Hefti joined Woody Herman's trumpet section in 1944 and freelanced as a member of several ensembles, including Flip Phillips' Fliptet, a bop ensemble that included Bill Harris on trombone, Ralph Burns on piano, Billy Bauer on guitar, Chubby Jackson on bass and Dave Tough on drums.Ĭaldonia was Hefti's first hit arrangement for Herman in early 1945. Hefti's first known recorded arrangement was Daisy Chain in 1942 for Charlie Spivak, in whose band Hefti played trumpet. The bandleader who commissioned Hefti received compositions and arrangements that suited that orchestra's personality. And yet, Hefti's charts for one band sounded nothing like his charts for another. To keep an arrangement interesting, Hefti always wrote as though the band's different sections were having conversations among themselves across some imaginary fence. Whether he was arranging for Charlie Barnet, Woody Herman, Harry James or Count Basie, Hefti always understood that the reeds did the talking, the trumpets did the shouting and the trombones did the badgering. While many arrangers during the late 1940s and early 1950s reached for moody post-war European classical motifs, Hefti remained true to the swing tradition. As a result, Hefti's charts often made quick work of dilettantes and poseurs. From a musician's standpoint, even a straightforward Hefti arrangement could be deceptively demanding, requiring strong reading skills and an innate ability to swing.

Finally, the tune would plateau with a crescendo passage that sealed the deal for the listener and made you want to hear it again. The arrangement would then continue to rise ambitiously to new levels of intensity.

As the theme advanced, different sections of the band would join in with strong, inventive harmony lines. The magic of a Hefti arrangement often began with a bouncy theme. Hefti's now nearly forgotten prowess as a trumpet player and improviser in the 1940s put him in the recording company of Louis Armstrong, Benny Carter and Lucky Thompson. From his first recorded arrangement in 1942, Hefti's tasteful and swinging composing and writing sensibilities won the respect of both jazz's most skilled soloists and best-known big band leaders. He was 85.įor six decades, Hefti's keen ear and fast pen enabled him to move effortlessly between swing, bebop and cool jazz styles as well as meeting the demands of Hollywood's studio system. Customize Album Cover Art Templates in other sizes: Google+ Cover Image, Flyer (US Letter), Poster, Instagram Post, A4, Facebook Shared Image, Tabloid, Banner 2' × 6', Banner 2' × 8', Banner 4' × 6', Roll Up Banner 2' × 5', Roll Up Banner 3' × 6', Logo, Business Card, Postcard, Label, Tag, Rack Card, US Legal, A6, A5, A3, A2, A1, Facebook Cover Photo, Instagram Story, WhatsApp Status, Snapchat Geofilter, Twitter Post, Facebook Event Cover, Twitter Header, YouTube Channel Cover Photo, YouTube Thumbnail, Tumblr Banner, Tumblr Graphic, LinkedIn Background Image, LinkedIn Banner, LinkedIn Career Cover Photo, Soundcloud Banner, Email Header, Pinterest Graphic, Blog Header, Twitch Banner, Etsy Banner, Facebook Group Cover Photo, Facebook Ad, Wide Skyscraper, Medium Rectangle, Leaderboard, Large Rectangle, Album Cover, Google Classroom Banner, Kindle/Book Covers, Band Flyers, Band Posters, Cd Covers Templates, Edm Posters, Music Festival Posters, Music Posters, Music Youtube Banner, Rock Bands Posters.Neal Hefti, one of jazz's most intuitive big-band arrangers and composers of the 1940s and 1950s whose scores so perfectly matched the bands he wrote for that they often became their best-known recordings, died on October 11.

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