Stanley Black
Encyclopedia
Stanley Black OBE was an English
Bandleader
, Composer
, conductor
, arranger and pianist. He wrote and arranged many film scores and recorded prolifically for the Decca
label (including London and Phase 4). Beginning with jazz collaborations with American musicians such as Coleman Hawkins
and Benny Carter
during the 1930s, he moved into arranging and recording in the Latin American style and also won awards for his classical conducting.
, England
. His parents were Polish and Romanian Jews. He began piano
lessons at the age of seven. He was aged only 12 when his first composition was broadcast on BBC Radio and continued his early success by winning a Melody Maker
arranging competition aged 15.
In the early 1930s he was employed as a jazz
player and composer and had worked with Howard Jacobs
, Joe Orlando
, Lew Stone
, Maurice Winnick
and Teddy Joyce by the time he joined Harry Roy
in 1936. He had also broadcast and recorded with several American musicians, including jazz saxophonist Coleman Hawkins
, who had first heard Black on late night radio shows with Lew Stone’s band. When the two eventually met in London
, the reviewer Edgar Jackson suggested they record together, and a notable collaboration is a duet version of Honeysuckle Rose
.
During World War II
, Black joined the Royal Air Force
, and became involved in managing the entertainment of servicemen based at Wolverhampton
. In 1944 he was appointed conductor of the BBC Dance Orchestra, and remained in the job for almost nine years, broadcasting as many as six nights a week.
By this time he had also begun recording under his own name for Decca. Now well involved with the film industry, he went on to compose, arrange and direct music for about 200 more films, notably after being appointed music director at Elstree Studios
in 1958. He was also principal conductor of the Associated British Picture Corporation
Orchestra and musical director composer of that organisation from 1958-1963.
Stanley Black’s radio work kept him in contact with a large listening audience through his incidental music for shows such as Much Binding in the Marsh
and the first two series of The Goon Show
. He later presented his own programmes on radio and television, including Black Magic and The Marvellous World of Stanley Black.
In the early 1950s he regularly topped the Melody Maker
lists of the most-heard musicians on radio. He was chosen to be included on Decca’s first release of long-playing records
in the UK in June 1950. This enabled him to continue his conducting, arranging and performing and resulted in a large number of albums. He was particularly popular in America, as evidenced by his inclusion in the Billboard best-sellers lists.
He wrote the music for the 1951 film Laughter in Paradise
.
During his life, he conducted many of Britain’s major orchestras, and until the 1990s he was still directing regular broadcast sessions at the BBC studios, despite the onset of deafness in later life.
Stanley Black received numerous awards, including the OBE
. He was made a life fellow of the Institute of Arts and Letters, and life president of the Celebrities Guild of Great Britain. He died in London in 2002, aged 89.
In 2003, Decca Music Group Ltd released a 2-CD set "A tribute to Stanley Black" (473-940-2) including recordings from 1951 to 1979.
.
Other films he composed scores for include It Always Rains on Sunday (1948), Laughter in Paradise (1951), The Naked Truth (1957), Too Many Crooks (1958), The Long and the Short and the Tall (1961), and the Cliff Richard
musicals The Young Ones
(1961) and his orchestral backing for Richard's follow up, Summer Holiday (1962), which won him an Ivor Novello Award. His work also became familiar to millions of cinema audiences as a consequence of his theme tune and music library for Pathé
News, written in 1960.
He also recorded many classical works, including collections of Tchaikovsky
and George Gershwin
. In 1965 he won a Gramophone Award for his version of Rimsky-Korsakov
’s Capriccio Espagnol. In addition, he arranged and conducted many commercially successful albums on LP and later CD like Tropical Moonlight, Cuban Moonlight, Black Magic, and series of Film Spectacular and Broadway Spectacular for Decca Records
.
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
Bandleader
Bandleader
A bandleader is the leader of a band of musicians. The term is most commonly, though not exclusively, used with a group that plays popular music as a small combo or a big band, such as one which plays jazz, blues, rhythm and blues or rock and roll music....
, Composer
Composer
A composer is a person who creates music, either by musical notation or oral tradition, for interpretation and performance, or through direct manipulation of sonic material through electronic media...
, conductor
Conducting
Conducting is the art of directing a musical performance by way of visible gestures. The primary duties of the conductor are to unify performers, set the tempo, execute clear preparations and beats, and to listen critically and shape the sound of the ensemble...
, arranger and pianist. He wrote and arranged many film scores and recorded prolifically for the Decca
Decca Records
Decca Records began as a British record label established in 1929 by Edward Lewis. Its U.S. label was established in late 1934; however, owing to World War II, the link with the British company was broken for several decades....
label (including London and Phase 4). Beginning with jazz collaborations with American musicians such as Coleman Hawkins
Coleman Hawkins
Coleman Randolph Hawkins was an American jazz tenor saxophonist. Hawkins was one of the first prominent jazz musicians on his instrument. As Joachim E. Berendt explained, "there were some tenor players before him, but the instrument was not an acknowledged jazz horn"...
and Benny Carter
Benny Carter
Bennett Lester Carter was an American jazz alto saxophonist, clarinetist, trumpeter, composer, arranger, and bandleader. He was a major figure in jazz from the 1930s to the 1990s, and was recognized as such by other jazz musicians who called him King...
during the 1930s, he moved into arranging and recording in the Latin American style and also won awards for his classical conducting.
Life
Stanley Black (Solomon Schwartz) was born in 1913 in WhitechapelWhitechapel
Whitechapel is a built-up inner city district in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets, London, England. It is located east of Charing Cross and roughly bounded by the Bishopsgate thoroughfare on the west, Fashion Street on the north, Brady Street and Cavell Street on the east and The Highway on the...
, England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
. His parents were Polish and Romanian Jews. He began piano
Piano
The piano is a musical instrument played by means of a keyboard. It is one of the most popular instruments in the world. Widely used in classical and jazz music for solo performances, ensemble use, chamber music and accompaniment, the piano is also very popular as an aid to composing and rehearsal...
lessons at the age of seven. He was aged only 12 when his first composition was broadcast on BBC Radio and continued his early success by winning a Melody Maker
Melody Maker
Melody Maker, published in the United Kingdom, was, according to its publisher IPC Media, the world's oldest weekly music newspaper. It was founded in 1926 as a magazine targeted at musicians; in 2000 it was merged into "long-standing rival" New Musical Express.-1950s–1960s:Originally the Melody...
arranging competition aged 15.
In the early 1930s he was employed as a jazz
Jazz
Jazz is a musical style that originated at the beginning of the 20th century in African American communities in the Southern United States. It was born out of a mix of African and European music traditions. From its early development until the present, jazz has incorporated music from 19th and 20th...
player and composer and had worked with Howard Jacobs
Howard Jacobs
Howard L. Jacobs is an attorney in the United States from Westlake Village, California, who has represented 75 or more athletes in cases, mostly about performance enhancing drugs.-Clients include::* Basketball player, Diana Taurasi, in 2011,...
, Joe Orlando
Joe Orlando
Joseph Orlando was a prolific illustrator, writer, editor and cartoonist during a lengthy career spanning six decades...
, Lew Stone
Lew Stone
Lew Stone was a British dance band leader and arranger. He was well known in Britain during the 1930s.Stone learned music at an early age and became an accomplished pianist. In the 1920s, he worked with many important dance bands...
, Maurice Winnick
Maurice Winnick
Maurice Winnick was an English musician and dance band leader. Born in Manchester, Winnick studied violin at the Manchester College of Music, where he proved to be a "child prodigy". He took a job in a cinema orchestra, playing the accompaniment for silent films, and while still in his teens he...
and Teddy Joyce by the time he joined Harry Roy
Harry Roy
Harry Roy was a British dance band leader and clarinet player from the 1920s until the 1960s.-Life and career:...
in 1936. He had also broadcast and recorded with several American musicians, including jazz saxophonist Coleman Hawkins
Coleman Hawkins
Coleman Randolph Hawkins was an American jazz tenor saxophonist. Hawkins was one of the first prominent jazz musicians on his instrument. As Joachim E. Berendt explained, "there were some tenor players before him, but the instrument was not an acknowledged jazz horn"...
, who had first heard Black on late night radio shows with Lew Stone’s band. When the two eventually met in London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
, the reviewer Edgar Jackson suggested they record together, and a notable collaboration is a duet version of Honeysuckle Rose
Honeysuckle Rose (song)
"Honeysuckle Rose" is a 1928 song composed by Fats Waller, whose lyrics were written by Andy Razaf. Fats Waller's 1934 recording was inducted in the Grammy Hall of Fame in 1999....
.
During World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
, Black joined the Royal Air Force
Royal Air Force
The Royal Air Force is the aerial warfare service branch of the British Armed Forces. Formed on 1 April 1918, it is the oldest independent air force in the world...
, and became involved in managing the entertainment of servicemen based at Wolverhampton
Wolverhampton
Wolverhampton is a city and metropolitan borough in the West Midlands, England. For Eurostat purposes Walsall and Wolverhampton is a NUTS 3 region and is one of five boroughs or unitary districts that comprise the "West Midlands" NUTS 2 region...
. In 1944 he was appointed conductor of the BBC Dance Orchestra, and remained in the job for almost nine years, broadcasting as many as six nights a week.
By this time he had also begun recording under his own name for Decca. Now well involved with the film industry, he went on to compose, arrange and direct music for about 200 more films, notably after being appointed music director at Elstree Studios
Elstree Studios
"Elstree Studios" refers to any of several film studios that were based in the towns of Borehamwood and Elstree in Hertfordshire, England, since film production begun in 1927.-Name:...
in 1958. He was also principal conductor of the Associated British Picture Corporation
Associated British Picture Corporation
Associated British Picture Corporation , originally British International Pictures , was a British film production, distribution and exhibition company active from 1927 until 1970...
Orchestra and musical director composer of that organisation from 1958-1963.
Stanley Black’s radio work kept him in contact with a large listening audience through his incidental music for shows such as Much Binding in the Marsh
Much Binding in the Marsh
Much-Binding-in-the-Marsh was the title of a comedy BBC radio and Radio Luxembourg show broadcast from 1944 to 1954, starring Kenneth Horne and Richard Murdoch as senior staff in a fictional RAF station battling red tape and wartime inconvenience...
and the first two series of The Goon Show
The Goon Show
The Goon Show was a British radio comedy programme, originally produced and broadcast by the BBC Home Service from 1951 to 1960, with occasional repeats on the BBC Light Programme...
. He later presented his own programmes on radio and television, including Black Magic and The Marvellous World of Stanley Black.
In the early 1950s he regularly topped the Melody Maker
Melody Maker
Melody Maker, published in the United Kingdom, was, according to its publisher IPC Media, the world's oldest weekly music newspaper. It was founded in 1926 as a magazine targeted at musicians; in 2000 it was merged into "long-standing rival" New Musical Express.-1950s–1960s:Originally the Melody...
lists of the most-heard musicians on radio. He was chosen to be included on Decca’s first release of long-playing records
Gramophone record
A gramophone record, commonly known as a phonograph record , vinyl record , or colloquially, a record, is an analog sound storage medium consisting of a flat disc with an inscribed, modulated spiral groove...
in the UK in June 1950. This enabled him to continue his conducting, arranging and performing and resulted in a large number of albums. He was particularly popular in America, as evidenced by his inclusion in the Billboard best-sellers lists.
He wrote the music for the 1951 film Laughter in Paradise
Laughter in Paradise
Laughter in Paradise is the title of a British comedy film released in 1951. The film stars Alastair Sim, Fay Compton, George Cole, and Guy Middleton...
.
During his life, he conducted many of Britain’s major orchestras, and until the 1990s he was still directing regular broadcast sessions at the BBC studios, despite the onset of deafness in later life.
Stanley Black received numerous awards, including the OBE
Order of the British Empire
The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is an order of chivalry established on 4 June 1917 by George V of the United Kingdom. The Order comprises five classes in civil and military divisions...
. He was made a life fellow of the Institute of Arts and Letters, and life president of the Celebrities Guild of Great Britain. He died in London in 2002, aged 89.
In 2003, Decca Music Group Ltd released a 2-CD set "A tribute to Stanley Black" (473-940-2) including recordings from 1951 to 1979.
Works
Stanley Black is remembered for writing numerous scores for radio, television and cinema, including the theme-tune for The Goon ShowThe Goon Show
The Goon Show was a British radio comedy programme, originally produced and broadcast by the BBC Home Service from 1951 to 1960, with occasional repeats on the BBC Light Programme...
.
Other films he composed scores for include It Always Rains on Sunday (1948), Laughter in Paradise (1951), The Naked Truth (1957), Too Many Crooks (1958), The Long and the Short and the Tall (1961), and the Cliff Richard
Cliff Richard
Sir Cliff Richard, OBE is a British pop singer, musician, performer, actor, and philanthropist who has sold over an estimated 250 million records worldwide....
musicals The Young Ones
The Young Ones (film)
The Young Ones is a British musical released in 1961, featuring singer Cliff Richard. The musical was directed by Sidney J. Furie and was produced by Kenneth Harper and Andrew Mitchell for the Associated British Studios at Elstree. The original screenplay was written by Peter Myers and Ronald...
(1961) and his orchestral backing for Richard's follow up, Summer Holiday (1962), which won him an Ivor Novello Award. His work also became familiar to millions of cinema audiences as a consequence of his theme tune and music library for Pathé
Pathé
Pathé or Pathé Frères is the name of various French businesses founded and originally run by the Pathé Brothers of France.-History:...
News, written in 1960.
He also recorded many classical works, including collections of Tchaikovsky
Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky
Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky (Russian: Пётр Ильи́ч Чайко́вский ; often "Peter Ilich Tchaikovsky" in English. His names are also transliterated "Piotr" or "Petr"; "Ilitsch", "Il'ich" or "Illyich"; and "Tschaikowski", "Tschaikowsky", "Chajkovskij"...
and George Gershwin
George Gershwin
George Gershwin was an American composer and pianist. Gershwin's compositions spanned both popular and classical genres, and his most popular melodies are widely known...
. In 1965 he won a Gramophone Award for his version of Rimsky-Korsakov
Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov
Nikolai Andreyevich Rimsky-Korsakov was a Russian composer, and a member of the group of composers known as The Five.The Five, also known as The Mighty Handful or The Mighty Coterie, refers to a circle of composers who met in Saint Petersburg, Russia, in the years 1856–1870: Mily Balakirev , César...
’s Capriccio Espagnol. In addition, he arranged and conducted many commercially successful albums on LP and later CD like Tropical Moonlight, Cuban Moonlight, Black Magic, and series of Film Spectacular and Broadway Spectacular for Decca Records
Decca Records
Decca Records began as a British record label established in 1929 by Edward Lewis. Its U.S. label was established in late 1934; however, owing to World War II, the link with the British company was broken for several decades....
.
Selected discography
- The Cash Box Instrumental Hits, London LL158
- Plays for Latin Lovers, London LL248
- Jerome Kern's Symphonic Suite, London LL579
- Berlin Suite, London LL811
- Some Enchanted Evening, London LL1098
- Dancing in the Dark, London LL1099
- Carnival in the Sun, London LL1100
- Festival in Costa Rica, London LL1101
- Music for Romance, London LL1149
- Cuban Moonlight, London LL1166
- Music of Richard Rodgers, London LL1209
- Plays for Latin Lovers, London LL1248
- The Night Was Made for Love, London LL1307
- Summer Evening Serenade, London LL1332
- The Music of Lecuona, London LL1438
- Music of Cole Porter, London LL1565
- Red Velvet, London LL1592
- Tropical Moonlight, London LL1615
- Moonlight CocktailMoonlight Cocktail"Moonlight Cocktail" is a big band song popular during World War II. It was composed by Luckey Roberts with lyrics by Kim Gannon. The song was originally recorded by the Glenn Miller Orchestra on December 8, 1941, the day after the attack on Pearl Harbor. The song had its first public...
, London LL1709 (Dec 1957) - Place Pigalle, London LL1742
- Sophisticate in Cuba, London LL 1781
- The All Time Top Tangos, London PS 176
- More Top Tangos, Decca SKL 4812
- Gershwin Goes Latin, London PS 206
- Ravel - Bolero, London Phase 4 SPC 21003
- Rhapsody in Blue, London Phase 4 21009
- Spectacular Dances for Orchestra, London Phase 4 SP 21020
- Overture!, London Phase 4 21028
- Great Rhapsodies, London Phase 4 21030
- Exotic Percussion, London Phase 4 SP 44004
- Spain, London Phase 4 SP 44016
- Film Spectacular, London Phase 4 SP 44025
- Film Spectacular Vol.2, London Phase 4 SP 44031
- Music of a People, London Phase 4 SP 44060
- Broadway Spectacular, London Phase 4 SP 44071
- Russia, London Phase 4 SP 44075
- Film Spectacular Vol.3, London Phase 4 SP 44078
- Broadway Blockbusters, London Phase 4 44088
- Dimensions in Sound, London Phase 4 SP 44105
- Fiddler on the Roof, London Phase 4 44121
- Film Spectacular Vol. 4, London Phase 4 44173
- Rhapsody in Blue, London Phase 4 21009
- Digital Spectacular!, London LDP 30001
- Film Spectacular Vol. 5, London Phase 4 SP 44225
External links
- Detailed biography at the Robert Farnon Society
- http://www.spaceagepop.com/black.htm