Paul Weston
Paul Weston (actually Paul Wetstein; born March 12, 1912 in Springfield, Massachusetts, † September 20, 1996 in Santa Monica ) was an American jazz pianist, arranger and composer. He is best known as musical director of record companies, film and television.
Life and work
He studied economics in the main compartment and was elected to the Phi Beta Kappa academic society. After graduating summa cum laude from Dartmouth College in 1933, he studied for two semesters at Columbia University, had a serious train accident and sold a successful promising arrangement of the song " Pop Goes Your Heart " to the Joe Haymes Orchestra at the McAlpin Hotel. 1934 Weston was then arranger for Rudy Vallees The Fleischmann 's Yeast Hour on the radio. Three years later he took over the Tommy Dorsey Orchestra a job as Chefarrangeur, which he held until 1940. For Dinah Shore He then worked as an arranger and musical director. He also took on freelance jobs for the Bob Crosby Orchestra.
His association with Crosby brought him to Hollywood and film music. This began with Holiday Inn in 1942. More films with him as musical director were Belle of the Yukon ( 1944) and Road to Utopia (1945 ). Weston arranged Ella Fitzgerald's album Ella Fitzgerald Sings the Irving Berlin Songbook (1957 ), dedicated to the music Irving Berlin.
In 1942, the songwriter Johnny Mercer, Glenn and Buddy DeSylva Wallichs founded the record label Capitol Records and engaged Weston as musical director of the label. Weston worked part-time again on the radio, along with Mercer and Capitol singer Jo Stafford. Stafford moved to Columbia Records in 1950 and Weston went there with. Weston and Stafford married in 1952, resulting in two children grew.
As a result, Weston made a career as a musical director for television, including The Danny Kaye Show. Together with his wife he produced a series of comedy albums. These were based on their ability freehand singing while Paul parody designed the piano accompaniment. As an artist alias they chose for the names of Jonathan and Darlene Edwards. In 1961 they received a Grammy in the category of comedy for Jonathan and Darlene Edwards in Paris and in 1970 he was awarded the Grammy Trustees Award.
The couple moved in the 1970s to retire back. 2006 Jo Stafford donated the joint estate to the University of Arizona. She died in 2008.