Ferrante & Teicher | |
|---|---|
 Ferrante & Teicher, c 1960 | |
| Background information | |
| Genres | |
| Instrument | Piano |
| Years active | 1947–1989 |
| Labels | |
| Members | Arthur Ferrante Louis Teicher |
Ferrante & Teicher were a duo of American pianists known for their clever arrangements of familiar classical pieces, movie soundtracks, and show tunes, as well as their signature style of florid, intricate, and fast-paced piano playing performances.
Arthur Ferrante (September 7, 1921, New York City – September 19, 2009, Longboat Key, Florida [1] ), and Louis Teicher (August 24, 1924, Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania – August 3, 2008, Highlands, North Carolina) met while studying at the Juilliard School of Music in New York in 1930. [2] [3] Musical prodigies, they began performing as a piano duo while still in school. After graduating, they joined the Juilliard faculty.
In 1947, they launched a full-time concert career, at first playing nightclubs, then quickly moving up to playing classical music with orchestral backing. Steven Tyler of Aerosmith relates the story that in the 1950s the two students practiced in the home of his grandmother Constance Neidhart Tallarico. [4] Between 1950 and 1980, they were a major American "easy listening" act and scored four big U.S. hits: "Theme from The Apartment" (Pop #10), "Theme from Exodus" (Pop #2), "Tonight" (Pop #8), and "Midnight Cowboy" (Pop #10). [5] They performed and recorded regularly with pops orchestras popular standards by George Gershwin, Jerome Kern, Cole Porter, Richard Rodgers, the Sherman Brothers and others. In 1973, they did the Hollywood Radio Theater theme for the Rod Serling radio drama series, The Zero Hour . [6] [7]
The duo also experimented with prepared pianos, adding paper, sticks, rubber, wood blocks, metal bars, chains, glass, mallets, and other found objects to piano string beds. In this way they were able to produce a variety of bizarre sounds that sometimes resembled percussion instruments and at other times resulted in special effects that sounded as if they were electronically synthesized. [8]
Both men were initiated as honorary members of Tau Kappa Epsilon at Central State University (now University of Central Oklahoma) while on tour.
Ferrante and Teicher ceased performing in 1989 and retired to Longboat Key and Siesta Key, respectively, close to each other on the west coast of Florida. They continued to play together occasionally at a local piano store.
CDs of their music, some of it not previously released, have continued to appear. [9]
Louis Teicher died of a heart attack in August 2008, at age 83. [10] Arthur Ferrante died of natural causes on September 19, 2009, twelve days after his 88th birthday; he had once said he wanted to live one year for each piano key. [11] Arthur was survived by his wife, Jena; his daughter, Brenda Eberhardt; and two granddaughters. [12]
| Year | Titles (A-side, B-side) Both sides from same album except where indicated | Chart positions | Album | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| US | US – AC | CB | CAN CHUM [16] /RPM [17] | |||
| 1951 | "Susannah's Last Stand" b/w "Caravan" | - | - | - | - | Hi-Fireworks |
| 1952 | "Tabu" b/w "Semper Fidelis" | - | - | - | - | |
| 1958 | "Che Si Dice (Keh See Deechay; That Is Said)" b/w "How High the Moon" | - | - | - | - | Ferrante and Teicher with Percussion |
| "Aflame" b/w "How High the Moon" | - | - | - | - | ||
| 1959 | "Side Saddle" b/w "Prairie Blues" | - | - | - | - | Non-album tracks |
| "Lovers Symphony" b/w "Dream Concerto" | - | - | - | - | Dream Concerto | |
| 1960 | "Theme from The Apartment" b/w "Lonely Room" | 10 | - | 9 | 22 | The World's Greatest Themes |
| "Exodus" b/w "Twilight" (from Tonight) | 2 | - | 1 | 3 | Golden Piano Hits | |
| 1961 | "Love Theme from One Eyed Jacks" / | 37 | - | 39 | 40 | Love Themes |
| "Gone with the Wind" | - | - | 110 | - | ||
| "Goodbye Again" b/w "Possessed" (from The Many Moods of Ferrante & Teicher) | 85 | - | 84 | - | Non-album track | |
| "Tonight" b/w "Dream of Love" (from The Many Moods of Ferrante & Teicher) | 8 | 2 | 6 | 14 | Music from the Motion Picture West Side Story and Other Motion Picture and Broadway Hits | |
| 1962 | "Smile" / | 94 | 18 | 93 | - | Tonight |
| "Street of Palms (Via Margalene)" | - | - | 133 | - | Non-album tracks | |
| "Lisa" / | 98 | - | 81 | - | ||
| "Negligee" | - | - | tag | - | Pianos in Paradise | |
| "Lida Rose" b/w "Take Me Along" | - | - | 144 | - | Themes from Broadway Shows | |
| "Theme from Taras Bulba" b/w "Theme from the Eleventh Hour" (from Concert for Lovers) | 116 | - | 107 | - | Non-album tracks | |
| 1963 | "Theme from Lawrence of Arabia" b/w "Paris Joy Ride" (from Holiday for Pianos) | 84 | - | 102 | - | |
| "Antony and Cleopatra Theme" b/w "Caesar and Cleopatra Theme" | 83 | - | 115 | - | Love Themes from Cleopatra | |
| "Crystal Fingers" b/w "Greensleeves" (from Concert for Lovers) | 127 | - | 132 | - | Non-album tracks | |
| 1964 | "It's All Right" b/w "Corn Pone" | - | - | - | - | |
| "The Seventh Dawn" b/w "You're Too Much" (from The Keys to Her Apartment) | 124 | - | - | - | ||
| 1965 | "The Greatest Story Ever Told" b/w "To Spring" (from Springtime) | 101 | - | 143 | - | By Popular Demand |
| "Country Boy" b/w "The Knack" (From "A Man and a Woman" and Other Motion Picture Themes) | - | - | - | - | Only the Best | |
| 1966 | "Khartoum" b/w "Firebird" | - | 21 | - | - | You Asked for It! |
| "A Man and a Woman" b/w "Dark Eyes" (from The Piano Artistry of Ferrante & Teicher) | - | 24 | - | - | "A Man and a Woman" and Other Motion Picture Themes | |
| 1967 | "Live for Life" b/w "Pavanne" (from In the Heat of the Night) | - | 27 | - | - | Live for Life |
| 1968 | "Here Is Where I Belong" b/w "Rock-a-Bye Baby" (from Midnight Cowboy) | - | - | - | - | Non-album tracks |
| "A Boy and a Girl" b/w "Prelude to Love" (from Love in the Generation Gap) | - | - | - | - | ||
| 1969 | "Andrea" b/w "Joanna" | - | - | - | - | Listen to the Movies with Ferrante & Teicher |
| "Midnight Cowboy" b/w "Popi" (original pressings) "Rock-a-Bye-Baby" (later pressings) | 10 | 2 | 10 | 11 | Midnight Cowboy | |
| 1970 | "Lay Lady Lay" b/w "Theme from 'Z' (To Yelasto Pedi)" | 99 | 16 | 71 | 71 | Getting Together |
| "Pieces of Dreams" b/w "Magical Connection" | - | 28 | - | - | Love Is a Soft Touch | |
| 1971 | "The Music Lovers" b/w "Love Is Now" | - | 39 | - | - | The Music Lovers |
| "Diamonds Are Forever" b/w "There's a New Day Coming" | - | - | - | - | Ferrante & Teicher Play the Hit Themes | |
| 1972 | "Love Theme from the Godfather" b/w "There's a New Day Coming" | - | 28 | 110 | - | |
| "Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Sex but Were Afraid to Ask" b/w "Tranquillo" | - | - | - | - | Hear and Now | |
| 1973 | "American Pie" b/w "Oh to Be Young Again" | - | - | - | - | |
| "Last Tango in Paris" b/w "Grass Roots" (from Salute Nashville) | - | - | 115 | - | Killing Me Softly | |
| 1976 | "Theme from Breakheart Pass" b/w "Theme from Mahogany" (from Piano Portraits) | - | - | - | - | Non-album track |
| "Gonna Fly Now (Theme from 'Rocky')" b/w "You Take My Heart Away" (Non-album track) | - | - | - | - | Rocky and Other Knockouts | |
| 1977 | "Theme from 'New York, New York'" b/w "A Bridge Too Far (Main Theme)" | - | - | - | - | |
| 1978 | "Theme from Star Trek" b/w "Swinging on a Star" | - | - | - | - | Star Wars |
Henry Mancini was an American composer, conductor, arranger, pianist and flutist. Often cited as one of the greatest composers in the history of film, he won four Academy Awards, a Golden Globe, and twenty Grammy Awards, plus a posthumous Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award in 1995.
A prepared piano is a piano that has had its sounds temporarily altered by placing bolts, screws, mutes, rubber erasers, and/or other objects on or between the strings. Its invention is usually traced to John Cage's dance music for Bacchanale (1940), created for a performance in a Seattle venue that lacked sufficient space for a percussion ensemble. Cage has cited Henry Cowell as an inspiration for developing piano extended techniques, involving strings within a piano being manipulated instead of the keyboard. Typical of Cage's practice as summed up in the Sonatas and Interludes (1946–48) is that each key of the piano has its own characteristic timbre, and that the original pitch of the string will not necessarily be recognizable. Further variety is available with use of the una corda pedal.
Alex North was an American composer best known for his many film scores, including A Streetcar Named Desire, Viva Zapata!, Spartacus, Cleopatra, and Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? He received fifteen Academy Award nominations for his work as a composer; while he did not win for any of his nominations, he received an Honorary Academy Award in 1986, the first for a composer.
ABC Records was an American record label founded in New York City in 1955. It originated as the main popular music label operated by the Am-Par Record Corporation. Am-Par also created the Impulse! jazz label in 1960. It acquired many labels before ABC was sold to MCA Records in 1979. ABC produced music in a variety of genres: pop, rock, jazz, country, rhythm and blues, soundtrack, gospel, and polka. In addition to producing records, ABC licensed masters from independent record producers, and purchased regionally released records for national distribution.
United Artists Records was an American record label founded by Max E. Youngstein of United Artists in 1957 to issue movie soundtracks. The label expanded into other genres, such as easy listening, jazz, pop, and R&B.
Roger Williams was an American popular music pianist. Described by the Los Angeles Times as "one of the most popular instrumentalists of the mid-20th century", and "the rare instrumental pop artist to strike a lasting commercial chord," Williams had 22 hit singles–including the chart-topping "Autumn Leaves" in 1955 and "Born Free" in 1966–and 38 hit albums between 1955 and 1972.
André Jolivet was a French composer. Known for his devotion to French culture and musical thought, Jolivet drew on his interest in acoustics and atonality, as well as both ancient and modern musical influences, particularly on instruments used in ancient times. He composed in a wide variety of forms for many different types of ensembles.
Patrick Doyle is a Scottish composer and occasional actor best known for his film scores. During his 50-year career in film, television and theatre, he has composed the scores for over 60 feature films. A longtime collaborator of actor-director Kenneth Branagh, Doyle is known for his work on films such as Henry V, Sense and Sensibility, Hamlet, Carlito's Way, Quest for Camelot, and Gosford Park, as well as Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, Rise of the Planet of the Apes, Thor, Brave, Cinderella,Murder on the Orient Express and Death on the Nile.
Phillip Upchurch is an American jazz and blues guitarist and bassist.
Toshiro Mayuzumi was a Japanese composer known for his implementation of avant-garde instrumentation alongside traditional Japanese musical techniques. His works drew inspiration from a variety of sources ranging from jazz to Balinese music, and he was considered a pioneer in the realm of musique concrète and electronic music, being the first artist in his country to explore these techniques. Over the span of his career, he has written symphonies, ballets, operas, and film scores. Mayuzumi was the recipient of an Otaka prize by the NHK Symphony Orchestra and the Purple Medal of Merit.
"Tonight" is a song from the 1957 musical West Side Story. The music was composed by Leonard Bernstein, and the lyrics were written by Stephen Sondheim. The song was first published in 1956.
Ian Timothy Whitcomb was an English entertainer, singer-songwriter, record producer, writer, broadcaster and actor. As part of the British Invasion, his hit song "You Turn Me On" reached number 8 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart in 1965.
Stereo Drive is an album by jazz musician Cecil Taylor featuring John Coltrane. It was released in 1959 on United Artists Records, catalogue UAS 5014. The mono edition was issued as UAL 4014 with the title Hard Driving Jazz credited to The Cecil Taylor Quintet, and later reissued under Coltrane's name in 1962 as Coltrane Time. Compact disc reissues appeared on the Blue Note Records label credited to Coltrane. It is the only known recording featuring both Coltrane and Taylor.
The discography of American singer-songwriter Bobby Vinton consists of 38 studio albums, 67 compilation albums, two video albums, three live albums, and 88 singles.
The Midnight String Quartet were an easy listening chamber music quartet, consisting of two violins, a viola, and a cello, made up of students or graduates from the University of Southern California. They played covers and standards over several albums from 1966 to the early seventies, supplemented by a professional rhythm section, often including bass, drums and guitar and sometimes piano and harpsichord.
William Jay Sydeman was a prolific American composer. He was born in New York. He studied at Duke University, and received a B.S. degree in 1955 from the Mannes School of Music, having studied with Felix Salzer, Roy Travis, and Roger Sessions. He received his master's in music from the Hartt School in 1958, studying under Arnold Franchetti and Goffredo Petrassi. From 1959 to 1970 he joined the composition faculty at his alma mater Mannes School of Music.
Adrian Frederick Joseph Jack is a British Composer.
This is the discography of Argentine-American jazz musician Lalo Schifrin.
Dennis Matthew Budimir was an American jazz and rock guitarist. He was considered to be a member of The Wrecking Crew.
"Judith" is a 1966 song written by Sol Kaplan and Earl Shuman, known in the instrumental version as "Judith " for the 1966 film of the same title starring Sophia Loren. It was a best selling single for Pat Boone, with lyrics beginning "Judith, you are the twilight..". Other versions were recorded by Ferrante and Teicher 1966, The Golden Voices, Hugo Montenegro and his orchestra, Jimmy Sedlar and orchestra.
| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
| Artists | |
:format(jpeg):mode_rgb():quality(90)/discogs-images/R-8891286-1470909841-7261.jpeg.jpg){kind=link}