Eddie Sauter

From HitStory, the pop encyclopedia of School of Rock · Artist

Eddie Sauter was an American composer and arranger of the swing era, born in 1914. He studied at Columbia University and the Juilliard School. He began as a drummer, then played trumpet professionally, including in Red Norvo's orchestra, and eventually became Norvo's regular arranger. He then wrote arrangements and compositions for Artie Shaw, Tommy Dorsey, Woody Herman and above all Benny Goodman.

Music and breakthrough

From 1952 to 1958 he led the Sauter-Finegan Orchestra together with Bill Finegan, which made records such as Inside the Sound from 1952 and The Sound of the Sauter-Finegan Orchestra from 1953. Between 1957 and 1959 he succeeded Kurt Edelhagen as leader of the SWF orchestra in Baden-Baden. In 1961 he worked with the tenor saxophonist Stan Getz on the album Focus, for which, at Getz's request, he wrote a series of pieces for strings. For Getz he also wrote the film music for Mickey One from 1965, starring Warren Beatty. He made the theme tune for the third season of Night Gallery on television and orchestrated Broadway musicals such as 1776 and The Apple Tree.

Influence

Sauter was not a frontman but a writer behind the scenes. His arrangements gave a swing orchestra new colours and a sound of its own. The orchestrator Jonathan Tunick said of his work for Broadway that it was always theatrical and effective and unlike anyone else's. He died in 1981 and was inducted into the Big Band and Jazz Hall of Fame in 2003.

Listening