Neal Hefti RIP

Mike Schwartz · October-14th-2008, 06:26 PM

Neal Hefti (born October 29, 1922, Hastings, Nebraska Died October 11, 2008)
...American jazz trumpeter, composer, tune writer, and arranger. He began
arranging professionally in his teens, when he wrote charts for Nat Towles.
He became a prominent composer and arranger while playing trumpet for Woody
Herman; while working for Herman he provided new arrangements for
"Woodchopper's Ball" and "Blowin' Up a Storm," and composed "The Good Earth"
and "Wild Root." After leaving Herman's band in 1946, Hefti concentrated on
arranging and composing, although he occasionally led his own bands. He is
especially known for his charts for Count Basie such as "Li'l Darlin'" and
"Cute". The wikipedia bio goes on...In the 1960s and later he composed and
arranged mainly for movies and television. He wrote the background music for
movies such as Sex and the Single Girl, How to Murder Your Wife, Synanon,
Boeing Boeing, Harlow, Lord Love a Duck, Duel at Diablo, Oh Dad Poor Dad
Mama's Hung You in the Closet and I'm Feelin' So Sad, and Barefoot in the
Park. His best-known contributions of this period are the themes for the TV
series Batman and The Odd Couple.

Squaredancecalling Steve · October-14th-2008, 06:39 PM

R.I.P.

Lots of great music from him. Just listened to Bird with Strings.

Mike Schwartz · October-14th-2008, 06:41 PM

Phil Kelly mentioned him on another thread today....

Jazzooo · October-14th-2008, 08:30 PM

Man, I learned a ton from listening to him. RIP and thank you very much.

hornplayer · October-15th-2008, 01:58 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jazzooo

Man, I learned a ton from listening to him. RIP and thank you very much.

Reading this thread title, I was thinking the same thing.

Now I'm humming "Cute."

Ron Thorne · October-15th-2008, 02:27 AM

What a remarkable contributor to American music!

What a loss!

R.I.P., Neal Hefti~

Chris D · October-15th-2008, 09:42 AM

His contributions to Basie's "Atomic" band cannot be praised enough.

Funny that the wire headlines read "'Batman' composer dies."

Gentle Giant · October-15th-2008, 11:04 AM

Hey, Batman has to rank among the most recognized tunes in the Western canon. So simple, yet - POW! BLAM! KABLOOIE! - it sure packs a punch. (And no doubt was his biggest money-maker.)

RIP

jazzy mary · October-15th-2008, 11:21 AM

Oh!! Neal Hefti was the best!!

cookie · October-15th-2008, 11:32 AM

Very sad news. I love Hefti's music. I brought up Hefti and the "Batman" theme with my students about a month ago. We were working on the blues form and I was talking about its most simple 3 chord incarnation. I told them they'd heard it a million times without necessarily being aware. I then had them sing the simple 12 bar background I taught them while I laid in "Batman,na na,na,na,na,na, na, na, Batman, etc." Thank God for tv reruns, they got it! I pointed out that this little thing was composed by one of my favorite jazz writers, Neal Hefti and shared some info about him. Purely spur of the moment--but I invoked Hefti's name for them and encouraged them to find out more about this great writer.

My favorite Hefti composition is "Lil Darlin'"

RIP, Neal Hefti. Thank you.

José Domingos Raffaelli · October-15th-2008, 11:52 AM

Neal Hefti arranged and conducted the stupendous Clifford Brown & Strings session.

cookie · October-15th-2008, 01:06 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by José Domingos Raffaelli

Neal Hefti arranged and conducted the stupendous Clifford Brown & Strings session.

Ah, yes!! That's right. I know what I'm listening to later....

clinthopson · October-15th-2008, 01:13 PM

Neal Hefti left us a great legacy.

If it wasn't for Hefti, the Basie band wouldn't sound like is does today. Yeah, it isn't the sound of the earlier bands, by any stretch, but it's one of the great big band sounds, IMHO.

It's Basie night tonight.

jazzy mary · October-15th-2008, 02:05 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by cookie

Ah, yes!! That's right. I know what I'm listening to later....

You got that right!!

jazzy mary · October-15th-2008, 02:06 PM

Where is his NY Times obit!!??

clinthopson · October-15th-2008, 05:02 PM

The L.A. Times had one today.

Zephyr · October-15th-2008, 06:28 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jazzy mary

Where is his NY Times obit!!??

here

PaintedPostDave · October-16th-2008, 07:53 AM

I first noticed Neal Hefti in 1956 or so on "Boppin the Blues" where he played trumpet in Lucky Thompson's "Lucky Seven". In his solo there was a great quote of Stravinsky's "Rite of Spring".

José Domingos Raffaelli · October-16th-2008, 08:42 AM

Neal Hefti also composed, arranged and conducted the orchestra on the celebrated "Repetition" with Charlie Parker played on the top of the arrangement.
José

cookie · October-20th-2008, 02:29 AM

Have finally found that relaxed late-night window to listen to Clifford Brown with Strings. This sort of beauty makes life worth the living. Thanks for the reminder, Jose. Hefti's work is amazing. Lovely effects and voicings with the strings. Should be required listening for all students of arranging for the studio orchestra.

jazzy mary · October-20th-2008, 12:51 PM

"Have finally found that relaxed late-night window to listen to Clifford Brown with Strings. This sort of beauty makes life worth the living."

EXACTLY!