Don Bagley born 18 July 1927

Donald Neff "Don" Bagley (July 18, 1927 – July 26, 2012) was an American jazz bassist.

Don Bagley was born in Salt Lake City the youngest son of Lewis Loraine and Laurance Elaine Bagley. He received formal training in double bass also earning degrees from Los Angeles City College 
and Pierce College also in Los Angeles. Professionally, Don started with the Hollywood Teenagers in 1944. He studied in Los Angeles and played in 1945 with Shorty Sherock and Wingy Manone.

He then served in the Navy from 1945 until 1949, playing with the Navy band on location as assigned. Following his time in the service, In 1948 he played with Dick Pierce and then with Stan Kenton from 1950 until 1954 and again later in his career. During his time with Kenton, "A Study for Bass" by Bill Russo and "Bags" by Bill Holman were written to feature Bagley's playing.

Kenton surrounded by
Frank Capp, Don Bagley, and Lee Eliott.

In 1954 Bagley began heading his own bands. He was quite busy as a session musician as well; Bagley recorded in Los Angeles with Nat "King" Cole, Maynard Ferguson and Dexter Gordon from 1950-52, then did overseas dates with Zoot Sims, Lars Gullin and a sextet led by Frank Rosolino and Ake Persson in Paris and Sweden in 1953. Bagley worked extensively with Kenton again and with Les Brown between 1956 and 1967, but still found the time to record in 1957 and 1958 with bands whose rosters included at times Jimmie Rowles, Shelly Manne and Phil Woods.

                               

In 1957 and 1958 he recorded three albums under his own name. In 1959 he played with Pete Fountain and in 1961 he did a session with Ben Webster. In 1964 he performed in Japan with Julie London. Don was a much sought after and admired arranger, 
producer, composer and conductor and he continued to work on projects in his later years and was constantly augmenting his vast knowledge taking classes and participating in forums and workshops.

In his career he worked with Burt Bacharach and Shelly Manne, among countless others. He toured with legendary jazz performers and popular artists including June Christie and Sarah Vaughan. He arranged, played and conducted for many recordings including Carols De Christmas which went platinum. Don's work can also be heard in the many movies and T.V. shows, including the score for the first Spiderman movie.

A consummate Jazz bassist, Don released three solo albums, Basically Bagley, Jazz On The Rocks and Soft Sell. He conducted several Christmas productions with The London Symphony and The Mormon Tabernacle Choir. Don was a member of The Songwriter's Guild, The Composers and Lyricists Guild and The American Society of Music Arrangers and Composers where he served on its board of directors. In addition, he was a long time member of musicians local 47 in Los Angeles.

He died on July 26, 2012 in Northridge, California.