Don Sebesky born 10 December 1937

Donald Sebesky (December 10, 1937 – April 29, 2023) was an American composer, arranger, conductor, and jazz trombonist. He was a multi-instrumentalist and could play a number of other instruments: keyboards, electric piano, organ, accordion, and clavinet. He was best known as house arranger for many of producer Creed Taylor's Verve, A&M, and CTI productions and his 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. 

Donald Jjohn Sebesky was born in Perth Amboy, New Jersey. His father Alexander, was a labourer in a steel cable factory and his mother Eleanor was a homemaker. At the age of eight he started learning the accordion, and soon started learning piano too, and in high school he switched to the trombone to get into the marching band. Then he began commuting into New York from New Jersey to study with Warren Covington at the Manhattan School of Music, but left in the late 50’s before graduating to pursue a career as a trombonist, playing in the bands of Kai Winding, Claude Thornhill, Tommy Dorsey, Warren Covington, Maynard Ferguson and Stan Kenton. 

In 1960 he began devoting himself primarily to arranging and conducting; one of his best-known arrangements was for Wes Montgomery's 1965 album Bumpin'. Other credits include George Benson's The Shape of Things to Come, Paul Desmond's From the Hot Afternoon and Freddie Hubbard's First Light. His song "Memphis Two-Step" was the title track of the Herbie Mann 1971 album of the same name. 

                                    

Sebesky worked with such orchestras as the London Symphony, the Chicago Symphony, the Boston Pops, The New York Philharmonic, the Royal Philharmonic of London, and the Toronto Symphony. He once cited Bartok as his favorite composer, but one also hears a lot of Stravinsky in his work. He was nominated for thirty-one Grammy Awards and won three Grammys in the 1990s: Best Instrumental Arrangement for "Waltz for Debby" (1998) and for "Chelsea Bridge" (1999), and Best Instrumental Composition for "Joyful Noise Suite" (1999). Twice, he won the Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Orchestrations, for Parade (1999), and Kiss Me, Kate (2000). Sebesky won a Tony Award for Best Orchestrations for the revival of Kiss Me, Kate (2000). 

Sebesky with Herbie Hancock

In 1975, Sebesky wrote The Contemporary Arranger, which was published with three accompanying LP phonograph records. His Broadway theater credits included Porgy and Bess (London production by Trevor Nunn), Sinatra at the Palladium, Sweet Charity, Kiss Me, Kate, Bells Are Ringing, Flower Drum Song, Parade, The Life, Cyrano, The Goodbye Girl, The Will Rogers Follies, Sinatra at Radio City, Pal Joey, Come Fly Away, Baby It's You!, and Honeymoon In Vegas.

Sebesky's work for television garnered three Emmy nominations, for Allegra's Window on Nickelodeon, The Edge of Night on ABC, and Guiding Light on CBS. He also composed film scores that include The People Next Door (1970), F. Scott Fitzgerald and 'The Last of the Belles' (1974), and The Rosary Murders (1987). Sebesky has also created the music for many well known commercials.  Among the companies he has represented are:  Corning (Clio Award), Hanes, Hallmark, Dodge Trucks, General Electric (Clio Award), Hershey's, Cheerios, Calvin Klein (Clio Award), Nike, Oil of Olay, Pepsi and Kodak. 

Sebesky arranged for hundreds of artists, including Barbra Streisand, Tony Bennett, Christina Aguilera, Britney Spears, John Pizzarelli, Michael Buble, Liza Minnelli, Seal, and Prince. As a recording artist, Sebesky's work includes nine recordings under his own name, all of which were GRAMMY nominated.  Included are his 1973 release Giant Box, (which hit #16 on the U.S. Billboard Jazz Albums chart), Rape of El Morro, Full Cycle, Moving Lines, Symphonic Sondheim, I Remember Bill (1999 GRAMMY Award), and Joyful Noise (winner of two GRAMMY Awards in 2000). 

Don Sebesky married Janina Serden in 1986, and had two daughters with her; Olivia and Elizabeth. He had two sons from a previous marriage, Ken and Kevin, and two daughters, Ali and Cymbaline. 

Sebesky died from complications of dementia at a nursing home in Maplewood, New Jersey on April 29, 2023, at the age of 85.    (Edited from Wikipedia, AllMusic, donsebesky.com)