Gordon Jenkins

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Gordon Jenkins
Birth nameGordon Hill Jenkins
Born(1910-05-12)May 12, 1910
Webster Groves, Missouri, U.S.
DiedMay 1, 1984(1984-05-01) (aged 73)
Malibu, California, U.S.
GenresPopular music
Occupation(s)Composer, arranger, conductor, musician
Instrument(s)Piano
Years active1930s–1980s

Gordon Hill Jenkins (May 12, 1910 – May 1, 1984) was an American arranger, composer, and pianist who was influential in popular music in the 1940s and 1950s.[1] Jenkins worked with The Andrews Sisters, Johnny Cash, The Weavers, Frank Sinatra, Louis Armstrong, Judy Garland, Nat King Cole, Billie Holiday, Harry Nilsson, Peggy Lee and Ella Fitzgerald.[1]

Biography

Career

Gordon Jenkins was born in Webster Groves, Missouri.[1] He began his career writing arrangements for a radio Station in St. Louis.[1] He was hired by Isham Jones, the director of a dance band known for its ensemble playing, which gave Jenkins the opportunity to develop his skills in melodic scoring.[1] He also conducted The Show Is On on Broadway.[2]

After the Jones band broke up in 1936, Jenkins worked as a freelance arranger and songwriter, contributing to sessions by Isham Jones, Paul Whiteman, Benny Goodman, Andre Kostelanetz, Lennie Hayton, and others.[1] In 1938, Jenkins moved to Hollywood and worked for Paramount Pictures and NBC, and then became Dick Haymes' arranger for four years.[3] In 1944, Jenkins had a hit song with "San Fernando Valley". In the 1940s, he was music director for the radio version of the program Mayor of the Town,[4] and his orchestra provided the music for Ransom Sherman's program on CBS.[5]

In 1945, Jenkins joined

Blueberry Hill", 1949 and "When It's Sleepy Time Down South
", 1951).

Jenkins wrote the score for the Broadway revue, Along Fifth Avenue, starring Nancy Walker and Jackie Gleason, which ran for 180 performances in 1949.

The liner notes to Verve Records' 2001 reissue of one of Jenkins' albums with Armstrong, Satchmo In Style, quote Decca's A& RDirector Milt Gabler, saying that Jenkins "stood up on his little podium so that all the performers could see him conduct. But before he gave a downbeat, Gordon made a speech about how much he loved Louis and how this was the greatest moment in his life. And then he cried."

During this time, Jenkins also began recording and performing under his own name. One of his enduring works while at Decca was a pair of Broadway-style musical vignettes,

3-D movie shot in color.[1]

His Seven Dreams released in 1953 included "Crescent City Blues", which was the source for Johnny Cash's popular recording, "Folsom Prison Blues". In 1956, he expanded Manhattan Tower to almost three times its length, released it (this time on Capitol Records), and performed it on an hour-long television show. (Both versions of "Manhattan Tower" are currently available on CD.) His final long-form work was The Future, which made up the entire third disk of Frank Sinatra's 1980 Grammy-nominated Trilogy album. Although the piece was savaged by critics, Sinatra reportedly loved the semi-biographical work and felt that Jenkins was treated unfairly by the media.

Jenkins headlined New York's Capitol Theater between 1949 and 1951 and the Paramount Theater in 1952. He appeared in

Wimoweh
" (1952).

Also while at Decca Records Jenkins arranged and conducted several songs for Peggy Lee including her 1952 major hit recording of Rodgers and Hart's "Lover," which she also performed in the Warner Bros. remake of The Jazz Singer (1952 film). Lee also had chart successes with the Jenkins-arranged "Be Anything (But Be Mine)" and "Just One of Those Things".

After a brief stint with RCA's "X" Records

When I Fall in Love", and "Star Dust" two of Cole's best-known recordings), as well as the albums The Very Thought of You (1958) and Where Did Everyone Go? (1963).[1] Jenkins also wrote the music and lyrics for Judy Garland's 1959 album The Letter which also featured vocalist Charles LaVere
, and conducted several of Garland's London concerts in the early 1960s.

Whilst most of Jenkins' arrangements at Capitol were in his distinctive string-laden style, he continued to demonstrate more versatility when required, particularly on albums such as

A Jolly Christmas From Frank Sinatra (1957), which opens with a swinging version of "Jingle Bells
", and Nat King Cole's album of spirituals, Every Time I Feel The Spirit (1960), which includes several tracks with a pronounced beat that might almost be described as rock. He also produced a diverse set of charts for his critically acclaimed 1960 album Gordon Jenkins Presents Marshal Royal, a jazz-pop crossover project with Count Basie's alto saxophonist which included both strings and a swinging rhythm section.

However, as

Grammy Award,[1] Ol' Blue Eyes Is Back (1973), and She Shot Me Down (1981). Jenkins also worked with Harry Nilsson, arranging and conducting A Little Touch of Schmilsson in the Night (1973), an album of jazz standards. The Nilsson sessions, with Jenkins conducting, were recorded on video and later broadcast as a television special by the BBC
.

Although best known as an arranger, Jenkins also wrote several well-known songs, including "

When a Woman Loves a Man". Jenkins also composed both the "Future" suite and the entire "Future" section of Sinatra's 1980 concept album Trilogy: Past Present Future, and scored the music for the 1980 film The First Deadly Sin
, which starred Sinatra in his last major film role.

Personal life

Jenkins married high school sweetheart Nancy Harkey in 1931 and had three children: Gordon Jr., Susan, and Page. In 1946, he divorced Harkey and married Beverly Mahr, one of the singers in his band. They had a son, Bruce. Jenkins also recorded an album with Beverly Jenkins for

Impulse!
in 1964, entitled Gordon Jenkins Presents My Wife The Blues Singer.

Toward the end of his life, he was in a near-fatal automobile accident, which left him debilitated. Nonetheless, he conducted a full orchestra for a recording session in spite of his pain.

Jenkins died of

Lou Gehrig's disease in Malibu, California, eleven days shy of his 74th birthday.[2]

His son, sports writer Bruce Jenkins, wrote a biography on his late father in 2005, titled 'Goodbye: In search of Gordon Jenkins' including a rare interview with Frank Sinatra among others for insights into Jenkins' process.[9]

Jenkins' granddaughter, singer/songwriter Ella Dawn Jenkins, is a career musician in San Francisco.[10]

Awards

In 1966, Jenkins received a

Grammy Award for Best Instrumental Arrangement Accompanying Vocalist(s) for Frank Sinatra's rendition of the song "It Was a Very Good Year".[7]

Discography

Orchestrations for Nat King Cole

Orchestrations for Frank Sinatra

Capitol albums

Reprise albums

Orchestrations for others

References

  1. ^
    ISBN 1-85227-937-0
    .
  2. ^ a b Wilson, John S. (May 3, 1984). "Gordon Jenkins, 73, is Dead; Grammy-Winning Arranger". The New York Times.
  3. ^ "Gordon Jenkins Biography". Space Age Musicmaker. Retrieved December 2, 2014.
  4. ISSN 0006-2510
    .
  5. ^ Cohen, Joe (February 21, 1942). "Program Reviews: Ransom Sherman" (PDF). Billboard. p. 8. Retrieved March 29, 2015.
  6. ISBN 0-214-20512-6
    .
  7. ^ a b Thackrey, Ted Jr. (May 2, 1984). "Gordon Jenkins Obituary". Los Angeles Times.
  8. ^ Jenkins Shift from Decca to RCA in Works. Billboard/Nielsen. December 18, 1954. pp. 11–. Retrieved March 13, 2020.
  9. ^ Hamlin, Jesse (December 26, 2005). "A son journeys into his father's musical heart to trace the rhythms of a quiet virtuoso". SFGATE.
  10. ^ Hamlin, Jesse (January 31, 2018). "Half Moon Bay's Ella Jenkins: Harp that shimmers in a whole new way". San Francisco Chronicle.

External links

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