15 Facts About Ralph Burns

Ralph Joseph P Burns was an American jazz pianist, composer, and arranger.

Ralph Burns admitted that he learned the most about jazz by transcribing the works of Count Basie, Benny Goodman and Duke Ellington.

Ralph Burns found himself in the company of such performers as Nat King Cole and Art Tatum.

Ralph Burns worked in a small band with soloists including Bill Harris and Charlie Ventura.

Ralph Burns collaborated with Billy Strayhorn, Lee Konitz and Ben Webster to create both jazz and classical recordings.

Ralph Burns wrote compositions for Tony Bennett and Johnny Mathis and later Aretha Franklin and Natalie Cole.

Ralph Burns was responsible for the arrangement and introduction of a string orchestra on two of Ray Charles's biggest hits, "Come Rain or Come Shine" and "Georgia on My Mind".

Ralph Burns worked with film-director Bob Fosse and won the Academy Award as music supervisor for Cabaret.

Ralph Burns composed the film scores for Lenny and Martin Scorsese's jazz-themed New York, New York.

Fosse again employed Ralph Burns to create the soundtrack for All That Jazz for which he won an Academy Award.

Ralph Burns received another Academy Award nomination for his work in Annie.

Ralph Burns won the Tony Award for Best Orchestrations in 1999 for Fosse and posthumously in 2002 for Thoroughly Modern Millie, which garnered him the Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Orchestrations.

Ralph Burns was inducted into the New England Jazz Hall of Fame in 2004.

In 2001, Ralph Burns died from complications of a recent stroke and pneumonia in Los Angeles, California and was buried on April 13,2002, in Newton.

Ralph Burns was survived by one sister, Nancy Lane, and three brothers, Leo, Joe, and Gael.