Van Alexander
{{short description|American musician (1915–2015)}}
{{Infobox musical artist
| name = Van Alexander
| image = Van Alexander.jpg
| background = non_performing_personnel
| birth_name = Alexander Van Vliet Feldman
| birth_date = {{Birth date|1915|5|2|mf=y}}
| birth_place = New York City, New York, U.S.
| death_date = {{death date and age|2015|7|19|1915|5|1}}
| death_place = Los Angeles, California, U.S.
| occupation = Bandleader, composer, arranger
| years_active = 1930–1985
}}
Van Alexander (May 2, 1915 – July 19, 2015) was an American bandleader, arranger, and composer.
Early years
Van Alexander was born Alexander Van Vliet Feldman in Harlem.{{cite journal|last1=Lentz|first1=Harris III|title=Van Alexander, 100|journal=Classic Images|date=September 2015|issue=483|page=49}} His mother was a classical pianist, and she taught him to play the piano.{{cite news|title=Van Alexander, US bandleader turned composer, died aged 100|url=https://www.bbc.com/news/entertainment-arts-33593258|access-date=13 July 2016|agency=BBC|date=July 20, 2015}} He studied music at Columbia University. Alexander led bands and arranged music beginning in high school.
Career
He landed a job selling arrangements to Chick Webb in the middle of the 1930s. A-Tisket, A-Tasket" became a hit for Webb and Ella Fitzgerald, becoming one of her signature tunes. Alexander arranged other nursery rhymes for jazz, such as "Where, Oh Where Has My Little Dog Gone?" and "Got a Pebble in My Shoe".{{cite web | last1 = Chadbourne | first1 = Eugene|title=Van Alexander|url=http://www.allmusic.com/artist/van-alexander-mn0000060054/biography| website = AllMusic | access-date =25 December 2013}}
In 1938, Alexander formed his own band{{r|simon4th|page1=459}} and played in theaters into the 1940s. When his group disbanded, he and two others from the group joined Larry Clinton's orchestra. George T. Simon, in his book, The Big Bands, quoted Clinton as saying that he had "a package deal from Van Alexander. He had given up his band and joined us, and he brought along Butch Stone and Irv Cottler, whose drumming made all the difference in the world."{{cite book|last1=Simon|first1=George T.|title=The Big Bands|date=1981|publisher=Schirmer Books|location=New York, New York|isbn=0-02-872430-5|page=[https://archive.org/details/bigbands00simo_0/page/129 129]|edition=4|url-access=registration|url=https://archive.org/details/bigbands00simo_0/page/129}} By June 1942, Alexander had formed another band of his own.{{cite web|title=Radio Mirror Magazine|url=http://www.americanradiohistory.com/hd2/IDX-Site-Early-Radio/Archive-Radio-Mirror-IDX/IDX/40s/42/Mirrorr-1942-Jun-OCR-Page-0009.pdf#search=%22van%20alexander%22|website=American Radio History|access-date=13 July 2016|format=.pdf|date=June 1942}}
image:Van-Alexander 2013-11-16.jpg
Later in the 1940s, he was hired by Bob Crosby to work in Hollywood and worked extensively as a composer, arranger, and conductor for film scores. He wrote a textbook on film arrangement in 1950 called First Arrangement, and Johnny Mandel studied under him.
Alexander's scores included several Mickey Rooney films, such as The Atomic Kid (1954), The Twinkle in God's Eye (1955), Baby Face Nelson (1957), The Last Mile (1959), The Big Operator (1959) and The Private Lives of Adam and Eve (1960), as well as the scores to 13 Frightened Girls (1963), Strait-Jacket (1964), I Saw What You Did (1965) and Tarzan and the Valley of Gold (1966).
He provided music for the television shows Hazel, The Farmer's Daughter, Bewitched, I Dream of Jeannie, Dennis the Menace and The Wacky World of Jonathan Winters. He arranged and conducted for variety shows starring Dean Martin, Gordon MacRae, Mickey Rooney, and James Stewart. He was involved in recording sessions with Doris Day, Benny Goodman, Peggy Lee, Dinah Shore, Kay Starr, Dakota Staton, and Paul Whiteman.
Alexander turned 100 in May 2015.{{cite web|last1=Burlingame|first1=Jon|title=Arranger-Composer-Bandleader Van Alexander Turns 100|url=http://www.filmmusicsociety.org/news_events/features/2015/050415.html| website=Film Music Society|access-date=6 May 2015|date=4 May 2015}} His wife, Beth, died in 2010.
He died of heart failure on July 19, 2015, in Los Angeles.{{cite web|last1=Burlingame|first1=Jon|title=Van Alexander, Big-Band Leader and Film-TV Composer, Dies at 100|url=https://variety.com/2015/music/news/van-alexander-dies-dead-a-tisket-a-tasket-1201543850/|website=Variety|access-date=23 July 2015|date=20 July 2015}} He is buried in the Sanctuary of Meditation mausoleum, row 1, space 15a, in Hillside Memorial Park, Los Angeles, California.Resting Places: The Burial Sites of More Than 14000 Famous Persons by Scott Wilson
Awards and honors
Alexander was nominated twice for an Emmy Award for Outstanding Achievement in Music Direction of a Variety, Musical or Dramatic Program. His 1972 nomination was for his work on The Golddiggers Chevrolet Show, and his 1973 nomination was for his work on The Wacky World of Jonathan Winters. He received the Henry Mancini Award for lifetime achievement from ASCAP.
References
{{Reflist}}
External links
{{Commons category}}
- {{IMDb name|id=0018788|name=Van Alexander}}
- {{Find a grave|149562308}}
- [https://www.namm.org/library/oral-history/van-alexander Van Alexander Interview] NAMM Oral History Library (1995, 2001)
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Alexander, Van}}
Category:20th-century American Jews
Category:21st-century American Jews
Category:American men centenarians
Category:American conductors (music)
Category:American film score composers
Category:American jazz bandleaders
Category:American jazz composers
Category:American male conductors (music)
Category:American male film score composers
Category:American music arrangers
Category:American television composers
Category:Burials at Hillside Memorial Park Cemetery
Category:Jewish American film score composers
Category:Jewish American composers
Category:Jewish jazz musicians