Ferde Grofe was arranger and orchestrator 1920-1939
Roy Bargy was pianist and arranger 1928-1939
ie George Gershwin composed and arranged “Rhapsody In Blue” 1924
However, Grofe was the guy who arranged it for the Orchestra (I believe this was refferred to as “orchestrator” (if not, correct me). He arranged hundreds of recordings for Whiteman, that was his main job. In the late 1920s, Bargy was hired, and did many arrangements thru 1939. I need to be able to describe these roles, and I am sure there are additional needs in the classical field.
I am fine with “musical director” for Whiteman, but Grofe, who was #2 in the orchestra for 20 years, I am unable to describe. This is for the relationship tab for Whiteman’s orchestras. I am able to describe his role for each recording (as arranger), but nowhere as orchestrator-Dave
Moved this to a new topic because it’s not really related to the UI of the new beta relationship editors.
The orchestrator role is generally at the recording or work level, but if there’s cases of designed arrangers/orchestrators for an orchestra, then we could look into adding a relationship for that. Any idea how common that is?
Not too common, I believe, but the Paul Whiteman Orchestra will have 100 entries for Grofe. You didn’t comment on arranger, can that be added too? I promise I will review that tab for artists that had special people to do these tasks. Big bands and successful singers could afford to hire these “management level” people, and it’s very important for us to list them. Whiteman had the most successful group for the first half of the 20th century, and he was able to employ the best people to keep his band on top.
Great info highstrung. I would say all were members of the band, including Grofe. In 1920, he was the piano player, with Whiteman on violin.
Here are some details on Grofe
Beginning about 1920, he played piano with the Paul Whiteman orchestra. He served as Whiteman’s chief arranger from 1920 to 1932. He made hundreds of arrangements of popular songs, Broadway show music, and tunes of all types for Whiteman.
Grofé’s most memorable arrangement is that of George Gershwin’s *Rhapsody in Blue", which established Grofé’s reputation among musicians. Grofé took what Gershwin had written for two pianos and orchestrated it for Whiteman’s orchestra. He transformed Gershwin’s musical canvas with the colors and many of the creative touches for which it is so well known. He went on to create two more arrangements of the piece in later years. Grofé’s 1942 orchestration for full orchestra of Rhapsody in Blue is the one most frequently heard today.
Roy Bargy
He took over the piano chair in the Paul Whiteman Orchestra in 1928 and eventually became second in command within the band. Bargy continued to work with Whiteman until 1940.
Although there have been hundreds of orchestrators in film over the years, the most prominent film orchestrators for the latter half of the 20th century were Jack Hayes, Herbert W. Spencer, Edward Powell (who worked almost exclusively with Alfred Newman), Arthur Morton, Greig McRitchie, and Alexander Courage. Some of the most in-demand orchestrators today (and of the past 30 years) include Jeff Atmajian, Pete Anthony, Brad Dechter (James Newton Howard, Christopher Young, Theodore Shapiro, Teddy Castellucci, Danny Elfman, John Powell, Marco Beltrami, John Debney, Marc Shaiman, Michael Giacchino, Ludwig Göransson), Conrad Pope (John Williams, Alexandre Desplat, Jerry Goldsmith, James Newton Howard, Alan Silvestri, James Horner, Mark Isham, John Powell, Michael Convertino, Danny Elfman, Howard Shore), Eddie Karam (John Williams, James Horner), Bruce Fowler (Hans Zimmer, Klaus Badelt, Harry Gregson-Williams, Steve Jablonsky, Mark Mancina, John Powell), John Ashton Thomas (John Powell, John Debney, Alan Silvestri, James Newton Howard, Henry Jackman, Lyle Workman, Theodore Shapiro, John Ottman, John Paesano, Alex Heffes, Christophe Beck, Carter Burwell), Robert Elhai (Elliot Goldenthal, Michael Kamen, Ed Shearmur, Brian Tyler, Klaus Badelt, Ilan Eshkeri) and J.A.C. Redford (James Horner, Thomas Newman).