Paul Weston (musician)

Paul Weston (actually Paul Wetstein * 12. March 1912 in Springfield , Massachusetts ; † 20th September 1996 in Santa Monica ) was an American jazz - pianist , arranger and - Composer . He became known as the musical director of record companies, film and television.

Life and work

Paul Weston majored in Economics and was elected to the Phi Beta Kappa Academic Society. After graduating summa cum laude from Dartmouth College in 1933, he first studied two semesters at Columbia University , had a serious train accident and sold a successful arrangement of the song Pop Goes Your Heart to the Joe Haymes Orchestra at the McAlpin Hotel. In 1934, Weston became the arranger for Rudy Vallee's The Fleischmann's Yeast Hour on the radio. Three years later he took a position as chief ranger with the Tommy Dorsey Orchestra, which he did until 1940. He then worked for Dinah Shore as arranger and musical director. He also took on freelance assignments for the Bob Crosby Orchestra.

His association with Crosby brought him to Hollywood and film music. That started with Holiday Inn in 1942. Other films with him as musical director were Belle of the Yukon (1944) and Road to Utopia (1945). Weston arranged Ella Fitzgerald's album Ella Fitzgerald Sings the Irving Berlin Songbook (1957), dedicated to the music of Irving Berlin .

In 1942, songwriters Johnny Mercer , Glenn Wallichs and Buddy DeSylva founded Capitol Records and hired Weston as the label's musical director. Weston also worked on the radio again, along with Mercer and the Capitol singer Jo Stafford . Stafford moved to Columbia Records in 1950 and Weston went there. Weston and Stafford married in 1952 and had two children.

Weston subsequently made a career as musical director on television, including on The Danny Kaye Show . Together with his wife he produced a number of comedy albums. These were based on their ability to sing freehand, while Paul parodistically designed the piano accompaniment. As an artist alias, they chose the names Jonathan and Darlene Edwards . In 1961 they received a Grammy in the Comedy category for Jonathan and Darlene Edwards in Paris and in 1970 he was awarded the Grammy Trustees Award .

The couple retired in the 1970s. In 2006 Jo Stafford donated the joint estate to the University of Arizona . She died in 2008.

Web links

• Paul Weston and Jo Stafford Archives at the University of Arizona
• Weston on Corinthian Records
• Paul Weston in the Internet Movie Database (English)
• Discogs Weston discography

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ^{a b} Biography (Paul Weston) - The Paul Weston and Jo Stafford Collection ( Memento from June 30, 2010 in the Internet Archive )