MUSIC CLIP - OSCAR PETERSON, “MOONGLOW”
Welcome to Afterglow, I’m your host, Mark Chilla.
On this show, we’re examining the work of one of the great jazz arrangers: Marty Paich. Inspired by Miles Davis and Gil Evans, but with a classical-music pedigree, Paich helped develop that cool, west coast sound in the 1950s, before moving onto more commercial ventures in the 1960s and beyond. Coming up, we’ll hear some of his work arranging for singers like Mel Tormé, Ella Fitzgerald, Anita O’Day and Ray Charles.
It’s the Modern Touch of Marty Paich, coming up on Afterglow
MUSIC - LUCY ANN POLK, “HOW ABOUT YOU”
MUSIC - LUCY ANN POLK, “LOOKING AT YOU”
Two songs from singer Lucy Ann Polk. Just now, we heard the little-known 1929 Cole Porter song “Looking At You,” before that the 1941 Burton Lane and Ralph Freed song “How About You,” originally from the film Babes On Broadway. Both of those tracks come from the album Lucky Lucy Ann, recorded in Hollywood in July 1957, featuring Dick Noel on trombone, Bob Hardaway on tenor saxophone, Tony Rizzi on guitar, Buddy Clark on bass, and Mel Lewis on drums. On piano, and leading the ensemble, was Marty Paich. [:38]
MUSIC CLIP - ART PEPPER, “OPUS DE FUNK“
Mark Chilla here on Afterglow. On this show, we’re focusing on the work of West Coast jazz arranger Marty Paich.
Born and raised in Oakland California, Marty Paich started out his musical career playing the accordion of all things. He eventually taught himself piano while playing in an Air Force band during World War II. Besides his brief stint in the military, Paich stayed on the West Coast for most of his life. He studied with classical composer Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco at the University of Southern California and later cut his teeth in the active LA recording industry.
He was already considered a prodigy arranger at age 17. And by the 1950s, when he was in his 20s, he became a sought after West Coast arranger in the budding cool jazz style. Throughout the 50s, he arranged for some respected jazz greats such as Anita O’Day, bassist Ray Brown, bandleader Stan Kenton, and saxophonist Art Pepper. Yet, some of his most well-known and most respected work from this era came from his collaboration with singer Mel Tormé.
Mel Torme and Marty Paich first worked together in 1955 on Torme’s first record with the Bethlehem label, titled It’s a Blue World. This was a record where Torme made the distinct turn from a pop singer to a jazz singer.
Tormé and Paich collaborated for most of Torme’s time at Bethlehem. Their most famous collaboration came in 1956, when Paich formed an ensemble he called his “Dek-tette.” This ten-piece ensemble was fashioned in part after Gerry Mulligan’s Ten-tette and Miles Davis and Gil Evans Nonet from the “Birth of the Cool” sessions, especially when you consider all of those ensembles contained the French Horn, not a traditional jazz instrument. Paich took these non-traditional sounds and blended them with a killer sense of swing and hard-driving rhythms.
We’ll kick things off now with the Marty Paich Dek-Tette and Mel Torme and a song they recorded in 1956: “Lulu’s Back in Town”, on Afterglow.
MUSIC - MEL TORMÉ WITH THE MARTY PAICH DEK-TETTE, “LULU’S BACK IN TOWN”
MUSIC - MEL TORMÉ, “SOMETHING’S GOTTA GIVE”
Mel Tormé with the Marty Paich Dek-Tette performing the Johnny Mercer tune “Something’s Gotta Give.” That’s from the album Mel Tormé Sings Fred Astaire from 1956. Before that, Tormé and Paich again performing the Harry Warren and Al Dubin song “Lulu’s Back In Town,” the title track of their other album together from 1956. Both of those recordings were made for the Bethlehem label. Some great players on those sessions, including saxophonists Bud Shank and Bob Cooper. We’ll hear more from Tormé a little later this hour.
In 1958, Marty Paich took his Dek-Tette and began to shop it around a bit, bringing it to the Verve label to record with Ella Fitzgerald on her album Ella Swings Lightly. The Dek-Tette wasn’t a specific group of 10 musicians, but rather whatever 10 players Paich could gather for a session on whatever label he was working for. There were a few who played on most of these sessions, including Vince DeRosa on french horn, Bob Enevoldsen [eh-nuh-VOLD-sen] on trombone, and Don Fagerquist on trumpet.
Here’s Marty Paich and his Dek-Tette along with Ella Fitzgerald in 1958 with “Just You Just Me,” on Afterglow.
MUSIC - ELLA FITZGERALD, “JUST YOU, JUST ME”
MUSIC - ELLA FITZGERALD, “WHAT’S YOUR STORY, MORNING GLORY?”
Ella Fitzgerald and the Marty Paich Dek-Tette with “Just You Just Me” and “What’s the Story Morning Glory?,” both songs from the 1958 album Ella Swings Lightly.
Marty Paich’s perfectionism would often rub session players the wrong way. Trombonist Milt Bernhart, who worked with Paich on Anita O’Day’s 1958 album Anita O’Day Sings the Winners, said quote, “On the job, he became (in my estimation, of course) a U-Boat Commander. … the exact performance of his music was not just desirable ... it was ordained. Quite often, Marty delivered a passionate speech to whatever band was in front of him - having to do with the importance of playing his music the only way possible - his way. Which I'll add was unquestionably the right way.” end quote.
Here’s one of those “unquestionably right” performances from that album now. This is Anita O’Day and the Marty Paich Dek-Tette with “Interlude” aka “(A Night In Tunisia),” on Afterglow.
MUSIC - ANITA O’DAY, “INTERLUDE (A NIGHT IN TUNISIA)”
MUSIC - SAMMY DAVIS JR, “THOU SWELL”
Sammy Davis Jr. in 1961 with a raucous version of the Rodgers and Hart song “Thou Swell,” arranged by Marty Paich. That comes from Davis’s album The Wham Of Sam. Before that, Anita O’Day with “Interlude,” better known as “A Night in Tunisia,” also arranged by Marty Paich. That comes from O’Day’s 1958 album Anita O’Day Sings the Winners.
MUSIC CLIP - RAY BROWN, “WILL YOU STILL BE MINE?”
We’ll have more of the Modern Touch of Marty Paich in just a bit. Stay with us.
I’m Mark Chilla, and you’re listening to Afterglow
MUSIC CLIP - CHET BAKER, “LOVE WALKED IN”
MUSIC CLIP - MARTY PAICH, “LOVE FOR SALE”
Welcome back to Afterglow, I’m Mark Chilla. What you’re hearing in the background right now is the Marty Paich Orchestra performing Cole Porter’s “Love for Sale,” from their 1959 album I Get A Book Out Of You.
This hour, we’ve been taking a look at the modern touch of Marty Paich, one of the great west coast jazz arrangers, looking specifically at his work with singers.
In 1960, Marty Paich continued his collaboration with singer Mel Tormé, orchestrating and conducting what in my opinion is one of Tormé’s masterpieces: the album Mel Tormé Swings Shubert Alley. The “Shubert” here is not Franz Schubert, but rather the Broadway Shuberts, a family of theater producers, and the namesake of part of New York’s theater district. As you might imagine, this album features all songs from Broadway shows.
Paich’s punchy, yet incredibly rich arrangements perfectly match the lightness of Torme’s voice. Let’s hear a few tracks now.
First up, from the Broadway show Mr. Wonderful (originally starring the last singer we hear from this hour, Sammy Davis Jr.), here’s Mel Tormé and Marty Paich with “Too Close for Comfort,” on Afterglow.
MUSIC - MEL TORMÉ, “TOO CLOSE FOR COMFORT”
MUSIC - MEL TORMÉ, “OLD DEVIL MOON”
Mel Torme with the Marty Paich orchestra with the Burton Lane and Yip Harburg song “Old Devil Moon,” originally from the Broadway musical Finian’s Rainbow. Before than, we heard them with the song “Too Close for Comfort,” originally from the Broadway musical Mr. Wonderful. Both of those tracks are from the 1960 Broadway-themed album Mel Torme Swings Shubert Alley.
Marty Paich became a trusted arranger in the jazz world. When little known or untested artists would record their first album, it was often the reliable work of Paich that would serve as their accompaniment. In 1964, Brazilian singer Astrud Gilberto became an overnight international sensation when she sang the English lyrics in what was supposed to be her husband’s breakout song “The Girl From Ipanema.” To capitalize on the fame, the Verve label recorded her debut solo album the following year, which featured guitar help by Antonio Carlos Jobim and arrangements by Marty Paich.
Let’s hear a track from it now. This is a Brazilian song written by Jobim himself. Here is Astrud Gilberto with “O Morro Não Tem Vez,” on Afterglow
MUSIC - ASTRUD GILBERTO, “O MORRO (NAO TEM VEZ)”
MUSIC - TONI HARPER, “IN THE STILL OF THE NIGHT”
MUSIC - JERI SOUTHERN, “RIDIN’ HIGH”
Cole Porter’s “Ridin’ High,” an especially bouncy recording of the Marty Paich Orchestra featuring the underrated singer Jeri Southern. That’s from her 1958 album for Roulette Records titled Southern Breeze.
Before that, we heard jazz singer Toni Harper and arranger Marty Paich, from Harper’s 1960 album Night Mood, with the Bobby Troup and Leah Worth song “The Meaning Of The Blues.” And starting that set, Astrud Gilberto with the bossa nova standard “O Morro (Nao Tem Vez).” That comes from The Astrud Gilberto Album, also arranged by Marty Paich.
Over the course of his career, Marty Paich ended up working with many of the great singers, including, as we've heard, Ella Fitzgerald, Mel Tormé, Anita O’Day and more. One very famous singer that he only worked with on one occasion was Frank Sinatra. Sinatra typically worked with a small group of his most trusted arrangers—Nelson Riddle, Billy May, and Gordon Jenkins. But for singles, he would often branch out, and in 1965, he worked with Paich on two singles, later released on the Reprise album Softly, As I Leave You. Paich liked to take his time in the studio, which was the exact opposite of Sinatra, who earned the nickname “one take Frank.”
Nevertheless, their musical styles blended well. Here is Marty and Frank in 1965 with the Jack Segal and Bob Wells tune “Here’s To The Losers,” on Afterglow.
MUSIC - FRANK SINATRA, “HERE’S TO THE LOSERS”
A winner of a track from Frank Sinatra and arranger Marty Paich in 1965. That was “Here’s To The Losers,” featured on the Reprise album Softly, As I Leave You.
The later years for arranger Marty Paich became increasingly varied. For a long stretch of time, he moved away from traditional recorded music and into the world of music for film and television. He wrote music for Hanna-Barbera cartoons, was the orchestra leader on television shows like The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour, won an Emmy for scoring the TV show Ironside, and even worked as a conductor for hit films like Pretty Woman and the Prince Of Tides.
He did occasionally enter the studio again, notably with singer Sarah Vaughan in the 1980s, where he arranged her Grammy Award-winning album Gershwin Live in 1982, and co-arranged her often misunderstood album Songs of the Beatles in 1981, his arranging partner being his son David Paich. You may know the younger Paich as one of the founding members of the rock band Toto.
To close off this hour, however, I’m going to play instead a nearly universally-beloved track that may be very familiar to you, without realizing that Marty Paich had anything to do with it. Despite his skills at piano, and his innovative horn arrangements with his Dek-Tette, Marty Paich gained the reputation over the years as being one of the most reliable string arrangers in the business. And here is one of those string arrangements.
From the 1962 album Modern Sounds in Country and Western album, this is Ray Charles with the Cindy Walker and Eddy Arnold country tune “You Don’t Know Me,” here on Afterglow.
MUSIC - RAY CHARLES, “YOU DON’T KNOW ME”
Ray Charles from the album Modern Sounds in Country and Western Music performing “You Don’t Know Me,” with strings arranged by Marty Paich.
MUSIC - MARTY PAICH, “THINGS AIN’T WHAT THEY USED TO BE”
Thanks for tuning in to this Modern touch of Marty Paich edition of Afterglow.
Afterglow is part of the educational mission of Indiana University and produced by WFIU Public Radio in beautiful Bloomington, Indiana. The executive producer is John Bailey.
Playlists for this and other Afterglow programs are available on our website. That’s at indianapublicmedia.org/afterglow.
I’m Mark Chilla, and join me next week for our mix of Vocal Jazz and popular song from the Great American Songbook, here on Afterglow
