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Ralph Burns, 1922-2001
Composer, arranger and pianist Ralph Burns died in Los Angeles on November 21, 2001, at the age of 79, from pneumonia and complications following a stroke.
One of the most distinguished arrangers to emerge from the big-band era, Burns enjoyed an unusually varied career spanning jazz, Broadway, film and television. He won two Academy Awards for Cabaret and All That Jazz, an Emmy for Baryshnikov on Broadway, and a Tony Award for the musical revue Fosse.
Ralph Jose P. Burns was born in Newton, Massachusetts, on June 29, 1922. He began playing piano as a child and studied briefly at the New England Conservatory of Music, although he later said that much of his real education in jazz arranging came from listening to records and painstakingly transcribing what he heard. After early work with Charlie Barnet’s orchestra, Burns joined Woody Herman’s band in 1944 as pianist and arranger.
Burns quickly became one of the principal architects of the celebrated Woody Herman sound. His arrangements and compositions included “Apple Honey,” “Bijou” and the ambitious Summer Sequence, whose final movement evolved into “Early Autumn” and became an important showcase for the young tenor saxophonist Stan Getz. Burns’s sophisticated harmonies and unusually subtle orchestral colors distinguished him from many of the more aggressively rhythmic big-band arrangers of the period. Read more…
LE FABULEUX DESTIN D’AMÉLIE POULAIN/AMÉLIE – Yann Tiersen
Original Review by Jonathan Broxton
Every year, it seems at least one foreign language film takes the international box office by storm, becoming the art-house crossover darling of its time. In 2000, it was Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon. Before that, we had Life is Beautiful, Run Lola Run and Il Postino. This year we have Le Fabuleux Destin d’Amélie Poulain – or Amélie, as it has become known across the world. Already a massive success in its native France, Amélie subsequently raced to the top of the North American charts, has been nominated for multiple major awards, looks to be a shoo-in for the Foreign Language Film Oscar, and has increased further the reputations of its director Jean-Pierre Jeunet, leading actress Audrey Tautou, and composer Yann Tiersen. Read more…
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