Publish my Grandpa's Big Band Music
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My grandfather, Bill Channon, was a jazz musician, composer and arranger. He wrote and arranged for musicians such as Buddy Rich, Bob Chester, Buddy Fischer, Bobby Kaye and Bill Stanley. It is time to get his music into the hands of musicians...from high schoolers to professional groups.
In 1942-45 he served in the Navy. He toured on a few ships and the last ship he was on was torpedoed off the coast of England (all 75 people on board thankfully survived). After this, he was in the navy jazz band in Brooklyn. He wrote and arranged for the Navy during WWII.
After he got out of the Navy, a fellow "Navy buddy" named Phil Gilbert (a trumpet player who later on played with Stan Kenton and many others) sat in with the Buddy Rich orchestra. He told my grandfather that Buddy Rich didn't have a ballad arranger so my grandfather brought a tune in during a rehearsal the next day. The manager of the group hired him in Dec 1945, and he worked with the Buddy Rich Orchestra which at the time sounded like the Count Basie Orchestra.
In those days they carried around a lot of arrangers, but Buddy had no other ballad arrangers, although at one point Johnny Mandel who wrote the theme for MASH, came in. Also worth noting, some of Buddy's arrangers during the time my grandfather worked with him were Tadd Dameron, Neil Hefti and Turk Van Lake. (Since Neil Hefti arranged for the group, it's no wonder the band sounded similar to Count Basie's band at the time.)
In the two years my grandfather worked for Buddy Rich, he wrote about 50 ballads. Some instrumental, some vocal.
As I mentioned earlier, Buddy carried a lot of arrangers with him, but after about a year Eddie Finckel was the one who mostly wrote the straight ahead charts, and my grandfather was primarily his ballad arranger. although along the way eventually did as well. Such an amazing piece of history right there.
I have only been able to find 3 recordings of my grandfathers ballads that he wrote for Buddy. Whether or not there are more is unknown to me. (I believe, I Cover the Waterfront and I'm Always Chasing Rainbows). Buddy Rich's estate owns the music to these arrangements. I'd like to use money raised here to get the music into the hands of big bands that are working and recording today. Incidentally, Phil Gilbert (whom I mentioned above) plays trumpet on "I Believe", which features Linda Larkin on vocals. You can do a google search for "Bill Channon Buddy Rich I Believe" and you can hear a portion of it.
Now, when my grandpa was playing in the armed guard center band in Rockefeller center, he met Bob Chester (another big band leader of the day) and worked with him as well. Six recordings appear on 78 RPM records. I have several more arrangements from that band in my possession. The band Bob Chester led in the early 40's sounded like the Glenn Miller Orchestra, but in the later 40's when my grandfather wrote for him, Bob Chester was pushing the envelope due to the fact that Bebop was on the rise. You can hear a hint of that influence in my grandfather's writing.
As well as those band leaders mentioned above, he worked in Connecticut with Bobby Kaye (another band leader) and Bill Stanley (who worked at the famous Hall High School in West Hartford, a school known around the country for it's fantastic jazz program). To my knowledge, I have all of the music from this time period onward. But it is unpublished and it needs to be out there, being performed and being recorded. This fundraiser will get the ball rolling. It will pay for transcription time, rehearsal time and much, much more work that will go into this project.
We're talking over 90 pieces here-- both arrangements and original compositions that need to be transcribed from the hand written condenced scores to the software used today (I plan on using Sibelus Scorewriter for this project). This is all very important musical history and it's time to get this music heard.
In 1942-45 he served in the Navy. He toured on a few ships and the last ship he was on was torpedoed off the coast of England (all 75 people on board thankfully survived). After this, he was in the navy jazz band in Brooklyn. He wrote and arranged for the Navy during WWII.
After he got out of the Navy, a fellow "Navy buddy" named Phil Gilbert (a trumpet player who later on played with Stan Kenton and many others) sat in with the Buddy Rich orchestra. He told my grandfather that Buddy Rich didn't have a ballad arranger so my grandfather brought a tune in during a rehearsal the next day. The manager of the group hired him in Dec 1945, and he worked with the Buddy Rich Orchestra which at the time sounded like the Count Basie Orchestra.
In those days they carried around a lot of arrangers, but Buddy had no other ballad arrangers, although at one point Johnny Mandel who wrote the theme for MASH, came in. Also worth noting, some of Buddy's arrangers during the time my grandfather worked with him were Tadd Dameron, Neil Hefti and Turk Van Lake. (Since Neil Hefti arranged for the group, it's no wonder the band sounded similar to Count Basie's band at the time.)
In the two years my grandfather worked for Buddy Rich, he wrote about 50 ballads. Some instrumental, some vocal.
As I mentioned earlier, Buddy carried a lot of arrangers with him, but after about a year Eddie Finckel was the one who mostly wrote the straight ahead charts, and my grandfather was primarily his ballad arranger. although along the way eventually did as well. Such an amazing piece of history right there.
I have only been able to find 3 recordings of my grandfathers ballads that he wrote for Buddy. Whether or not there are more is unknown to me. (I believe, I Cover the Waterfront and I'm Always Chasing Rainbows). Buddy Rich's estate owns the music to these arrangements. I'd like to use money raised here to get the music into the hands of big bands that are working and recording today. Incidentally, Phil Gilbert (whom I mentioned above) plays trumpet on "I Believe", which features Linda Larkin on vocals. You can do a google search for "Bill Channon Buddy Rich I Believe" and you can hear a portion of it.
Now, when my grandpa was playing in the armed guard center band in Rockefeller center, he met Bob Chester (another big band leader of the day) and worked with him as well. Six recordings appear on 78 RPM records. I have several more arrangements from that band in my possession. The band Bob Chester led in the early 40's sounded like the Glenn Miller Orchestra, but in the later 40's when my grandfather wrote for him, Bob Chester was pushing the envelope due to the fact that Bebop was on the rise. You can hear a hint of that influence in my grandfather's writing.
As well as those band leaders mentioned above, he worked in Connecticut with Bobby Kaye (another band leader) and Bill Stanley (who worked at the famous Hall High School in West Hartford, a school known around the country for it's fantastic jazz program). To my knowledge, I have all of the music from this time period onward. But it is unpublished and it needs to be out there, being performed and being recorded. This fundraiser will get the ball rolling. It will pay for transcription time, rehearsal time and much, much more work that will go into this project.
We're talking over 90 pieces here-- both arrangements and original compositions that need to be transcribed from the hand written condenced scores to the software used today (I plan on using Sibelus Scorewriter for this project). This is all very important musical history and it's time to get this music heard.
Organiser
Dave Rydelnik
Organiser
Schenectady, NY
