Naked City Theme - Music

Naked City Theme by Nelson Riddle And His Orchestra

Nelson Riddle And His Orchestra

Artist Biography For Nelson Riddle And His Orchestra

Nelson Smock Riddle Jr. June 1 1921 – October 6 1985 Was An American Arranger Composer Bandleader And Orchestrator Whose Career Spanned From The Late 1940s To The Mid 1980s. It Was His Signature Sound And Iconic Arrangements That Defined A Generation And His Work For Capitol Records Kept Such Vocalists As Ella Fitzgerald Frank Sinatra Dean Martin Nat King Cole Judy Garland Peggy Lee Johnny Mathis Rosemary Clooney And Keely Smith Household Names. He Found Commercial And Critical Success Again In The 1980s With A Trio Of Albums With Vocalist Linda Ronstadt. Early Years Riddle Was Born In Oradell New Jersey The Only Child Of Marie Albertine Riddle And Nelson Smock Riddle Sr. And Later Moved To Nearby Ridgewood. 1 Following His Father's Interest In Music He Began Taking Piano Lessons At Age Eight And Trombone Lessons At Age Fourteen. Riddle And His Family Had A Summer House In Rumson New Jersey. He Enjoyed Rumson So Much That He Convinced His Parents To Allow Him To Attend High School There For His Senior Year. 2 After His Graduation From Rumson High School Riddle Spent His Late Teens And Early 20s Playing Trombone In And Occasionally Arranging For Various Local Dance Bands Culminating In His Association With The Charlie Spivak Orchestra. In 1943 Riddle Joined The Merchant Marine Serving At Sheepshead Bay In Brooklyn New York For Roughly Two Years. During This Time He Continued Working For The Charlie Spivak Orchestra And He Studied Orchestration Under His Fellow Merchant Marine Composer Alan Shulman. After His Enlistment Term Ended Riddle Travelled To Chicago To Join The Tommy Dorsey Orchestra In 1944 He Remained The Orchestra's Third Trombone For Eleven Months Until Drafted By The United States Army In April 1945. Just Months After Riddle Entered The Army World War II Ended And He Was Discharged June 1946 After Serving Fifteen Months On Active Duty. Riddle Moved Shortly Thereafter To Hollywood To Pursue His Career As An Arranger And Spent The Next Several Years Writing Arrangements For Multiple Radio And Record Projects. The Capitol Years In 1950 Riddle Was Hired By Composer Les Baxter To Write Arrangements For A Recording Session With Nat King Cole This Was One Of Riddle's First Associations With Capitol Records. Although One Of The Songs Riddle Had Arranged "Mona Lisa " Soon Became The Biggest Selling Single Of Cole's Career The Work Was Credited To Baxter. However Once Cole Learned The Identity Of The Arrangement's Creator He Sought Out Riddle's Work For Other Sessions And Thus Began A Fruitful Partnership That Furthered The Careers Of Both Men At Capitol. During The Same Year Riddle Also Struck Up A Conversation With Vern Yocum Born George Vernon Yocum A Big Band Jazz Musician Brother Of Pied Piper Clark Yocum Who Had Transitioned Into Music Preparation Servicing Frank Sinatra And Other Entertainers At Capitol Records. A Collaboration Followed With Vern Becoming Riddle's "right Hand" As Copyist And Librarian For The Next Thirty Years. In 1952 Capitol Records Executives Viewed The Up-And-Coming Riddle As A Prime Choice To Arrange For The Newly-Arrived Frank Sinatra. Sinatra Was Reluctant However Preferring Instead To Remain With Axel Stordahl His Long-Time Collaborator From His Columbia Records Years. When Success Of The First Few Capitol Sides With Stordahl Proved Disappointing Sinatra Eventually Relented And Riddle Was Called In To Arrange His First Session For Sinatra Held On April 30 1953. The First Product Of The Riddle-Sinatra Partnership "I've Got The World On A String " Became A Runaway Hit And Is Often Credited With Relaunching The Singer's Slumping Career. His Personal Favorite A Sinatra Ballad Album Only The Lonely. Riddle Was To Stay At Capitol For Another Decade During Which Time He Continued To Arrange For Sinatra And Cole In Addition To Such Capitol Artists As Kate Smith Judy Garland Dean Martin Keely Smith Sue Raney And Ed Townsend. He Also Found Time To Release His Own Instrumental Albums On The Label Most Notably Hey...Let Yourself Go 1957 And C'mon...Get Happy 1958 Both Of Which Peaked At A Respectable Number Twenty On The Billboard Charts. While At Capitol Riddle Continued His Successful Film Arranging Career Most Notably With MGM's Conrad Salinger On The First Onscreen Duet Between Bing Crosby And Sinatra In High Society 1956 And The Definitive Version Of Pal Joey Directed By George Sidney For Columbia Pictures. Later Years In 1962 Riddle Orchestrated Two Albums For Ella Fitzgerald Ella Swings Brightly With Nelson And Ella Swings Gently With Nelson Their First Work Together Since 1959's Ella Fitzgerald Sings The George And Ira Gershwin Songbook. The Mid-1960s Would Also See Fitzgerald And Riddle Collaborate On The Last Of Ella's 'Songbooks' Devoted To The Songs Of Jerome Kern Ella Fitzgerald Sings The Jerome Kern Songbook And Johnny Mercer Ella Fitzgerald Sings The Johnny Mercer Songbook . In 1963 Riddle Joined Sinatra's Newly-Established Label Reprise Records Under The Musical Direction Of Morris Stoloff. Much Of His Work In The 1960s And 1970s Was For Film And Television Including His Hit Theme Song For Route 66 Steady Work Scoring Episodes Of Batman And Other Television Series And Composing The Scores Of Several Motion Pictures Including The Rat Pack Features Robin And The 7 Hoods And The Original Ocean's Eleven. In The Latter Half Of The 1960s The Partnership Between Riddle And Frank Sinatra Grew More Distant As Sinatra Began Increasingly To Turn To Don Costa Billy May And An Assortment Of Other Arrangers For His Album Projects. Although Riddle Would Write Various Arrangements For Sinatra Until The Late 1970s Strangers In The Night Released In 1966 Was The Last Full Album Project The Pair Completed Together. The Collection Of Riddle-Arranged Songs Was Intended To Expand On The Success Of The Title Track Which Had Been A Number One Hit Single For Sinatra Arranged By Ernie Freeman. During The 1970s The Majority Of His Work Was For Film And Television Including The Score For The 1974 Version Of The Great Gatsby Which Earned Riddle His First Academy Award After Some Five Nominations. In 1973 He Served As Musical Director For The Emmy Award Winning The Julie Andrews Hour. Nelson Riddle's Orchestra Also Made Numerous Concert Appearances Throughout The 1970s Some Of Which Were Led And Contracted By His Good Friend Tommy Shepard.
On March 14 1977 Riddle Conducted His Last Three Arrangements For Sinatra. The Songs "Linda " "Sweet Lorraine " And "Barbara " Were Intended For An Album Of Songs With Women's Names. The Album Was Never Completed. "Sweet Lorraine" Was Released In 1990 And The Other Two On "The Complete Reprise Studio Recordings" In 1996. 1 1982 Saw Riddle Work For The Last Time With Ella Fitzgerald On Her Last Orchestral Pablo Album The Best Is Yet To Come. Career Revival In 1982 Riddle Was Approached By Linda Ronstadt To Write Arrangements For An Album Of Pop Standards Ronstadt Had Been Contemplating Since Her Stint In Pirates Of Penzance. The Agreement Between The Two Resulted In A Three-Album Contract Which Included What Were To Be The Last Arrangements Of Riddle's Career With The Exception Of An Album Of Twelve Great American Songbook Standards He Arranged And Conducted For His Old Friend Opera Singer Kiri Te Kanawa In April 1985 Six Months Before His Death That October. Ronstadt Recalls That When She Approached Riddle She Did Not Know If He Had Ever Heard Of Her – He Had Not. He Hated Rock 'n' Roll But His Daughter Was A Ronstadt Fan And Told Her Father "Don't Worry. Her Checks Won't Bounce." When Nelson Learned Of Ronstadt's Desire To Learn More About Traditional Pop Music And Agreed To Record With Her He Insisted On A Whole Album Or Nothing. He Was At First Skeptical But Once He Agreed His Career Turned Upside Down Immediately. 3 For Her To Do "elevator Music" As She Called It Was A Great Surprise To The Young Audience. Joe Smith The President Of Elektra Was Terrified That The Albums Would Turn Off The Rock Audience. The Three Albums Together Sold Over Seven Million Copies 4 And Brought Nelson Back To A Young Audience During The Last Three Years Of His Life. Arrangements For Linda Ronstadt's What's New 1983 And Lush Life 1984 Won Riddle His Second And Third Grammy Awards The Last Was Awarded Posthumously In 1986 .
Working With Ronstadt Riddle Brought His Career Back Into Focus In The Last Three Years Of His Life. 3 Stephen Holden Of The New York Times Wrote What's New "isn't The First Album By A Rock Singer To Pay Tribute To The Golden Age Of The Pop But Is ... The Best And Most Serious Attempt To Rehabilitate An Idea Of Pop That Beatlemania And The Mass Marketing Of Rock LPs For Teen-Agers Undid In The Mid-60s ... In The Decade Prior To Beatlemania Most Of The Great Band Singers And Crooners Of The 40s And 50s Codified A Half-Century Of American Pop Standards On Dozens Of Albums ... Many Of Them Now Long Out-Of-Print". 5 What's New Is The First Album By A Rock Singer To Have Major Commercial Success In Rehabilitating The Great American Songbook. 5 Death And Legacy In 1985 Riddle Died At Age 64 Of Liver Ailments. He Is Interred At Hollywood Forever Cemetery In Hollywood California.
Following Riddle's Death His Last Three Arrangements For Ronstadt's For Sentimental Reasons Album Were Conducted By Terry Woodson The Album Was Released In 1986.
In February 1986 Riddle's Youngest Son Christopher Himself An Accomplished Bass Trombonist Assumed The Leadership Of His Father's Orchestra. Following The Death Of Riddle's Second Wife Naomi In 1998 Proceeds From The Sale Of The Riddle Home In Bel Air Were Used To Establish A Nelson Riddle Endowed Chair And Library At The University Of Arizona Which Officially Opened In 2001. The Opening Showcased A Gala Concert Of Riddle's Works With Ronstadt As A Featured Guest Performer.
In 2000 Erich Kunzel And The Cincinnati Pops Released A Nelson Riddle Tribute Album Entitled "Route 66 That Nelson Riddle Sound" On Telarc Records. The Album Showcased Expanded Orchestral Adaptations Of The Original Arrangements Provided By The Nelson Riddle Archives And Was Presented In A State-Of-The-Art Digital Recording That Was Among The First Titles To Be Released On Multi-Channel SACD. While In The Army Riddle Married His First Wife Doreen Moran In 1945. The Couple Had Six Children. Riddle Had An Extra-Marital Affair With Singer Rosemary Clooney In The 1960s Which Contributed To The Breakup Of Their Respective Marriages. 6 In 1968 Riddle Separated From His Wife Doreen Their Divorce Became Official In 1970. A Few Months Later He Married Naomi Tenenholtz Then His Secretary With Whom He Would Remain For The Rest Of His Life. Riddle's Children Are Dispersed Between The East And West Coasts Of The United States With Nelson Jr. Residing In London England. Riddle's Eldest Daughter Rosemary Is The Trustee Of The Nelson Riddle Trust. Riddle Was A Member Of Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia The National Fraternity For Men In Music.
In A 1982 Radio Interview On WNEW With Jonathan Schwartz Riddle Cites Stan Kenton's "23 Degrees North 82 Degrees West" Arranged By Bill Russo As Inspiration For His Signature Trombone Interplay Crescendos. Notes ^ Levinson Peter J. "September In The Rain The Life Of Nelson Riddle" Via Google Books Pp. 17-19.
^ Cotter Kelly-Jane. "A Daughter's Devotion" Asbury Park Press June 15 2008. Accessed July 7 2008. "Nelson Lived With His Parents In Ridgewood But The Family Rented Rooms In A House In Rumson During The Summer. Riddle Enjoyed The Teen Music Scene In Rumson So Much That He Asked To Spend His Last Year Of High School In The Borough. He And His Mother Stayed In The Rental And His Father Visited On Weekends."
^ A B "Jerry Jazz Musician". The Peter Levinson Interview. Retrieved April 9 2007.
^ "Family Weekly". Ronstadt The Gamble Pays Off Big. January 8 1984. Archived From The Original On October 22 2006. Retrieved April 9 2007.
^ A B Scott A. O.. "The New York Times". LINDA RONSTADT CELEBRATES THE GOLDEN AGE OF POP By Stephen Holden Published September 4 1983. Retrieved 2007-05-10.
^ "Rosemary Clooney". The Independent London . July 1 2002. Retrieved May 20 2010. References Arranged By Nelson Riddle 1985 Warner Bros. Publications. A Textbook On Arranging By Riddle. Includes Biography And "Personal And Musical Observations" September In The Rain The Life Of Nelson Riddle By Peter J. Levinson 2001 ISBN 0-8230-7672-5
Songs By Sinatra On This Date For March 14