal Hefti

Neal Hefti

Here's Neal Hefti with Frank Sinatra. Hefti was born on October 29, 1922 in Nebraska.  Originally a scuffling trumpet player, he wrote arrangements for every band he played in.  While he was with the Woody Herman First Herd, his charts started to attract attention.  By the late 1940s, he was writing for Buddy Rich, Billy Butterfield, Georgie Auld, Charlie Ventura and Harry James.  His arrangement of his own composition "Repetition", with Charlie Parker as soloist, was recorded by Norman Granz.  In 1950, Hefti started a collaboration with Count Basie that powered the Basie band to national prominence, and won two Grammys for its arranger.  Moving to Los Angeles in 1960, Hefti was drawn into the business of scoring movies.  And in 1961, he became the head of A&R for Frank Sinatra's Reprise label.  His high-profile TV scores included "Batman" and "The Odd Couple".  He was the consummate composer/arranger.  Hall-of-Fame drummer Shelley Manne said,"Neal was so great that he'd just take out the music paper, no score, [hums] — trumpet part, [hums] — trumpet part, [hums] — trombone part, [hums], and you'd play it the next day. It was the end. Cooking charts. I'll never forget, I couldn't believe it. I kept watching him. It was fantastic."

SearchButton