WTIC Radio remembers conductor Ray Conniff

Ray recalls his early days in Boston playing trombone with the Society Bands, including Dan Murphy’s Musical Skippers, performing in New York with Bunny Berrigan, Artie Shaw, and Bob Crosby and his eventual glory years at Columbia records...

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WEB LINKS

California Melodies 44

Faust Waltz
Amapola
I Guess It's Better That Way
MAXINE GRAY sings There'll Be Some Changes Made
Vienna Waltz
OFFENBACH Orpheus In The Underworld
MAXINE GRAY sings It All Comes Back to Me Now
Indefinate Ryhthm

Musician Ray Ellis has died

Conductor/arranger Ray Ellis, who arranged such classics as "Chances Are" by Johnny Mathis, "Splish Splash" by Bobby Darin and "Standing on the Corner" by the Four Lads, died Monday, 27 October 2008, in Encino of complications from melanoma. He was 85. During a career that spanned almost 65 years, the Philadelphia native also arranged for acts including Tony Bennett, Doris Day, the Drifters, Connie Francis, Judy Garland and Ray Price.

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The Andre Kostelanetz papers

The papers of legendary conductor, arranger and broadcaster Andre Kostelanetz have been donated to the Library of Congress by his estate. Kostelanetz died in 1980. The gift is a veritable treasure trove for students of 20th century music and broadcasting. The archive of Kostelanetz' personal property, papers, clippings, letters, sound recordings, posters, and photographs spans some 73 crates. It documents in detail the career of one of America's most remarkable men of music. The gift from Kostelanetz' estate will complement the gift of scores and parts for many of his arrangements Kostelanetz made to the Library of Congress. His papers will join those of George and Ira Gershwin, Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein, Lorenz Hart, Frederick Loewe, Alan Jay Lerner, and Irving Berlin, among others in the Library's collection of material belonging to eminent American musicians.

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birth anniversary conductor Werner Muller

German conductor Werner Müller was born 2 August 1920 in Berlin, He died 28 December 1998, in Cologne, Germany. Müller was conductor of two of the most popular radio orchestras in Germany. From 1948 to 1967, he led the Tanzorchester for the powerful station RIAS in Berlin. During this period he was associated with the pop singer Caterina Valente, whose recording of "Malaguena" was popular all over the world. In 1967 Müller became the chief conductor of the Tanzorchester of radio station WDRP in Cologne.

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The Caravelli Strings man

Claude Vasori, aka Caravelli, was an arranger and jazz musician working in France during the sixties and seventies, his output was prolific during this period and its not that uncommon to find his name somewhere on the back of many French pop records from this period. He was taught by his mother in piano and voicing/harmony at seven years old, and later, when he was thirteen he started to attend the Paris Conservatoire. At twenty he was professionally touring, accompanying singers on piano.When he was 26 years old he started his career as an orchestra conductor. French orchestra leader, using the name Caravelli, he was a composer, arranger, and maestro of easy listening conducting albums by The Caravelli Strings.

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birth anniversary conductor CARMEN DRAGON

CARMEN DRAGON conductor, arranger –received an Oscar for best score (w/Morris Stoloff) for “Cover Girl” (1944) – musical director for films “Lovely To Look At” and “The Kid From Brooklyn” -rec. w/Hollywood Bowl Symphony for Capitol. Conducted radio orchestra for many Hollywood based network shows in the 1940's. Carmen Dragon was born on July 28, 1914 and died March 28, 1984. Dragon was born in Antioch, California. He was very active in pops music conducting and composed scores for several films, including At Gunpoint (1955), Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956), Night into Tomorrow (1951), and Kiss Tomorrow Good-bye (1950). He conducted the Hollywood Bowl Symphony Orchestra, and they performed on the "Standard Oil Hour," broadcast on NBC for elementary schools in the late 1940s through the 1950s. The show was sponsored by Standard Oil Company of California, but other than the name there were no commercials. The program featured a high quality introduction to classical music for young people growing up in the 1940s and early 1950s. Dragon made a series of popular light classical albums for Capitol Records during the 1950s with the Hollywood Bowl Orchestra. Some of these recordings have been reissued by EMI on CD. Carmen Dragon is the father of harpist Carmen Dragon and Daryl Dragon of the 1970s pop music duo The Captain & Tennille.

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