Doodletown Fifers: A July 4th Weekend In Peekskill

A Sauter Finegan composition

Sauter Finegan Band: Midnight Sleigh Ride

In July? Bill Finegan passed away at 91 on June 8th, from the nytimes:

Bill Finegan, Arranger and Big-Band Leader, Dies at 91, By DOUGLAS MARTIN
Bill Finegan, who arranged hits for Glenn Miller and Tommy Dorsey and then formed a big band with Eddie Sauter, another legendary arranger, that was famed for skill, daring and very, very odd instruments, died on Wednesday in Bridgeport, Conn. He was 91.
The cause was pneumonia, said his son, James.
Arrangers, the largely behind-the-scenes masterminds of the big-band era, took compositions by bandleaders and others and refashioned them. Mr. Finegan heavily arranged Miller’s first big hit, “Little Brown Jug,” and virtually everything he recorded in 1938 and 1939. He later became a regular arranger for Dorsey.
After the swing era faded, Mr. Finegan started working with Mr. Sauter, who had arranged for Benny Goodman and Artie Shaw, among others. Mr. Sauter died in 1981.
In forming the Sauter-Finegan Orchestra, the two envisioned an innovative kind of music, defiant of convention but still inspired by musical traditions, especially classical ones.
Wit was implicit, and unexpected instruments were the most conspicuous novelty. These included the piccolo, flute, oboe, bass clarinet, harp, English horn, recorder, tuba, glockenspiel, tympani, kazoo and not one but two xylophones. In their arrangement of “Troika” from Prokofiev’s “Lieutenant Kije” suite, Mr. Finegan conveyed the dull pounding of distant horses’ hooves by beating out the rhythm on his chest.
At the band’s peak, 21 musicians played 77 instruments, not counting Mr. Finegan’s chest.
William James Finegan was born in Newark on April 3, 1917, and grew up loving music almost as much as fishing. His son said he played the trumpet in high school. After winning an amateur competition, his small high school jazz band toured widely.
Dorsey was impressed with Mr. Finegan’s arrangement of “Lonesome Road” and recommended him to Miller, who hired him in 1938. In World War II, Mr. Finegan served in the Army, then became an arranger for Dorsey.In 1947 and 1948, Mr. Finegan studied with Stefan Wolpe, the avant-garde composer. From 1948 to 1950, Mr. Finegan lived in Europe and studied at the Paris Conservatory. He began corresponding with Mr. Sauter, who was in a sanitarium recovering from tuberculosis, according to the Allmusic Internet guide. They mutually deplored the state of popular music.
The two decided to team up, describing their plans in a statement for Down Beat and Metronome magazines. They promised “pop music that is danceable, listenable and lookable.” They renounced the “too convenient rationalization to dub the public as moronic.”
They quickly produced a stream of compositions and arrangements and got a recording contract from RCA Victor for some singles. They recruited a stable of outstanding musicians.
Wally Kane, who played the clarinet, alto and baritone saxophone, bass clarinet, flute and, later, bassoon for the group, described the informal approach of the bandleaders in a telephone interview last week. There were no first, second or third chairs; rather, every musician was given equal prominence. Each arrangement was written with individual players in mind.
“Never since that experience have I been handed a piece of music with my name on it,” Mr. Kane said.
D.J.’s, desperate for fresh sounds, loved the band. Time magazine called it “the most original band heard in the U.S. for years.”
The orchestra, mostly known for recording, finally hit the road, but big bands in general were dwindling. The group began a long decline, and in 1958 Mr. Sauter and Mr. Finegan gave it up, except for occasional short-term revivals, with both going on to various other music-related jobs.
“Everything went wrong but the music,” Mr. Finegan once said.
Mr. Finegan’s wife, the former Rosemary O’Reilly, died in 2001. In addition to his son, James, of Monroe, Conn., Mr. Finegan is survived by his daughter, Helen Dzujna of Shelton, Conn., and three grandchildren.

Eddie Sauter: Focus

Edward Ernest Sauter (born December 2, 1914 in Brooklyn; died April 21, 1981 in New York City) was a composer and jazz arranger who achieved renown among musicians during the swing era. Sauter studied music at Columbia University and the Juilliard School. He began as a drummer and then played trumpet professionally, most notably with Red Norvo's orchestra. Eventually he became a full-time arranger for Norvo. He went on to arrange and compose for Benny Goodman and Artie Shaw, earning a reputation for intricate, complex, and carefully crafted works such as "Benny Rides Again" and "Clarinet a la King". From 1952 to 1958 Sauter was co-leader of the Sauter-Finegan Orchestra. Between 1957 and 1959 he was Kurt Edelhagen's successor as leader of the SWF orchestra in Baden-Baden, Germany. In 1961 he worked with Stan Getz on the album Focus.
His film scores include 1965's Mickey One in which he worked with Getz again. His television composing includes the third season theme to Rod Serling's Night Gallery. In 2003 he was inducted into the Big Band and Jazz Hall of Fame.

from al's soundtrack

His music and the arrangements are astounding. It really makes me think that there was this great nexus of musical thinking near the middle of the 20th century and we are just piddling along now. What inventiveness and... fun! If you go to itunes- you can find a couple of amazing things- and the music, diversity and FUN! is something you won't regret.
Scott Yanow wrote Eddie Sauter the following: One of the most inventive arrangers to emerge during the swing era, Eddie Sauter's complex and colorful charts never fit that easily into any specific category. His work tended to be at its best when written for a specific purpose, format or soloist. Sauter originally played trumpet and drums, later also learning mellophone. He studied at Columbia University and Juilliard and then during 1935-39 made a stir in the jazz world as the main arranger with Red Norvo's Orchestra. Sauter's writing perfectly framed both Norvo's xylophone and Mildred Bailey's voice and was full of surprises. He worked as a freelancer during the remainder of the swing era with his most notable work being for Benny Goodman (including the complex charts for "Superman," "Clarinet A La King," "Benny Rides Again," "Moonlight On The Ganges," "Love Walked In" and "La Rosita"), some of the most advanced music that the clarinetist ever played. In addition, Sauter contributed arrangements to the bands of Artie Shaw, Tommy Dorsey, Woody Herman and (in the postwar years) Ray McKinley. In 1952, Sauter joined forces with fellow arranger Bill Finegan to form the Sauter-Finegan Orchestra, an interesting but often excessive band that allowed the co-leaders' imaginations to run wild, often leading to novelties (including their hit "Doodletown Fifers") that are of lesser interest to jazz. After the band ran its course, in 1957 Sauter began two years in Germany as the leader of the Sudwestfunk Radio Station Band of Baden-Baden. Returning to the U.S. in 1959, Eddie Sauter worked in the studios but occasionally wrote for jazz-oriented projects, most notably 1961's Focus (which featured Stan Getz).and scoring for the movie Mickey One in 1965 (which also had Getz as the lead voice).