Did They Mention the Music? by Henry Mancini & Gene Lees

Author:Henry Mancini & Gene Lees
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Cooper Square Press
Published: 2001-08-15T00:00:00+00:00

Meanwhile, Jerry Perenchio had left MCA and started his own booking company. Working for Jerry was a man named Fred Dale, whom Jerry assigned as my personal contact in the company.

Freddie was a marvelous guy. Born in New York City and originally named de Francesco, Freddie had been a trumpet player. He was the most unlikely-looking agent in the world, short—about five foot six—with a large nose, an Italian with red hair. Freddie was down to earth and funny, and he smoked cigarettes and cigars by the box and carton. He had a postnasal problem of some sort and sniffed constantly while talking. He would prove to be my right arm in the concert field, my companion, and one of the greatest friends of my life.

After we had been doing concerts for some time, we sat down one day for a talk. I said, “Freddie, it’s nearly impossible to rehearse almost two hours of music in two and a half hours. There are two kinds of concerts we’re doing, the symphony concerts and the college concerts.” By now we were performing at most of the universities in the South and Midwest. I said, “I can’t continue if I have to rehearse a new band every time.” Freddie was a business graduate of Indiana University, where he had booked bands for concerts. He’d also co-led a band with a saxophonist named Al Cobine who he said was still in Indiana, specifically Indianapolis, where he had an organized band. Freddie said, “If we can get Al’s band to handle the blowing part of the concerts, and if these key players travel with you, that will take a lot of the pressure off.” At that time, we were using a forty-piece band, of which twenty were strings.

Freddie’s plan was that Al Cobine would go to Indiana University with his own key players and select the rest of the orchestra from faculty and students. America’s music schools contain many students of advanced professional caliber, and the faculties include some quite famous musicians. I.U.’s faculty included cellist Janos Starker, French hornist Phil Farkes, and tubist Bill Bell. The best. Furthermore, Indiana University’s music school was one of the most respected in the country. The plan sounded good to me.

And that is what we began to do. We’d fly into Indianapolis and meet Al Cobine, a big-chested man whom everybody called Big Al and a fine arranger in his own right. Then we’d drive to Indiana University in Bloomington, rehearse the band that Al had put together, get on a bus or plane, and play a series of dates throughout the Midwest, with the luxury of using the same band of excellent players who had been adequately rehearsed. By the end of one of these tours, of course, they’d played the music many times and it was taking on a real polish.

I wasn’t yet forty, but I felt ancient with all those students in their early twenties who were getting a charge out of going to these concerts.

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