by Grant Jackson
Pianist John Bunch was born in Tipton, Ind., a small farming community north of Indianapolis. As a boy, he studied piano, and at 14, he was already playing with bands in central Indiana. During WWII, he served on a B17 Flying Fortress that was shot down over Germany. Bunch and his crew were taken captive, and while in a prison camp, he learned to arrange for big bands.
After the war, he returned home to Indiana, where he was refused entry to study music at college — he couldn't sight-read classical music. But he connected with Indiana-based jazz players like Wes Montgomery. In 1956, Bunch moved to Los Angeles, where he joined the Woody Herman orchestra. He followed Herman to New York, where he made the move to Benny Goodman's band.
Bunch also worked with drummers Buddy Rich and Gene Krupa, but he spent his longest stint working as Tony Bennett's musical director from 1966-72. Bunch's late career was devoted to working in the New York Swing Trio alongside guitarist Bucky Pizzarelli and bassist Jay Leonhart. John Bunch died earlier this year at age 88.
"John [Bunch] was always so complimentary of my playing, and quite generous," host Marian McPartland says. "He always sent me the music to tunes that I asked about over the years. The last time we played together was at Dizzy's before he fell ill. I miss him terribly."
Complete on >> http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=128697496
0 Comments:
Post a Comment