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Marty Paich

One of the best-known arrangers of the post-World War II era, Marty Paich had much stronger jazz credentials than many of his peers, thanks to his active presence on the West Coast scene during the '50s.

Paich was born in Oakland, CA, on January 23, 1925; he started out as a pianist, and was performing professionally at age 16. Along with the up-and-coming Pete Rugolo, he wrote arrangements for local bandleader Gary Nottingham. Tapped for military service in 1943, he continued to arrange while serving as the leader of the Army Air Corps band through 1946.

Following his discharge, he used the G.I. Bill to further his musical education, enrolling at UCLA to study arranging under Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco (who also helped train Nelson Riddle). He earned a master's degree from the Los Angeles Conservatory of Music in 1951, and quickly found work in the industry as both an arranger and pianist, working with Jerry Gray and Dan Terry early on.

Paich soon graduated to higher-profile gigs, playing and arranging for Shelly Manne and Shorty Rogers (the latter on the big-band album Cool and Crazy) over 1953-1954, and also serving a stint as Peggy Lee's accompanist and musical director.

He led his own groups as well, and in 1955 he began recording for a succession of labels that included Mode, Tampa, Candid (The Picasso of Big Band Jazz), Warner (I Get a Boot Out of You), and RCA Victor. He also toured with Dorothy Dandridge, and arranged (and performed on) the soundtrack to the Disney film Lady and the Tramp (1955).

During the mid- to late '50s, Paich wrote arrangements for a who's who of West Coast jazz, including Chet Baker, Buddy Rich, Ray Brown, Dave Pell, and Stan Kenton, among others.

Perhaps his most notable work came with Mel Tormé, whom he often backed with a ten-piece group dubbed the Dek-tette; the pairing resulted in the classic album Mel Tormé and the Marty Paich Dek-tette (aka Lulu's Back in Town), plus numerous other high-quality sessions through 1960. Additionally, Paich contributed the arrangements to altoist Art Pepper's 1959 masterpiece Art Pepper + Eleven: Modern Jazz Classics. Paich's work for both Tormé and Pepper reflected one of his greatest strengths as an arranger: making relatively small groups sound like full-size orchestras.

By the close of the '50s, Paich had already begun to branch out from his West Coast roots, arranging material for Ella Fitzgerald, Anita O'Day, and big-band leader Terry Gibbs. Around 1960, he elected to move away from his own recording career to focus on arranging for pop (and sometimes jazz) vocalists. Over the course of the decade, he worked with the likes of Ray Charles, Lena Horne, Helen Humes, Al Hirt, Andy Williams, Sammy Davis, Jr., Dean Martin, Frank Sinatra, Barbra Streisand, Astrud Gilberto, and Mahalia Jackson, among many others.

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Video / DVD

Backgrounder: Art Pepper and the Marty Paich 4

Backgrounder: Art Pepper and the Marty Paich 4

Source: JazzWax by Marc Myers

In August 1956, Art Pepper was teamed with Marty Paich on piano, Buddy Clark on bass and Frank Capp on drums on a Hollywood recording session for Tampa Records. The label was founded in Los Angeles a year earlier by Robert Scherman and Irving Shorten, and the album was Pepper's first since 1954 due to time spent in jail for drugs. On The Marty Paich Quartet Featuring Art Pepper, the alto saxophonist plays with a mournful jubilation, sailing up and ...

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Video / DVD

Kenton: Marty Paich's 'Body and Soul'

Kenton: Marty Paich's 'Body and Soul'

Source: JazzWax by Marc Myers

Yesterday, Jim Eigo sent along a link to an audio clip he received from Jeffrey Sultanof, who posted on the subject at his blog The Eclectic's Corner: About the Arts. The clip features the voice of arranger Marty Paich providing Stan Kenton with audio notes and direction for his commissioned arrangement of Body and Soul. Such a tape was made by an arranger when a bandleader requested the arrangement while on the road. The tape allowed the arranger to provide ...

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Recording

Phil Woods Groovin' to Marty Paich

Phil Woods Groovin' to Marty Paich

Source: All About Jazz


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Recordings: As Leader | As Sideperson

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Verve Music Group
2005

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Hot Piano

Enja Records
1985

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I Get A Boot Out Of...

LPTime Records
1981

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Jazz West Coast

Enja Records
1970

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