David Raksin
David Raksin (August 4, 1912 - August 9, 2004) was an American film and TV composer and arranger. He wrote music for many Hollywood pictures, assisting Charlie Chaplin on the soundtrack to Modern Times (1936) and, as a solo composer, composed music for the film noirs Laura (1944), Force Of Evil (1948), Suddenly (1954) and The Big Combo (1955), the western Apache (1954) and the drama films The Bad and the Beautiful (1953) and Separate Tables (1958).
Raksin also scored the music for the medical TV drama series Ben Casey (1961-1966).
He was a musical professor at the University of Southern California and the University of California.
Frank Zappa and David Raksin
David Raksin and Frank Zappa met when Raksin invited him over a lecture in the School of Public Administration, after which they became friends.
Interviewed by Bruce Duffie (May 1988), Raksin credited Zappa with motivating him to release a compilation album with his music, David Raksin Conducts His Great Film Scores (1976): "If it hadn't been for Frank Zappa (1940-1993), that record would never have been made (...) We had become friends. I brought him down to USC to talk to one of my classes - not one of my music classes, but a class I teach in the School of Public Administration. He was down there and we became friends. I find him a very remarkable and interesting, a wonderful man. Anyhow, I had been asked by a young record producer to do some stuff. He said, "You can have any orchestra you want, so get busy and write some stuff. I've been listening to your music and I think it's wonderful." Well, you know, there it was. So I sat down and started to write, and I was about two-thirds of the way through, when all of a sudden he was killed in a dreadful accident. It was really sad. So there I was. I kept writing. I said, "Well, I'll do this, that's what I'm here for." And then I said to myself, "I should really make some kind of an effort to do something that would not be out of my way of doing things. I'll tell a few friends." So the first guy I ran into was Benny Carter (1907-2003), the saxophonist and composer. He was a wonderful, wonderful, dear man. I told him about it and I said, "Benny, if you ever run across anybody who's interested in doing an album of this kind, just let me know." Well, the second guy was Frank who wanted me to come over. I can't remember what it was we were talkin' about, but he said, "What are you doin'?" So I told him about this thing, and I said, "You know, this guy has been killed." He said, "Yes, I heard. That's too bad. What're you gonna do about the album?" I said, "Well this is what I'm doing - I'm talking to you!" He said, "Well that isn't good enough," so he said, "I'll take care of it." And he called up a guy who was then president of RCA and told him about it, and this guy came out here and saw me. I didn't know who he was. I just went to see him, and the first thing he said to me was, "If you think you're gonna have to do any convincing, forget it. I was around when Percy Faith (1908-1976) made a recording of 'The Bad and the Beautiful', and I've never recovered. You've got it, carte blanche." Later I wondered if this guy could do it so I looked at his card and it said, "Kenneth D. Glancy, President, RCA Records." [Both laugh] So then I finished the thing and of course I'm mighty grateful to Frank for it. There were still many battles ahead which had to be taken care of." [1]
Interviewed by Jay Ruby (Jazz & Pop, August 1970), Frank Zappa called David Raksin "a very nice man" through whom he met Zubin Mehta: "He was going to introduce me to Mehta because I'd been pissing and moaning about how hard it was to get a piece of music played by an orchestra. So he just sort of undertook to help me get that to happen." [2] In 1969, Zappa, Mehta and Ernest Fleischmann held a panel discussion, moderated by, among others David Raksin. [3]
On 23 May 1989, Raksin moderated a panel discussion between Pierre Boulez and Frank Zappa at the UCLA (see An Evening With Pierre Boulez And Frank Zappa). [4] [5][6]
Raksin attended Zappa's unreleased concert, Varèse: The Rage & The Fury (1993), in the presence of Nicolas Slonimsky. [7]
David Raksin is also thanked in the liner notes of The Yellow Shark. [8]
Footage of him is also shown in Alex Winter's Zappa! (2020).
References
- ↑ https://www.kcstudio.com/raksin2.html
- ↑ https://www.afka.net/Articles/1970-08_Jazz_Pop.htm
- ↑ https://www.donlope.net/fz/notes/Contempo_70.html
- ↑ https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1989-05-26-ca-874-story.html
- ↑ https://www.afka.net/Articles/1989-10_Tmershi_Duween.htm
- ↑ https://www.donlope.net/fz/notes/1989.html
- ↑ https://www.donlope.net/fz/notes/The_Rage_And_The_Fury.html
- ↑ http://donlope.net/fz/notes/The_Yellow_Shark.html#Acknowledgements
