Don Sebesky

Don Sebesky was best known as house arranger for many of producer <a href="spotify:artist:26wgGfiLU6HFdl5ZPo10ev">Creed Taylor</a>'s <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Verve%22">Verve</a>, <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22A%26M%22">A&M</a>, and <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22CTI%22">CTI</a> productions; he was the man whose orchestral backgrounds helped make artists like <a href="spotify:artist:03YhcM6fxypfwckPCQV8pQ">Wes Montgomery</a>, <a href="spotify:artist:68l2i6GeNtwQlhKS59u5bu">Paul Desmond</a>, <a href="spotify:artist:0fTHKjepK5HWOrb2rkS5Em">Freddie Hubbard</a>, and <a href="spotify:artist:4N8BwYTEC6XqykGvXXlmfv">George Benson</a> acceptable to audiences outside of jazz. He took some critical heat for this, but Sebesky's arrangements were usually among the classiest in his field, reflecting a solid knowledge of the orchestra and drawing variously from big-band jazz, rock, ethnic music, classical music of all eras, and even the avant-garde for ideas. He once cited <a href="spotify:artist:5zyNXVd952fWOjkdGHCvPd">Bartok</a> as his favorite composer, but one also hears a lot of <a href="spotify:artist:7ie36YytMoKtPiL7tUvmoE">Stravinsky</a> in his work.

Sebesky started out professionally as a trombonist while still at the Manhattan School of Music, working with <a href="spotify:artist:1kYYk4lJ7ZWbyy3zDYOl6h">Kai Winding</a>, <a href="spotify:artist:6ThTN0WCRCAtG00Htf7CUW">Claude Thornhill</a>, <a href="spotify:artist:4WoGga7UeRcmjD4ufif4nG">the Tommy Dorsey Band</a> led by <a href="spotify:artist:65K23iCCOpBBJlWV9OBn8t">Warren Covington</a>, <a href="spotify:artist:6T4kUHIlszpj944ZXR3yNw">Maynard Ferguson</a>, and <a href="spotify:artist:27hSR8e34ZM5vj5fUFixyb">Stan Kenton</a>. In 1960, he gave up the trombone to concentrate on arranging and conducting, eventually receiving the breakthrough assignment of <a href="spotify:artist:03YhcM6fxypfwckPCQV8pQ">Montgomery</a>'s Bumpin' album (1965). Some of the most attractive examples of his work for jazz headliners include Bumpin', <a href="spotify:artist:4N8BwYTEC6XqykGvXXlmfv">Benson</a>'s The Shape of Things to Come, <a href="spotify:artist:68l2i6GeNtwQlhKS59u5bu">Desmond</a>'s From the Hot Afternoon, and <a href="spotify:artist:0fTHKjepK5HWOrb2rkS5Em">Hubbard</a>'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 <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22CTI%22">CTI</a> and <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22GNP%2FCrescendo%22">GNP/Crescendo</a>. He also wrote classical works and a book, The Contemporary Arranger (Port Washington, New York, 1975), as well as orchestrating scores for film, television, and Broadway. Don Sebesky died on April 29, 2023, at age 85. ~ Richard S. Ginell, Rovi