George Siravo

George Siravo (born October 2, 1916 on Staten Island , New York , † February 20, 2000 in Medford , Oregon ) was an American musician , arranger and band leader .

Life

In the 1930s Siravo first worked as a clarinetist and alto saxophonist, but soon also as an arranger, for various swing orchestras, including Artie Shaw , Charlie Barnet and Jan Savitt . In 1937 he was one of the founding members of Glenn Miller's first big band , and a year later he joined the newly formed orchestra of Gene Krupa .

At CBS , for whose radio orchestra Siravo worked from 1943, he met Frank Sinatra for the first time in the weekly program Your Hit Parade , who then signed him for his own radio shows, where Siravo (partly as a ghostwriter for Sinatra's house arranger Axel Stordahl , from 1947 also under his own name) arranged mainly fast-paced pieces.

After Siravo joined Columbia Records in 1947 , the two also worked together in the studio, including for Sinatra's album Sing And Dance With Frank Sinatra (1950). In addition, Siravo wrote numerous swing arrangements for Sinatra's concert appearances in the late 1940s and early 1950s. Sinatra then used some of them in 1953/54 for his first two albums with Capitol ( Songs For Young Lovers and Swing Easy ), on which he perfected the sound created by Siravo together with Nelson Riddle .

In addition to Sinatra, with whom he worked sporadically until the early 1960s, Siravo worked as arranger for Doris Day , Vic Damone , Tony Bennett and Rosemary Clooney , among others . Siravo released only a few albums under his own name, of which Swingin 'Stereo In Studio A (RCA) was the most successful.

In 1983 Siravo largely withdrew from the music business.

Web links

• George Siravo in the Internet Movie Database (English)