Talk:Neal Hefti

Article

I've added vast tracks of land to this article, using text from a school paper that I wrote about Hefti a decade ago (which I hereby license under the GFDL). I haven't done a very good job of wiki-fying it, or fixing the style problems, or removing the POV (I admit that I'm a big fan), but I figure that my additions are an improvement... I look forward to seeing how it evolves. Klundberg 05:39, 15 February 2006 (UTC)

Mickey Mouse bands

This term is mentioned in the article and I didn't understand it. After some googling I see it being used by jazz musicians including Stan Getz. And I saw that "Swing to Bop: An Oral History of the Transition in Jazz in the 1940s" by Ira Gitler has a number of examples. But I'm really still not clear what it means. Something to do with "sweet" bands (not swing?), or perhaps "territory", "style bands", or even white. I think it would be great for Wikipedia to define the term either on this article, or on a different one like the Swing_Music article. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 209.93.31.48 (talk) 08:49, 15 July 2022 (UTC)

Green Hornet?

You make two references to Hefti having done the music for the TV series "The Green Hornet." The theme to that series was an arrangement of Rimsky-Korsakov's "Flight of the Bumblebee," and the underscore music was by Billy May. I can find no documentation of Hefti being involved with that series. You provide the link to Hefti's entry in IMDb, but there is no mention of "The Green Hornet" in that entry either. Rich 05:21, 16 February 2006 (UTC)

I defer to you. It sounds like you know more about the Green Hornet music than I do, so you're probably right. Next time I'm at the library, I'll try to figure out which one of my references claimed that he did the Green Hornet score. I'm guessing that it was one of the Jazz encyclopedias, either Kinkle or Larkin... Klundberg 16:06, 25 February 2006 (UTC)

Why I know anything about the Green Hornet music is a mystery to me, but that's the kind of stuff that sticks in my head. I went ahead and removed the Green Hornet references from your piece (which I like, by the way; I'm a big Neal Hefti fan). If you later find that I'm wrong, they can always be reinstated. Rich 18:07, 25 February 2006 (UTC)

Batman

Re: "His best-known contributions of this period are the theme of the TV series such as Batman and The Odd Couple." As I remember (from childhood), Nelson Riddle wrote the theme to Batman. TheScotch 07:10, 7 January 2007 (UTC)

Oh, never mind. It appears--after Googling--that Hefti wrote the theme and Riddle wrote the incindental music. I just remember seeing Riddle's name on the screen each week. TheScotch 07:19, 7 January 2007 (UTC)

Bossa Nova

"One of the serendipitous highlights of his work in the late Forties was the recording of his bossa nova song "Repetition" for an album called The Jazz Scene using a big band and string orchestra."

vs.

"Although the Bossa Nova movement only lasted six years (1958-63), it contributed a number of songs to the standard jazz repertoire." and "Bossa Nova developed in Brazil in 1958, with Elizete Cardoso's recording of Chega de Saudade on the Canção do Amor Demais LP." (from the Wikipedia's Bossa Nova article) —Preceding unsigned comment added by 213.186.247.222 (talk) 22:14, 5 December 2007 (UTC)

I don't know. The album "The Jazz Scene" was recorded in 1949, and "Repetition" definitely sounds like a bossa nova song...

It's just incorrect to call it that, though. I don't have it handy to check out by ear, but:

So when Hefti was asked by producer Norman Granz to write two songs for The Jazz Scene—an album that was to be aimed at the wealthier, high-brow set—he scored modal-jazz originals that fused light Cuban rhythms already popularized by Dizzy Gillespie with a classically trained string section.[1]

Not a usable source, I know, but it does sound sufficiently likely that the "bossa nova" nomenclature can be removed. --jpgordon^∇∆∇∆ 16:30, 15 October 2008 (UTC)

Death in 2008?

Reports are circulating on the internet that Neal Hefti died two or three days ago. Can someone cite a credible source so that we can add the information here without getting reverted? Michael Hardy (talk) 06:30, 14 October 2008 (UTC)

...specifically, a friend of Neal Hefti, posting here, says Hefti died. But the precise date of death is not mentioned. Michael Hardy (talk) 13:22, 14 October 2008 (UTC)

Died on 11 October 2008, as now shown on article. Werdnawerdna (talk) 03:28, 15 October 2008 (UTC)

Since I posted this the Telegraph in England and the L.A. Times have reported all this. Michael Hardy (talk) 04:38, 15 October 2008 (UTC)

Legacy

Removed from the article on 1 September 2008

Neal Hefti will probably be best remembered for his popular music work for Hollywood during the Sixties. Although most people cannot name the author of the popular "Batman Theme," it is a consistent favorite. However, Hefti should most of all be remembered as one of the most important composers and arrangers of big band bebop era. Although he was a capable trumpet player, playing with the influential First Herd during the Forties, he should be remembered for his arranging and composing. While his tenures with Charlie Spivak, Woody Herman, and Charlie Ventura were crucial in the development of his bebop ear, it was how he used his bop experience as a composer and arranger that made him a pivotal figure in the careers of many bands. His compositions for the Woody Herman band, like "Wild Root" and "The Good Earth" in the Forties and "Li'l Darlin" and "Cute" for the Count Basie band in the Fifties, left an indelible mark on those bands, and those bands left an indelible mark on the field of jazz. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 24.34.75.33 (talk) 01:30, 16 October 2008 (UTC)

Compositions

Removed from the article 15 October 2008

Compositions include

• "Li'l Darlin'"
• "Cute"
• "Coral Reef"
• "Plymouth Rock"
• "Buttercup"
• "Two for the Blues"
• "Cherry Point"
• "Oh What a Night for Love"
• "The Kid from Red Bank"
• "Repetition"
• "Splanky"
• "Sunday Morning"
• "Hot Pink"
• "Little Pony"
• "Blowin' up a Storm"
• "Eee Dee"
• "Lake Placid"
• "Why Not?"
• "The Long Night"
• "I'm Shoutin' Again"
• "Jump for Johnny"
• "The Good Earth"
• "Wild Root"
• "Late Date"
• "It's Always Nice to Be with You"
• "Girl Talk"
• "I Must Know"
• "Batman Theme"
• "Uncle Jim"
• "Duet"
• "Fancy Meeting You"
• "Sure Thing"
• "Falling in Love All Over Again"
• "Softly with Feeling"
• "Time for the Blues"
• "You for Me"
• "Has Anyone Here Seen Basie?"
• "Pensive Miss"
• "Scoot"
• "Sloo Foot"
• "It's Awfully Nice to Be with You"
• "Count Down"
• "A Little Tempo, Please"
• "Pony Tail"
• "Bag-a' Bones"
• "Teddy the Toad" —Preceding unsigned comment added by 24.34.75.33 (talk) 14:26, 16 October 2008 (UTC)

Merge proposal

I propose that Duet (Neal Hefti composition) be merged into the main Neal Hefti article. I see no reason to keep the two separate given the brevity of the former article.
Vmavanti (talk) 23:44, 18 June 2019 (UTC)

The article has significantly expanded since this proposal was made, and now indicates notability for the composition/arrangement, given the number of recordings over several decades. Therefore, oppose. Klbrain (talk) 19:39, 2 May 2020 (UTC)

Service classification

From his LA times obituary:

• Ex-big band trumpeter, arranger and composer
• By Dennis McLellan, Oct. 15, 2008 12 AM PT

In 1941, two days before his high school graduation, Hefti was asked to tour with the Dick Barry band, which had lost some of its musicians to the military.

The short-lived job ended in New Jersey. But other band jobs followed, including playing with the Bob Astor, Charlie Barnet, Bobby Byrne, Horace Heidt and Charlie Spivak bands.

Hefti, who was classified 4-F during World War II after being hit by a car in New York and breaking his pelvis, joined Woody Herman’s band in 1944.

I assume that was the injury which "forced him to leave Bob Astor (per § Beginnings), but I haven't found a source explicitly stating so. -- ToE 12:55, 18 June 2021 (UTC)