I was traveling in the car Saturday night, which offered me an opportunity to do something I don't get to do often enough, and that was listened to Hot Jazz Saturday Night, hosted by Rob Bamberger on WAMU out of Washington DC. 

That's a long-time, long-running show, but it was off the air for a couple of years. Thankfully they brought it back. Rob plays a selection of jazz, dating from some of the earliest jazz that's been recorded up until — typically — about the 1940s. And then, of course, modern players who also play in that vein. 

When I turned it on. I heard a most-fascinating recording of a song I love called “Deep Night.” It was the first I'd heard that version of it. I think that there is one version that's definitive, which I will get to momentarily, but I thought this one really had a nice swing to it. 
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I couldn't place who the artist was. That wasn't surprising when he revealed it, as it was Sam Donahue. Sam Donahue was a prolific sideman with some of the great bands, including Krupa and Benny Goodman. Later, he had struck out on his own.

This was actually a V-Disc recording. During the Second World War, he had taken over the band that Artie Shaw had led for the Navy in the early portion of the war. So it was a great recording, not the least of which was because of the top-notch recording technology that was available to these bands who recorded the V-Discs. The arrangement — I'll have to look up, I'm not sure who did it. (Ed. note — it appears to be Dave Rose) — But it had a nice swing to it that was honestly almost 10 years ahead of time. 
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Donahue plays both saxophone and trumpet, by the way, which, as a trumpet player is somewhat amazing to me. I thought the three buttons on a trumpet were hard enough — there are far too many buttons on a Saxophone — which was is part of the reason I switched to trombone. 

Getting back to the Donahue recording, it was one of the best versions that I've heard of “Deep Night.” “Deep Night” was originally recorded in the late 20s by Rudy Vallee, who actually wrote the lyric to it as well. But to me, the definitive recording of it was by Frank Sinatra, with the backing of the Harry James Orchestra. This was done in the early 1950s, I believe while he was still with Columbia.

Frank had obviously gotten his start with Harry James, a decade or so earlier, when James had first put a band together after leaving Benny Goodman. He had found the young vocalist from Hoboken, and was the first to put him in front of a big band. He didn't stay long. Tommy Dorsey came calling and Harry James didn't stand in his way when he had the opportunity to go to a bigger band at the time. Which is kind of ironic when you think about what a monster the Harry James orchestra became in just a few short years. 

They did record a few really great songs, including the first version of “All or Nothing at All” that Frank Sinatra recorded. Which he recorded again, many years later, an almost exact arrangement of it. Dramatic recording. Then, of course, he recorded it again a few years later as a burning swinger, which is a lot of fun too. ​

But, in the early 50s. Harry James backed Frank Sinatra on four sides. And I always thought it was a shame that they never worked together again. For the most part, I find that the other three sides from the session are kind of throwaways — they are memorable to me. But one of them was “Deep Night.”

“Deep Night” is an amazing tune. It's got a lot of minor keys. And it just feels like you're walking the streets in the dark. And this was the period where Sinatra was just starting to develop that more mature voice that would carry him through the Capitol years of the 50s, when he would record some of those standards that are so memorable, that became Sinatra signatures. As he sings “Deep Night,” a lot of that is evident in his voice in 1951. 

And on top of it, you've got the Harry James Orchestra. You've got Harry James playing a dirty trumpet sound — growling — it's just, it's an amazing arrangement.

He had just recently recorded with Doris Day on the soundtrack for “Young Man with a Horn,” where he played the trumpet parts for Kirk Douglas in a vaguely Bix-inspired movie from the book of the same name. And so, it was that beginning of the 1950s Harry James sound. 
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When I was a kid, and I first picked up a trumpet, my Aunt Edna made sure that I was hooked up with recordings of Harry James. Harry James was her guy. And so, from a very young age, I was listening to Harry James recordings from the 1940s when his band was perhaps the most popular around.

The 50s Harry James, I think is far superior, and you don't hear it as much today because the Basie band is the one that people think of, or Stan Kenton, or even the beginnings of the Maynard Ferguson bands. But Harry James was doing some great arrangements and playing some great jazz. And it's evident in his playing on “Deep Night.” 

​If you get a chance to listen to those recordings that he put out in the 50s, you're gonna hear some really, really good music and swinging charts. I highly recommend them. So, I encourage you to stop by my website, cd six.com/music, where a transcript of this podcast will soon appear, along with links to some of the songs that I'm referencing. I think that will make for some happy listening. Hope you enjoyed it. ‘Til next time, this is Chris Riffs.

​It's kind of a strange thing for a first episode. It's sort of a somber one, but at the same time, it's a celebratory one.

Word came yesterday, through people I know on social media, about the passing of the great Sammy Nestico. Sammy was an arranger for the Basie band, and that's perhaps what he was most famous for, but even if you weren't technically a jazz fan,it was impossible not to come across Sammy Nestico if you were in bands growing up.

​Sammy Nestico was 96 years old, and he was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania — another good Pennsylvania person, even if he was from the wrong end of the state. In the 1930s, he joined his high school orchestra, according to Wikipedia and we know how trustworthy that is. He was a trombonist.

By the age of 17, he had joined the local radio station’s orchestra. His career — of course his time with Count Basie is one of his most memorable — he also arranged for the US Air Force and US Marine bands, and he played trombone with many of the greats, including Tommy Dorsey, Woody Herman, Gene Krupa, and Charlie Barnett. If you're into big band music you know that's an A-list of bands.

He moved into television and film, and worked with people like Bing and Sarah Vaughan, and, of course, Francis Albert Sinatra. And he worked in television, doing music for shows like Mannix, commercial jingles all sorts of things across the board.

But, if you played in a band of any kind in the ‘70s, ‘80s, ‘90s, up to this day — for middle schools, high schools, even professional groups if you bought stock arrangements, then you must know the name Sammy Nestico, because his arrangements are everywhere.

There's a handful of arrangers names that you come across — Lennie Niehaus. Bill Holman, Dave Wolpe — but Sammy Nestico is the big one.

I probably came across Sammy Nestico for the first time in junior high school, if not before. You notice who arranged this chart, even if you're not really into that stuff. I was just in the early stages of getting into jazz and big band music. I was really kind of a neophyte. But, you know, you just recognize the names and it seems like every second or third chart that my band directors would pull out would be a Sammy Nestico chart.

And why not? They were good. Even the easy ones for middle schoolers were good. And band directors are going to gravitate to that stuff because they want something that's at least fun for them as well.

As I got older, my knowledge of jazz and Big Band jazz grew. Of course you come across the Count Basie stuff. And as you move into the 60s and 70s, that was the era of Sammy Nestico the Basie band and, of course, great arrangers all around. Quincy Jones, what do you what do you got to say on that?

​Sammy had an amazing ability, and I'm going to plug something in here as well, the fact that he was a trombone player. I'm going to use a little my trombone bigotry here and just say it really seems that some of the great great arrangers happen to be trombone players. Of course, I'm the proof against that, but I'm not a great, great trombone player either, and I couldn't arrange my way out of a paper bag. But I do sometimes wonder if it's the building of the harmonies across the trombone section that really helps cement that idea of thinking about arrangement.

My sax playing friends will probably have a good laugh at that or throw something at me, but, you know, that's why they sit in front of me — so I can poke them with the slide.

What you really appreciate with Sammy Nestico is that he never lost sight of those Basie roots. The Basie band always had great arrangers, and that’s the reason it survived over time in ways that all the other big bands really didn't. It changed with the times, new ideas came in, but there was a root, there was always a Basie sound that still exists today, even though the Count has gone on to the great gig in the sky, that roots still exists in the Basie music.

And Sammy Nestico was, of course, hugely influenced by that — that's where he came from. Even as he modernized over the years, he had that at his root, which I think is really kind of a nice consistency. You can grow, but if you have that base to start from, then you know that it's always going to be an evolution of the conversation. I guess tht’s what I'm trying to get at.

And over the years, he managed to do that through his arranging. He was able to continue working because his mind was sharp. If you listen to him talk about his arrangements into the 90s — his 90s — he was still growing. He was still bringing new things to the table. And, he was lucky — he was able to continue creating that way. His arrangements — that was his voice, his instrument. Where a lot of players start losing their embrasure, losing their teeth, their ability to create with their instrument, for Sammy Nestico, his instrument was the band, and thus, he was able to continue creating for nearly a century. He was 96 when he passed, and that's a good amount of time to be creating art,.

And, through his involvement in education and creating charts for developing bands. He really was able to have an amazing influence with that. I know that today's arrangers owe a huge debt to Sammy Nestico, as we all do who play modern Big Band jazz. We all have an enormous debt of gratitude toward because he made it fun for us. We were very lucky. 

It's a shame that great artists have to pass, and how short our lives are and the influence that we can have. But, like so many things, it’s what you leave behind. And for Sammy Nestico it's hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of charts for all levels of musicians. That's a legacy. And we're all very lucky as musicians to be touched by that. 

My hope is that the next generation who were influenced by him will do the same. It's not like the old days when they said, good music was popular and popular music was good. The days that the big bands dominate the charts are long gone, with the exception of the occasional Brian Setzer, Harry Connick Jr. or, Michael Bublé. But the music lives on through the creators. The people who write the arrangements, and those of us who interpret them and play them and have the joy of that experience. 

I'm so thankful for that, because it's a big part of who I am. And I’m thankful for Sammy Nestico, a warm and generous and creative master. 

A toast to Sammy Nestico.

Do you have favorite memories of Sammy Nestico? Favorite tunes or interviews? Comment or add links below!

I was inspired to start working on this when Diana Rigg died a few months back. I loved Diana Rigg, I loved her in “The Avengers.” I love James Bond (This was from ”On Her Majesty’s Secret Service”). And, of course, I love Louis Armstrong. Recorded near the end of his life, it does not feature his trumpet, only his amazing voice. This version features my voice... What started as a simple inspiration grew into something more. I hope you enjoy it.

I wanted another pass at this, particularly because I really loved the arrangement, and I had a chance to work it a bit.

The thing about anything creative is there are times when you are prolific and there are times when you aren't. Writer's block, for example, and obviously, it can happen with other creative forms, as well. In this case, it wasn't that I was not working on stuff, I just wasn't happy with what I was producing. As these guys said...

Ultimately, I have always wanted to do a version of "You and Me (We Wanted it All)" and this arrangement captured a lot of the Sinatra version from his "Trilogy" album. I love the reflective nature of the lyrics, for much the same reason I love "Send in the Clowns." Full of regret for things you screwed up. Anyway, hope you enjoy...

This song always stirred a little controversy in my family. My Mother couldn't stand it, but my Grandpop loved it: Stephen Sondheim's Send in the Clowns from the 1973 musical A Little Night Music. I side with Grandpop.

I think Grandpop enjoyed Judy Collins's take. Barbra Streisand recorded a version in the 80s which was very popular. Not surprising to you, I'm sure, Frank Sinatra's version is my favorite. He recorded it for 1973's Ol' Blue Eyes is Back, arranged by the great Gordon Jenkins, but I think Sinatra took it to another level when he sang it live, and there are a number of live recordings out there — it became a staple for him.

Interestingly, I read Bobby Short was the first to record it in a pop setting. I haven't heard that before, I'll be checking it out right after I'm done here. But I could imagine it being perfect for his unique voice and delivery.

At any rate, here's mine. I'm not sure I lived up to all of Sondheim's intricate instructions on how to deliver the lyrics, so hopefully he never finds himself down a rabbit hole on social media and comes across this. I assume he's got a lot of better things to do.