Johnny Mandel is considered one of the nation’s top composer/arrangers in jazz, pop, and film music. The breadth and quality of his work made it possible to be recorded by a wide variety of jazz musicians and singers.
Mandel’s parents discovered that he — at the age of five — had perfect pitch, and started him on piano lessons. He eventually moved on to playing horns (“I wanted to play an instrument you could kiss,” he is quoted as saying), studying at the Manhattan School of Music and Juilliard School, both in New York City. In the 1940s, he played the trumpet with Joe Venuti and Billy Rogers, and trombone in the orchestras of Boyd Rayburn, Jimmy Dorsey, Buddy Rich, Georgie Auld, and Chubby Jackson....
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Johnny Mandel is considered one of the nation’s top composer/arrangers in jazz, pop, and film music. The breadth and quality of his work made it possible to be recorded by a wide variety of jazz musicians and singers.
Mandel’s parents discovered that he — at the age of five — had perfect pitch, and started him on piano lessons. He eventually moved on to playing horns (“I wanted to play an instrument you could kiss,” he is quoted as saying), studying at the Manhattan School of Music and Juilliard School, both in New York City. In the 1940s, he played the trumpet with Joe Venuti and Billy Rogers, and trombone in the orchestras of Boyd Rayburn, Jimmy Dorsey, Buddy Rich, Georgie Auld, and Chubby Jackson.
From 1951-53, he played and arranged music in the band of Elliott Lawrence and Count Basie. Later he relocated to Los Angeles, where he played the bass trumpet for Zoot Sims. He also showed a prowess for composing, writing the jazz compositions “Not Really the Blues” for Woody Herman, “Hershey Bar” and “Pot Luck” for Stan Getz, “Straight Life” and “Low Life” for Count Basie, and “Tommyhawk” for Chet Baker.
Mandel moved to Hollywood in 1957 and began working on film scores, utilizing his outstanding compositional and arranging gifts. His score for the Susan Heyward movie I Want To Live is considered the first time that jazz had been integrated successfully into a musical score. He went on to earn a reputation as a film composer/arranger, including two of his more famous numbers: “Suicide Is Painless,” which was used as the theme for the movie (and later television series) M*A*S*H (whose soundtrack includes a version played by Ahmad Jamal), and “The Shadow of your Smile” for the movie The Sandpiper, which won the 1965 Academy Award for Best Song. He has provided music for more than 30 films, including The Russians Are Coming! The Russians Are Coming! and Being There.
By the early 1960s, Mandel’s reputation was such that the biggest names in jazz and pop wanted to work with him. Frank Sinatra chose him as arranger for his 1961 release Ring-a-Ding-Ding! In 1966, he served as musical director on Tony Bennett’s The Movie Song Album and collaborated again more recently, on Bennett’s album The Art of Romance (2004). Other singers who have sought his talents out include Ray Charles, Natalie Cole, Shirley Horn, Peggy Lee, Anita O’Day, Barbra Streisand, and Nancy Wilson.
Mandel has received five Grammy Awards: Song of the Year for Tony Bennett’s performance of “The Shadow of your Smile” and Best Original Score for The Sandpiper (both 1965), Best Arrangment on an Instrumental Recording for Quincy Jones’ song “Velas” (1981), Best Instrumental Arrangement Accompanying Vocal(s) for Natalie Cole’s Unforgettable (1991) and for Shirley Horn’s Here’s to Life (1992).
Discography:
Original Soundtrack Recording, I Want To Live, Rykodisc, 1958
Frank Sinatra, Ring-a-Ding-Ding!, Reprise, 1960
Anita O’Day, Trav’lin’ Light, Verve, 1961
Original Soundtrack Recording, M*A*S*H, Columbia, 1970
Shirley Horn, Here’s to Life, Verve, 1992
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