Born May 30, 1932, in Los Angeles, Florence was a child
prodigy who took his first piano lesson at the age of three. His mother played
the piano for silent movies during the 1920s. His teacher discovered that the youngster
had perfect pitch, the immediate ability to discern the pitch of any given
note. At 7 he gave his first recital and was on a course for a career in classical
music.
He abandoned classical studies in favour of jazz and pop
while attending Los Angeles City College, assembling a band with classmates and
future studio aces Tommy Tedesco, Herb Geller, and Dennis Budimir. At a
friend's suggestion, Florence shifted the group's practices to the Hollywood
Musician's Union local rehearsal hall, launching a weekly session that quickly
drew myriad players from across the Southern California jazz scene, all vying
for a spot in the line-up.
Upon graduating, Florence signed on with guitarist Alvino
Rey,
followed by stints arranging for bandleaders Harry James and Les Brown. In
1958 he led his first session for Era, Meet the Bob Florence Trio, followed a
year later by his first big-band date, The Name Band. From 1959 to 1964
Florence collaborated with Si Zentner, arranging the trombonist's 1960 smash
"Up a Lazy River" -- the single was the last commercial gasp of the
big-band era, a shift further underscored the following year when Florence and
Zentner backed space age pop maestro Martin Denny on the classic Exotica Suite.
The commercial and creative success of the Zentner and Denny
sessions convinced Liberty A&R director Dave Pell to hire Florence for a
full-time staff gig, and in the years to follow he arranged numerous recordings
for the label, spanning from vocalist Vic Dana to West Coast jazz great Bud
Shank to bossa nova giant Sergio Mendes.
Even the most pop-oriented dates benefited greatly from
Florence's uncommonly luminous and intricate arrangements, and in 1964 he was
given the chance to record his own LP, the acclaimed Here and Now!, which won
praise from Thelonious Monk during a "blindfold test" interview
published in Down Beat. Pet Project, a collection of songs popularized by
singer Petula Clark, followed in 1967. Florence supplemented his studio work
with arrangements for Dean Martin and Red Skelton's television variety shows,
and Hollywood dominated even more of his focus in the decade to follow.
Throughout his career, Florence worked as an arranger for Louie
Bellson, Stan Kenton, Buddy Rich, Count Basie and Doc Severinsen.
He spent the first half of the '70s serving as the musical
director for singer Vikki Carr, a position he later held for Julie Andrews as
well. But Florence never turned his back completely on jazz, and in 1978 he
signed to the Trend label to release the album Live at Concerts by the Sea, the
first in a series of critically heralded contemporary big-band efforts.
Here's "Geezerhood" from above 2009 album.
Over
the years the group (dubbed the Limited Edition in 1982) served as a launching
pad for a number of first-call L.A. session players, and in 2000 the LP
Serendipity 18 won the Grammy for Best Jazz Performance by a Large Ensemble.
Florence died May 15, 2008; two weeks shy of his 76th birthday at Barlow
Respiratory Hospital in Los Angeles after a lengthy bout of pneumonia.
(Info mainly from All Music)
Invitation & On Green Dolphin Street
1 comment:
For The Bob Florence Limited Edition - Legendary (2009) go here:
http://uploaded.net/file/h91k2iq9/a05m4.T.B.F.L.E.L.2009.rar
or here:
http://turbobit.net/31nn0xp92v5e/a05m4.T.B.F.L.E.L.2009.rar.html
Tracklist:
01. Take the "A" Train
02. I'm All Smiles
03. Suicide is Painless
04. Fluffy
05. Geezerhood
06. Limited Edition Express
07. Luci
08. You Music Believe in Spring
09. Auld Lang Syne
Bob Florence gained the respect of many jazz musicians for his innovative scoring of familiar pieces, along with his impressive originals. His death in early 2008 provoked the recording of this excellent tribute, utilizing some of his best charts and musicians who had played with him over the years, with Alan Broadbent spelling Florence at the piano. Florence added repeated riffs in the background in several sections of his breezy setting of "Take the 'A' Train," while his use of call and response and striking ensembles in his scoring of Johnny Mandel's "Suicide Is Painless" (aka "Theme from M*A*S*H") sets it apart from typical recordings.
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