Van Alexander
Van Alexander (actually Alexander Van Vliet Feldman, born May 12, 1915) is an American jazz composer, arranger and bandleader.
Life
Van Alexander initiated already at the high school 's own bands, for which he also arranged and studied in college composition. Due to a job where he sold arrangements and compositions of bands, he learned the mid-1930s Chick Webb know. One of these titles was A- Tisket, A- Tasket, which was a hit for the Chick Webb Orchestra with Ella Fitzgerald and then her song topics. Alexander also arranged children's songs as jazz versions, such as Where, Oh Where Has My Little Dog Gone? and Got a Pebble in My Shoe. In November 1939, he had with Hot Dog Joe his only hit in the Billboard Top 30, which rose to 13th place. The band singer Butch Stone later became a star in the orchestra of Les Brown.
In the late 1930s he formed his own band, and took on April 25, 1939 cover of Ink Spots Hits If I Did not Care for Bluebird Records on. In the 40's he went to theater tours. In his orchestra played many later -famous musicians such as Arnold Fishkin, Neal Hefti, Don Lamond, Shelly Manne, Ted Nash, Charlie Shavers, Slam Stewart, Alvin Stoller and Si Zentner. In 1944 he arranged for short-term swing band of Tommy Tucker. In the late 1940s he was engaged by Bing Crosby; He then worked as a film composer, arranger and conductor in the Hollywood studios and took with studio bands several albums for Capitol Records on. Alexander also wrote the 1950 textbook on film music Arrangement ( First Arrangement) and was active as a music teacher; Johnny Mandel was one of his students. Alexander composed many soundtracks of the film noir genre such as Baby Face Nelson, The Big Operator and The Private Lives of Adam and Eve and later The Straitjacket (1964) and It Happened at 8 clock 30 (1965).
He also wrote music for television shows such as Bewitched and I Dream of Jeannie, arranged and directed shows with Mickey Rooney, Gordon MacRae, Dean Martin and James Stewart; He also appeared in numerous recording sessions with, among other things by Kay Starr, Dakota Staton, Paul Whiteman, Benny Goodman, Dinah Shore, Doris Day and Peggy Lee. Alexander won numerous Emmy Awards for his television music and was awarded the Henry Mancini Award for Lifetime Achievement from the ASCAP. He was for a time president of the National Academy of Recording Arts & Sciences ( NARAS ) for the County of Los Angeles.
In the view of George T. Simon Alexander's band focused more on the ensemble sound than individual soloists - which was not a mistake, as their arrangements are generally better than the musicians were. Nevertheless, his band allowed some future stars an entry, such as Si Zentner and Shelly Manne.