Jimmie Haskell

Haskell was born in Brooklyn, New York. He entered the music business in the 1950s doing arrangements for Imperial Records. His first professional arrangement was a chart of "Nature Boy", sold to Lionel Hampton.{{Cite web|url=http://tims.blackcat.nl/messages/jimmie_haskell.htm|title=Jimmie Haskell|website=tims.blackcat.nl|accessdate=January 31, 2023}} He became the arranger of choice for Ricky Nelson, arranging and producing around 75 records for the artist, including such hits as "There's Nothing I Can Say" and "Hello Mary Lou". In 1960, he accompanied Elvis Presley on accordion on the "G.I. Blues" soundtrack.{{cite web| url = https://jeremylr.medium.com/only-the-good-die-young-jimmie-haskell-revisits-hit-records-with-rick-nelson-35b1ebf357fa| title = Only the good die young: Jimmie Haskell revisits hit records with Rick Nelson {{!}} by Jeremy Roberts {{!}} Medium| date=January 18, 2022}} Almost four decades later, he provided arrangements on Sheryl Crow's album The Globe Sessions.

In 1960, Haskell entered the motion picture soundtrack industry as an uncredited orchestrator for Dimitri Tiomkin's The Alamo. The following year he composed his first score, Love in a Goldfish Bowl. His composition "The Silly Song" became the theme song of American television's The Hollywood Squares. He composed a variety of film scores such as A.C. Lyles' Westerns and arranging "Weird Al" Yankovic's title song for Spy Hard.

In the late 1960s and early 1970s, Haskell was the arranger of choice for The Grass Roots.{{citation|url=http://the-grassroots.com/html/jimmiehaskell.html|title=Jimmie Haskell memories of The Grass Roots|website=The-grassroots.com|access-date=2014-08-29|archive-date=2015-10-29|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151029105322/http://the-grassroots.com/html/jimmiehaskell.html|url-status=dead}} He arranged the signature string section on Chicago's song "If You Leave Me Now", for which he won a Grammy Award, and also provided horn and string arrangements for Blondie's 1980 album Autoamerican, including for the US and UK No. 1 hit "The Tide Is High". In the mid-1970s, Haskell worked with the band Steely Dan, providing orchestration on their 1974 album Pretzel Logic and arrangements and horn on their 1975 album Katy Lied.{{cite web|url=https://www.allmusic.com/artist/jimmie-haskell-mn0000286896/credits|title=Jimmy Haskell Credits|publisher=AllMusic|accessdate=May 15, 2021}} In 2009, well into his eighties, he provided "a lovely, understated string arrangement" on David Rawlings' album A Friend of a Friend.{{cite web |url=https://www.popmatters.com/118314-dave-rawlings-machine-a-friend-of-a-friend-2496146209.html |title=Dave Rawlings Machine: A Friend of a Friend - PopMatters |website=www.popmatters.com |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190125160746/https://www.popmatters.com/118314-dave-rawlings-machine-a-friend-of-a-friend-2496146209.html |archive-date=2019-01-25}}

In addition to composing and arranging, Haskell would often act as conductor and selected the musicians used.{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=cgkEAAAAMBAJ&q=jimmie+haskell&pg=PA12 |title=Billboard - Google Books |date=1974-05-04 |access-date=2012-02-20}}

His birthday is widely reported as 1936 because he lied about his age, figuring he would get more work if people thought he was younger. A statement from his daughter published by The Musicians Union of Los Angeles gives the correct birthday in 1926.{{cite web|url=https://www.afm47.org/press/final-note-jimmie-haskell/|title=Final Note: Jimmie Haskell|website=afm47.org|date=2016-02-26}}

Haskell was awarded an Emmy for Outstanding Achievement in Music Composition for a Special (Dramatic Underscore) for See How She Runs (1978) and has received two other nominations. He was awarded Grammies for his arrangements of "Ode to Billie Joe" recorded by Bobbie Gentry, "Bridge Over Troubled Water" recorded by Simon and Garfunkel, and "If You Leave Me Now" recorded by Chicago.{{cite web|author=Los Angeles |url=https://www.voanews.com/a/a-13-a-2004-08-27-42-1-67507412/283358.html |title=Jimmie Haskell: The Man Behind the Music - 2004-08-27 | News |publisher=Voice of America |date=2004-08-27 |access-date=2012-02-20}}

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• Love in a Goldfish Bowl (1961)
• I'll Take Sweden (1965)
• Town Tamer (1965)
• Apache Uprising (1965)
• Red Tomahawk (1966)
• Johnny Reno (1966)
• Waco (1966)
• Hostile Guns (1967)
• Fort Utah (1967)
• The Wicked Dreams of Paula Schultz (1968)
• Arizona Bushwhackers (1968)
• Rogue's Gallery (1968)
• Buckskin (1968)
• The Thousand Plane Raid (1969)
• Zachariah (1971)
• The Honkers (1972)
• Night of the Lepus (1972)
• Dirty Mary, Crazy Larry (1974)
• When the North Wind Blows (1974)
• Death Game (1977)
• Joyride (1977)
• Hughes and Harlow: Angels in Hell (1978)
• A Christmas to Remember (1978)
• The Jericho Mile (1979)
• Guyana: Crime of the Century (1979)
• Goldie and the Boxer (1979)
• Mirror, Mirror (1979)
• The Jayne Mansfield Story (1980)
• Hard Country (1981)
• Jake Spanner, Private Eye (1989)

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• The Hollywood Squares (1965) (composer)
• Bewitched (1966) (composer)
• The Andy Williams Show (1968) (composer)
• The Doris Day Show (1969) (composer)
• Curiosity Shop (1971)
• Land of the Lost (1974) (composer)
• Cathy (1987) (composer)
• Silent Möbius (1998) (main composer with Suzie Katayama and Kenichi Sudo)

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{{Reflist}}

• [http://www.jimmiehaskell.com/ Official web site]
• [http://www.spaceagepop.com/haskell.htm Jimmie Haskell at Space Age Pop]
• {{IMDb name|name=Jimmie Haskell|id=0368135}}
• [http://www.km-rickynelson.com/interview.html Haskell interview on Ricky Nelson]
• [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v_ioQ96YdfE "Rockin' in the Orbit (Space Satellite)" - 1957 (Jimmie Haskell and Orchestra) Imperial Records]

{{EmmyAward MusicCompositionLimitedSeriesMovieSpecial}}

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Category:1926 births

Category:2016 deaths

Category:American conductors (music)

Category:American male conductors (music)

Category:American film score composers

Category:20th-century American Jews

Category:American easy listening musicians

Category:American light music composers

Category:Musicians from Brooklyn

Category:American music arrangers

Category:Classical musicians from New York (state)

Category:American male film score composers

Category:21st-century American Jews