Allegro

Requiem

Volume CIV, No. 10October, 2004

Gloria AgostiniHarp

Doug R. AllenPercussion

Ida AppelmanGuitar
Theodore P. ArentzPiano

Charles BarneyTrumpet

Arthur BoginViolin

Robert De CeunynckPiano

Eugene CinesPiano/Arranger/Copyist

Al De CrescentPiano

Roy EllisPiano

Robert FilaneElectric Guitar

Marc FredericksArranger/Conductor/Copyist

Shirley W Harriss-HagenTrumpet

Alfred HartViolin

Illinois JacquetSaxophone

Rudolph KingSteel Drums

John D. La PortaClarinet

Harry LaskinPiano

Herbert LevyFlute

Salvatore LiberoSaxophone

Tony MottolaGuitar

Jackie ParisGuitar

D. Bob RandolphAccordion/Arranger/Copyist

James E. RowserBass

N. Robert ScoccaSaxophone

Leonard SharrowBassoon

Arthur C. StatterTrumpet

Robert L. WyattOrgan


Douglas R. Allan

Doug Allan, 76, a percussionist and an 802 member since 1955, died on July 17. Mr. Allan had worked in 802’s Recording Department for the past 19 years.

Music was his primary interest since his high school days in Byram, Connecticut, where he played the drums with a group of schoolmates who called themselves “The Swingsters.” They became popular locally, but were unable to take many of the jobs that were offered them because they were too young to play where liquor was served.

During a period of service in the Navy, Mr. Allan achieved the rating of Quartermaster and played in the Naval Drum Corps. A love of the sea continued throughout his life. He sailed the inland waterway many times between New York and Florida, and made other ventures across the open ocean.

Mr. Allan earned a full scholarship to Juilliard. He also studied with Henry Adler, Phil Kraus and Alan Lepak. He developed a multi-faceted musical career in New York, playing everything from symphonic work to shows and every conceivable form of recorded music.

He performed extra work with the Symphony of the Air, the Radio City orchestra, and the New York Philharmonic under various conductors including Dimitri Mitropoulos.

He played many Broadway shows including “A Little Night Music,” “Company,” and “Sugar Babies,” and was one of New York’s busiest percussionists during the heyday of the recording industry from the 1950’s through the 70’s.

His ability to play anything from symphonic music to jazz, Latin and rock-and-roll kept him constantly on call.

One of Mr. Allan’s most memorable dates was a 1959 recording of Igor Stravinsky’s “Les Noces,” with the composer conducting pianists Aaron Copland, Lukas Foss, Roger Sessions, Samuel Barber and six percussionists.

In addition to countless albums, television and radio commercials and television programs on which he played, Mr. Allan played for star performers like Frank Sinatra, Liza Minnelli and Sammy Davis Jr. He was also a skillful teacher, producing many professional percussionists. He wrote many works for percussion, one of which, “Conflict,” was recorded with six percussionists on Golden Crest records.

Mr. Allan is survived by his son, Doug Jr., daughter Susan, and two grandchildren.

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Illinois Jacquet

Illinois Jacquet, 81, a saxophonist and an 802 member since 1943, died on July 22.

During a career spanning eight decades, Mr. Jacquet played with such music greats as Louis Armstrong, Nat King Cole, Dizzy Gilles-pie, Charlie Parker, Jo Jones, Buddy Rich, Ella Fitzgerald, Miles Davis and Gene Krupa.

When he was 19, he played the tenor saxophone solo on “Flying Home” with Lionel Hampton. His solo became a rhythm and blues standard.

He played tenor sax in the Count Basie and Cab Calloway bands and since 1981 performed with his own band, the Illinois Jacquet Big Band.

Mr. Jacquet played “C-Jam Blues” with former President Bill Clinton, an amateur saxophonist, on the White House lawn during Clinton’s inaugural ball in January 1993. He also performed for Presidents Jimmy Carter and Ronald Reagan.

During his heyday in the 1940’s and 1950’s, Mr. Jacquet recorded more than 300 original compositions, including three of his biggest hits: “Black Velvet,” “Robbins’ Nest” and “Port of Rico.”

His first exposure was a command performance by Nat Cole, who lined up bass player Jimmy Blanton, Sid Catlett on drums and guitarist Charlie Christian from the Benny Goodman Orchestra and told Mr. Jacquet he wanted to hear what he could do.

Mr. Jacquet appeared with Calloway’s band in the Lena Horne movie “Stormy Weather” and in the Academy Award-nominated short film “Jammin’ the Blues” with Billie Holiday and Lester Young. He replaced Young in the Count Basie Orchestra in 1946 and was given the nickname “The King” by Basie.

During the 1960’s and 1970’s, he toured extensively in Europe. In 1983, he became the first jazz musician to become artist-in-residence at Harvard University. His stint as guest lecturer at the Ivy League school caused him more angst than any performance of his life, said Carol Sherick, his longtime companion and manager of more than 20 years.

This obituary came from the Associated Press.

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Tony Mottola

Tony Mottola, 86, a guitarist and an 802 member since 1938, died on Aug. 9.

During a career that spanned five decades he recorded more than 50 albums and appeared on thousands of recordings by artists including Frank Sinatra, Perry Como, Johnny Mathis, Burl Ives, Rosemary Clooney, Billie Holiday, Connie Francis, Johnny Desmond and many others.

The Kearny, New Jersey native landed his first professional job with the George Hall Band at 18 years old and spent the next two years performing at ballrooms all around America. Among the highlights of the young musician’s big band days were his first recording session — a hit record called “Shine” featuring vocalist Dolly Dawn — and a “Battle of the Bands” with the Count Basie Band at Harlem’s Apollo Theatre.

Tiring of life on the road, Mottola returned to New Jersey and landed a job as a staff musician at the CBS radio network. At CBS he worked with Burns and Allen, Jack Benny, Kate Smith and backed Frank Sinatra on the singer’s first solo commercial radio show. Mr. Mottola’s trio also provided music for the daily TV show “Face the Music” hosted by singer Johnny Desmond.

In the early 1950’s, television director Yul Brynner hired Mottola as musical director for the CBS series “Danger.”

Mr. Mottola’s other television credits include a 25-year stint as accompanist to Perry Como, Sid Caesar’s “Your Show of Shows,” the children’s show “Howdy Doody,” the game show “Beat The Clock,” 14 years in the NBC Tonight Show band, and the kitschy 60’s classic “Sing Along With Mitch [Miller]” program.

He also was acknowledged with an Emmy Award for a score composed for “Two Childhoods,” a 1960’s television documentary examining the early lives of Hubert Humphrey and James Baldwin.

In the late 1950’s, he began recording his own albums for former bandleader Enoch Light’s Command Records Label. In all, Mottola recorded more than 50 disks for Command and its successor Project 3 Records.

His best-selling album “Roman Guitar” earned him a Silver Record Award from the RIAA.

Mr. Mottola retired from active playing in 1979, but his retirement was short-lived. In 1980 the guitarist received a call from violinist Joe Malin, the musical contractor for Frank Sinatra. For the next eight years, Mr. Mottola played with Sinatra, including a command performance for the Queen of England at Royal Albert Hall and a White House concert for the president of Italy, hosted by President Ronald Reagan.

In 1983 the pair recorded Jule Styne’s “It’s Sunday,” Sinatra’s last released 45 r.p.m. single record, and the only time the singer ever recorded with just a guitar for accompaniment.

Mr. Mottola is survived by his wife Mitzi, children Joanne Clark, Bernice Antifonario, Tony Mottola, Jr. and Nina DePietro, seven grandchildren and six great-grandchildren.

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Arthur C. Statter

Arthur C. Statter, 91, a trumpet player and a Local 802 member since 1938, died on June 14.

He was born in Philadelphia and moved to Atlantic City in 1924, where he started his trumpet studies. By age 15 he was already a member of Local 661.

In 1931 he was accepted by the Curtis Institute and moved back to Philadelphia. He graduated in 1935 but stayed on, playing first trumpet in the Curtis Orchestra under Fritz Reiner.

In summers he worked in Atlantic City at the Fox Theatre. He also worked at a burlesque theatre and in an Italian band where he learned Italian. In 1934 he played first trumpet in the WPA Symphony Orchestra.

In 1938 he moved to New York and played first trumpet in the Radio City Music Hall orchestra from 1939-1944. Over the next six years he was a busy freelance player, in addition to playing first trumpet in Stokowski’s New York City Symphony.

From 1945 to 1950 he played for the Voice of Firestone. In 1950, he went across the U.S. on a special train with Toscanini and the NBC Orchestra. During this time, for fun, the orchestra formed a novelty pickup group which they named the Sad Symphony — Mr. Statter played the washboard in that ensemble.

From 1950 to 1962, Mr. Statter played first trumpet in the New York City ballet, plus freelance work, including work as a sound editor. He played in the Broadway shows “110 in the Shade” and “Man of La Mancha.”

One of his last jobs before moving to Seattle was with the Barnum and Bailey circus.

He is survived by his wife Beverly, a harpist and a former member of Local 802.

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