Cy Walter

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Cy Walter (actually Cyril Frank Walter ; born September 16, 1915 in Minneapolis ; † August 18, 1968 ) was an American jazz and entertainment musician ( piano , arrangement ).

Live and act

Walter grew up in a musical family and received classical training from his mother, who was a professional piano teacher. In 1934, after a vacation job as a pianist on a night ship from New York City to Boston, he briefly studied at New York University before receiving the offer to work full-time in the Eddie Lane Orchestra. After four years he formed a piano duo with Gil Bowers and played at the Club Le Ruban Bleu . A number of solo engagements followed in bars and supper clubs such as the Algonquin, Blue Angel and Tony’s on West 52nd Street.

In the late 1930s and early 1940s, Walter finally worked as a theater musician in Jerome Kern's musical Very Warm for May , as an accompanist for the singers Mabel Mercer and Greta Keller, and as director of his own orchestra in the La Martinique nightclub . For a short time he ran his own nightclub called Cy Walter's Night Cap before serving in the US Navy for 14 months during World War II. From 1944 to 1952 Walter appeared regularly in a duo with Stan Freeman , later with Walter Gross ) on the ABC's weekly radio program Piano Playhous ; he was also a guest on the American Forces Network .

The Drake Hotel in New York City

In December 1945 Walter began an engagement in the Drake Room, which was located in the Drake Hotel in New York ; there he performed until 1951 and gained recognition as the “dean of Manhattan's piano professors”, according to The New Yorker in 1950. His first jazz recordings were made in 1949 when he set the standard in a trio with pianists Stan Freeman and Joe Bushkin. Indiana ”for MGM. The following year he recorded a first 25 cm LP for Columbia Records under his own name with standards such as " Cheek to Cheek ", " You'll Never Walk Alone " and " That Old Black Magic "; Bob Haggart and Johnny Blowers played in his trio . In 1951 he accompanied Lee Wiley on her albums Sings Irving Berlin and Sings Vincent Youmans ; In 1954 he accompanied Mabel Mercer ( Sings Cole Porter . In 1956, Atlantic Records wrote the solo album Cy Walters Plays Richard Rodgers Compositions , with titles such as “ How Long Has This Been Going On? ” And “ 's Wonderful .” He was in the field of jazz Participated in 17 recording sessions between 1949 and 1960, most recently with Mabel Mercer ( Previously Unreleased Live Performances ).

A well-known figure in the New York music scene, Walter performed in numerous Manhattan clubs in the 1950s. In addition to arrangements, he also wrote some songs with “Some Fine Day” (1953), with Alec Wilder “Time and Tide” (1961) and with Chilton Ryan “You Are There” (1960) and “See a Ring Around the Moon” ( 1961). From 1959 until his death in 1968 Walter played as a bar pianist in the Drake Room.

Discographic notes

Solo recordings

  • Piano Stylings of Cy Walter (Liberty Music Shops LMS-1007)
  • By Request (Request Records SW 107-112)
  • Cy Walter at The Drake Room Piano (Apollo A-14, 1948)
  • Piano Moods (Columbia CL 6161, 1951)
  • Holiday for Keys (Columbia CL 6202, 1952)
  • Rodgers Revisited (Atlantic 1236, 1956 LP; Collectables COLS 6915, 2008 CD)
  • Cy Walter Plays Gershwin Classics (Atlantic 8016, 1957)
  • Hits from the Great Astaire-Rogers Films (RCA Camden CAL-533, 1959)
  • A Dry Martini Please! (Westminster WP-6120)
  • Cy Walter at The Drake (MGM E / SE-4393, 1966)
  • Sublimities, Volume 1 (Harbinger HCD 3103, 2015)

Duo recordings

  • Piano Playhouse - with Stan Freeman (MGM E-514, 1950)
  • Manhattan - with Stan Freeman (Epic LG 1001, 1955)
  • Sublimities, Volume 2 (Harbinger HCD 3104, 2015)

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c Cy Walter Dies; Cocktail pianist. In: New York Times. Aug 20, 1968, p. 41.
  2. ↑ a b Cy Walter. Liner Notes for A Dry Martini Please! (Westminster WP-6120).
  3. ↑ a b Bob Bach: Cy Walter. In: Metronome . November 1946, p. 25.
  4. ^ Sidney E. Zion: What's The Drake? It's Where Cy Walter Plays. In: New York Times. Aug 26, 1966, p. 37.
  5. ↑ Will Jones: Blonde 'Laps Up' Piano Magic. In: Minneapolis Morning Tribune. May 28, 1954, p. 32.
  6. ^ John Crosby: Small Program, Big Audience. In: New York Herald Tribune. Oct. 31, 1950.
  7. ↑ James Gavin: Intimate Nights: The Golden Age of New York Cabaret. Grove Weidenfeld, 1991, p. 65.
  8. ↑ Small and Cheerful. In: The New Yorker. 23 Sep 1950, p. 4.
  9. ↑ a b Tom Lord : The Jazz Discography. (online, accessed June 22, 2018)
  10. ^ Jenness, David, Don Vesley: Classic American Popular Song: The Second Half-Century, 1950–2000. Routledge, 2005, p. 268.
personal data
SURNAME Walter, Cy
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Walter, Cyril Frank (real name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American jazz musician
DATE OF BIRTH September 16, 1915
PLACE OF BIRTH Minneapolis
DATE OF DEATH 18th August 1968
Place of death New York City