21 Facts About Frank Comstock

Frank G Comstock was an American composer, arranger, conductor, and trombonist.

For television, Comstock wrote and arranged music for major situation comedies and variety shows.

Frank Comstock's recording credits include eight Hi-Lo's albums and backing arrangements for major recording stars.

Recently, Frank Comstock wrote new big-band arrangements for Brian Setzer's Wolfgang's Big Night Out and Songs from Lonely Avenue CDs.

Frank Comstock started his arranging career in the dance bands of Sonny Dunham and Benny Carter, and with Les Brown from 1943 to 1955.

Frank Comstock's backing arrangements for Doris Day's Warner Brothers screen tests impressed studio executives and resulted in a staff arranger position at Warner where he demonstrated his ability to write for large studio orchestras.

Frank Comstock had no formal training other than a few trombone lessons, and his junior high school music teacher helped him write his first arrangements for the school dance band.

In 1943, Frank Comstock's reputation led to an arranger position with Les Brown and His Band of Renown, which critics claimed was one of the key causes of the band's success.

Frank Comstock formally left the Brown band in 1947, but he continued to arrange for Les Brown until Brown's death in 2001.

Doris Day and Frank Comstock began a lifelong friendship while working together in Les Brown's band.

Frank Comstock soon left the Les Brown band to provide arrangements for Doris' first radio gigs: Your Hit Parade and The Rudy Vallee Show.

At the peak of his movie career, Frank Comstock had a major role in orchestrating the music for Calamity Jane, The Music Man, Finian's Rainbow, and other major Warner Brothers hits.

Gus Levine and Frank Comstock shared the orchestration work for The Music Man, Finian's Rainbow, and other major films.

Early in the production of Finian's Rainbow, Levine took ill, leaving Frank Comstock to orchestrate all but a few minor scenes.

For MPA Productions, Frank Comstock scored four "Mr Magoo" animated theatrical shorts, including Magoo Express.

The main theme and incidental music for Rocky and His Friends are Frank Comstock's best-remembered compositions, but he wrote compositions for many of the situation comedy and drama hits of the 1970s and 1980s.

Frank Comstock received a 1971 Emmy nomination for his Adam-12 TV score Elegy for a Pig.

Frank Comstock's arranging credits for television variety shows are listed below:.

Almost all of Frank Comstock's recordings were originally released on vinyl LPs and singles.

Frank Comstock's arrangements comprise 17 of the 25 tracks on the Les Brown retrospective CD Best of the Capitol Years.

In 2007, Brian Setzer "rediscovered" Frank Comstock and commissioned new arrangements for his Wolfgang's Big Night Out and Songs from Lonely Avenue CDs.