I was saddened to hear of the passing of arranger / composer Sammy Nestico:-
I was not surprised to learn of Nestico's apprenticeship in bands such as Charlie Barnet, Tommy Dorsey, Gene Krupa and Woody Herman although he is largely associated with the more progressive scores he wrote for Count Basie's band which effectively kept it relevant in the late 1960s. I am pretty sure that he also featured as guest arranger with the BBC Big band and certainly produced a number of albums with their German counterpart in the 2000s. He was someone I had taken for granted having always loved the original Basie band of the 30s and 40s so much more and then got in to the "New Testament" band of the mid 1950s. By the 1960s, the music Basie's band performed had long since established the mainstream. It was therefore quite surprising to familiarise yourself with the charts Nestico produced for this band in the late 60s onwards which continued the onward journey of this band. Without pursuing a modish, rock-influenced route as favoured by bands like Buddy Rich's and Maynard Ferguson's, I think Nestico forged an alternative within this mainstream which, to be honest, totally avoids the dated feel of his contemporaries.
Interesting to read that he was also involved along with Billy May in transcribing the charts of many earlier bands from the 30s and 40s from Capitol's ambitious "Time / Life" project. He was also a significant contributor of charts for numerous High School bands.
I was not surprised to learn of Nestico's apprenticeship in bands such as Charlie Barnet, Tommy Dorsey, Gene Krupa and Woody Herman although he is largely associated with the more progressive scores he wrote for Count Basie's band which effectively kept it relevant in the late 1960s. I am pretty sure that he also featured as guest arranger with the BBC Big band and certainly produced a number of albums with their German counterpart in the 2000s. He was someone I had taken for granted having always loved the original Basie band of the 30s and 40s so much more and then got in to the "New Testament" band of the mid 1950s. By the 1960s, the music Basie's band performed had long since established the mainstream. It was therefore quite surprising to familiarise yourself with the charts Nestico produced for this band in the late 60s onwards which continued the onward journey of this band. Without pursuing a modish, rock-influenced route as favoured by bands like Buddy Rich's and Maynard Ferguson's, I think Nestico forged an alternative within this mainstream which, to be honest, totally avoids the dated feel of his contemporaries.
Interesting to read that he was also involved along with Billy May in transcribing the charts of many earlier bands from the 30s and 40s from Capitol's ambitious "Time / Life" project. He was also a significant contributor of charts for numerous High School bands.