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Don Sebesky

Don Sebesky is best known as house arranger for many of producer Creed Taylor's Verve, A&M, and CTI productions; the man whose orchestral backgrounds helped make artists like Wes Montgomery, Paul Desmond, Freddie Hubbard, and George Benson acceptable to audiences outside of jazz. He has taken critical heat for this, but Sebesky's arrangements have usually been among the classiest in his field, reflecting a solid knowledge of the orchestra, drawing variously from big band jazz, rock, ethnic music, classical music of all eras, and even the avant-garde for ideas. He once cited Bartok as his favorite composer, but one also hears lots of Stravinsky in his work.

Sebesky started out professionally as a trombonist while still at the Manhattan School of Music, working with Kai Winding, Claude Thornhill, the Tommy Dorsey Band led by Warren Covington, Maynard Ferguson, and Stan Kenton. In 1960, he gave up the trombone to concentrate upon arranging and conducting, eventually receiving the breakthrough assignment of Montgomery's Bumpin' album (1965). Some of the most attractive examples of his work for jazz headliners include Bumpin', Benson's The Shape of Things to Come, Desmond's From the Hot Afternoon, and Hubbard's First Light. He began to step out into the spotlight with the release of his all-star Giant Box, which was followed by sporadic further releases on CTI and GNP/Crescendo. He has also written classical works and a book, The Contemporary Arranger (Port Washington, NY, 1975).


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15
Building a Jazz Library

Celebrating Don Sebesky, Part 1

Read "Celebrating Don Sebesky, Part 1" reviewed by Dan McClenaghan


The passing of composer/arranger Don Sebesky in April 2023, invites a revisitation of his artistry. A Manhattan School of Music-trained trombonist, Sebesky played in the big bands of Kai Winding, Claude Thornhill, Tommy Dorsey and Maynard Ferguson. But by 1960, he found that his true passion was arranging and conducting. For this, he was nominated for 31 Grammy Awards. He won three of them. Though he received praise and accolades for his work, he was also the target ...

25
Album Review

Rodrigo Lima: Saga

Read "Saga" reviewed by Chris M. Slawecki


“I fell in love with the jazz guitar--all kinds of jazz guitarists, from Jim Hall to Pat Metheny to Luis Bonfá, by listening to their records," explains Brazilian composer, arranger, bandleader and guitarist Rodrigo Lima. Saga luxuriously extends this jazz guitar love affair across the American and Brazilian continents--it was recorded in New York, Los Angeles, Rio de Janeiro and Curitiba--and across the two CDs of Lima's utterly magnificent recorded debut. Producer Arnaldo DeSouteiro elegantly ...

233
Album Review

Don Sebesky: Giant Box

Read "Giant Box" reviewed by Dan Bilawsky


It's a bit bizarre to find an album called Giant Box in a small cardboard case, or as a download lacking physical form, but times change. When Don Sebesky's grand musical statement on CTI hit the marketplace in 1973, it came in a classical-type record box, befitting the stature of the music. Opinions vary as to whether Sebesky can be said to have been a savior of jazz in the '70s, or a jazz Judas who helped ...

222
Album Review

Don Sebesky: Joyful Noise

Read "Joyful Noise" reviewed by David Adler


Duke Ellington tribute records there have been by the dozen, but this one surely stands out as among the best. Big band arranger Don Sebesky brought together the cream of the crop: trombonist Bob Brookmeyer, trumpeter Tom Harrell, altoist Phil Woods, pianist Jim McNeely, guitarist John Pizzarelli, bassists Dennis Irwin and Ron Carter, and other fine soloists and section men. All these stellar players are in top form. It’s especially nice to hear Woods and Harrell together again — Harrell ...

180
Album Review

Don Sebesky: Joyful Noise - A Tribute To Duke Ellington

Read "Joyful Noise - A Tribute To Duke Ellington" reviewed by Jack Bowers


Joyful? Absolutely. Noise? Not on your bass drum, compadre.If it has taught us nothing else, the “Year of Ellington” now drawing to its close has shown that there are an almost infinite number of ways in which to enter and throw light upon the Duke’s abundant storehouse of enduring musical treasures. Don Sebesky has chosen the big–band route — the one most favored by the maestro himself — to stylishly renovate half a dozen opulent melodies by Ellington ...

347
Album Review

Don Sebesky: I Remember Bill (A Tribute To Bill Evans)

Read "I Remember Bill (A Tribute To Bill Evans)" reviewed by Douglas Payne


Veteran arranger Don Sebesky crafts an often-glowing portrait of famed jazz pianist Bill Evans in this quite welcome orchestral jazz tribute. While he is too often derided (and unfairly) as the guy who mucked up Wes Montgomery and other CTI stars with strings and horn sections, Sebesky often presents subtle arrangements that offer keen respect for a soloist's musicianship. When a listener notices Sebesky's work, it's often in the occasional punctuation mark or interesting sound combinations he creates. But it's ...

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1

Obituary

Don Sebesky (1937-2023)

Don Sebesky (1937-2023)

Source: JazzWax by Marc Myers

Don Sebesky, a composer and arranger best-known for his jazz orchestrations for albums produced by Creed Taylor at Verve, A&M and CTI and for his Broadway scores for a large number of updated popular musicals, died on April 29. He was 85. Over the course of his long, prolific career, Don played and arranged for a wide range of bands and artists. He could write and score swingers with heavy brass, he could arrange contemporary pop-rock hits for big bands ...

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Interview

Interview: Don Sebesky (Part 2)

Interview: Don Sebesky (Part 2)

Source: JazzWax by Marc Myers

In the late '60s and '70s, Don Sebesky was one of the most in-demand jazz arrangers in the record business. His close working relationship with Creed Taylor and CTI Records resulted in 45 albums. Among them were George Benson's White Rabbit, Kenny Burrell's God Bless the Child and Stanley Turrentine's The Sugar Man. Don also was one of the first arrangers to convincingly combine jazz and rock for orchestration, playing a strong role in shaping the adult- contemporary genre of ...

98

Interview

Interview: Don Sebesky (Part 1)

Interview: Don Sebesky (Part 1)

Source: JazzWax by Marc Myers

Arranger Don Sebesky is among only a handful of musicians   today who toured and recorded with both Stan Kenton and Maynard Ferguson's big bands at the tail end of the '50s. Don also arranged Wes Montgomery's most popular recordings for Verve and A&M in the '60s, and in the '70s arranged and conducted many of CTI's best-known releases. Don's signature touch is orchestral with surging power but also highly supportive of the soloist. Back in the '60s, Don was as ...

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Radio

The Jazz Session #207: Don Sebesky (CTI Records)

The Jazz Session #207: Don Sebesky (CTI Records)

Source: AAJ Staff

Grammy and Tony award winner Don Sebesky wrote and arranged music for many of the classic CTI recordings. You can hear his work on a new boxed set, CTI: The Cool Revolution (Sony Masterworks, 2010). In this interview, Sebesky talks about how CTI got started and how it developed its signature sound; his experience working with Wes Montgomery, Jim Hall, Paul Desmond, Grover Washington, Jr. and many others; and why he still considers his time at CTI one of the ...

Rodrigo Lima
guitar, acoustic

Music

Recordings: As Leader | As Sideperson

Saga

Jazz Station Records
2015

buy

Giant Box

CTI Masterworks
2011

buy

Jazz Rock (Verve)

Verve Records
2008

buy

Jazz Budget Line...

CTI Records
1996

buy

Flying Waltz

From: Saga
By Don Sebesky

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