40 Facts About Neal Hefti

Neal Paul Hefti was an American jazz trumpeter, composer, and arranger.

Neal Hefti wrote music for The Odd Couple movie and TV series and for the Batman TV series.

Neal Hefti began arranging professionally in his teens, when he wrote charts for Nat Towles.

Neal Paul Hefti was born October 29,1922, to an impoverished family in Hastings, Nebraska, United States.

Neal Hefti later recalled his family relying on charity when he was a young child.

Neal Hefti started playing the trumpet in school at the age of eleven, and by high school was spending his summer vacations playing in local territory bands to help his family make ends meet.

Neal Hefti was able to see some of the virtuoso jazz musicians from New York who came through Omaha on tour.

Neal Hefti quickly was fired from the band after two gigs because he could not sight-read music well enough.

Shelly Manne, drummer with Bob Astor at the time, recalled that even then Neal Hefti's writing skills were quite impressive:.

Neal Hefti, who was classified 4-F during World War II after being hit by a car in New York and breaking his pelvis, would not focus on arranging seriously for a few more years.

Neal Hefti played with Bobby Byrne in late 1942, then with Charlie Barnet for whom he wrote the classic arrangement of "Skyliner".

Neal Hefti finally left New York for a while to play with the Les Lieber rhumba band in Cuba.

Neal Hefti then joined Herman's progressive First Herd band as a trumpeter.

Neal Hefti referred to it as his first experience with a real jazz band.

Neal Hefti was instrumental in this development, drawing from his experiences in New York and his respect for Gillespie, who had his own bebop big band.

Neal Hefti started to write some of his ensembles with some of the figures that come from that early bebop thing.

Neal Hefti composed and arranged some of First Herd's most popular recordings, including two of the band's finest instrumentals: "Wild Root" and "The Good Earth".

Neal Hefti contributed to the band a refinement of bop trumpet style that reflected his experience with Byrne, Barnet, and Spivak, as well as an unusually imaginative mind, essentially restless on the trumpet, but beautifully grounded on manuscript paper.

Neal Hefti wrote band favorites such as "Apple Honey" and "Blowin' Up a Storm".

The Heftis finally left Woody Herman in late 1946, and Neal began freelance arranging.

Neal Hefti wrote charts for Buddy Rich's band, and the ill-fated Billy Butterfield band.

Neal Hefti arranged for Harry James's bands in the late 1940s.

Neal Hefti had written the piece with no soloist in mind, but Charlie Parker was in the studio while Neal Hefti was recording, heard the arrangement, and asked to be included as soloist.

In 1950, Neal Hefti began to arrange for Count Basie and what became known as "The New Testament" band.

Neal Hefti's tight, well-crafted arrangements resulted in a new band identity that was maintained for more than twenty years.

Neal Hefti came by, and we had a talk, and he said he'd just like to put something in the book.

Neal Hefti's work was welcomed by both the band and with audiences.

Much the same way that Duke Ellington matched his scores to the unique abilities of his performers, Neal Hefti was able to take advantage of the same kind of 'fine-tuning' to bring out the best of the talents of the Basie band.

That's the way Neal Hefti's things were, and those guys in that band always had something to put with whatever you laid in front of them.

Again, by matching the individual parts of the arrangements to the unique abilities of Basie's band, Neal Hefti was able to highlight the best of their talents, and make the most of the ensemble.

Outside of his work for Basie, Neal Hefti led a big band of his own during the 1950s.

Neal Hefti had steady work conducting big bands, backing singers in the studio during recording sessions, and appearing on the television shows of Arthur Godfrey, Kate Smith, and others.

Neal Hefti worked with Della Reese to adapt and arrange 12 songs for her 1960 album Della, which was nominated for a Grammy Award.

In 1961, Neal Hefti became the chief artists and repertoire representative of Reprise Records.

That year, he joined with Frank Sinatra on his Sinatra and Swingin' Brass album, where Neal Hefti was credited as arranger and conductor of the album's 12 cuts.

Also in 1961, Neal Hefti composed a big band arrangement of Sir Edward Elgar's Pomp and Circumstance for Don Everly, who released it under the pseudonym Adrian Kimberly on The Everly Brothers' Calliope Records label.

Neal Hefti wrote background and theme music for television shows, including Batman and The Odd Couple.

Neal Hefti received three Grammy nominations for his television work and received one award for his Batman television score.

Neal Hefti received two Grammy nominations for his work on The Odd Couple television series.

Neal Hefti died of natural causes on October 11,2008, at his home in Toluca Lake, California, at the age of 85.