NEAL HEFTI
Lalo Schifrin
About NEAL HEFTI
Neal Hefti (born October 29, 1922 in Hastings, Nebraska - died October 11, 2008 in Toluca Lake, California) was an American jazz trumpeter, composer, and arranger. He began arranging professionally in his teens, when he wrote charts for Nat Towles. He became a prominent composer and arranger while playing trumpet for Woody Herman; while working for Herman he provided new arrangements for "Woodchopper's Ball" and "Blowin' Up a Storm," and composed "The Good Earth" and "Wild Root." After leaving Herman's band in 1946, Hefti concentrated on arranging and composing, although he occasionally led his own bands. He is especially known for his charts for Count Basie such as "Li'l Darlin'" and "Cute". In the 1960s and later he composed and arranged mainly for movies and television. He wrote the background music for movies such as Sex and the Single Girl, How to Murder Your Wife, Synanon, Boeing Boeing, Harlow, Lord Love a Duck, Duel at Diablo, Oh Dad Poor Dad Mama's Hung You in the Closet and I'm Feelin' So Sad, and Barefoot in the Park. His best-known contributions of this period are the theme of the TV series such as Batman and The Odd Couple. In 2018 (upon the death of playwright Neil Simon), critic Terry Teachout wrote "I wonder why Neal Hefti's "Odd Couple" theme never became a jazz standard. It has a great minor-key tune, tasty changes, and a nice-and-easy swing."
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