Allegro
Requiem
Volume CI, No. 11November, 2001
Manny Albam – Composer/Arranger
Stephen Benyak – Guitar
George Brackman – Conductor/Arranger
Derek J. Carroll – Bass
Jack Conner – Percussion
Joseph J. Connolly – Saxophone
Mara S. Dvonch – Violin
George Fauntleroy – Saxophone
Domenico Guadagno – Bass
Connie Henry – Bass
James B. Hosmer – Flute/Composer
Lawrence Kogen – Saxophone
Jancu Sandu Marcu – Violin
Nicholas A. Menichino – Bass
Jerome G. Sala – Clarinet
Richard Schulze – Clarinet/Conductor/Composer
Isaac Stern – Violin
Manny Albam
Manny Albam, 79, a jazz composer, arranger, conductor and teacher, died on Oct. 2. He joined Local 802 in 1942.
During a career that spanned seven decades, Mr. Albam worked with some of the 20th century’s most celebrated jazz performers, including Dizzy Gillespie, Coleman Hawkins, Stan Getz, Sarah Vaughan, Count Basie, McCoy Tyner, Roland Hanna, Carmen McRae, and Bob Brookmeyer.
Born in the Dominican Republic and raised in New York City, he started playing alto and baritone saxophone professionally while still at Stuyvesant High School. After a brief service in the Army during World War II, he toured with the big bands of Charlie Barnet, Jerry Wald and Sam Donahue, as both a sax player and arranger. In 1950 he began working full-time as a freelance composer and arranger in New York.
In addition to dozens of jazz recordings, Mr. Albam also wrote music for television movies, (“Four Clowns,” “Around the World of Mike Todd,” “The Glory Trail”) and commercials for Coca Cola, Gillette and Chevrolet, among others. In later years he ventured into more ambitious orchestral compositions that combined jazz harmonies and soaring instrumental solos with contemporary classical compositional techniques. Several of these were released on CDs.
A dedicated teacher, he was a founder of BMI’s Jazz Composers Workshop and at the time of his death was still serving, along with Jim McNeely, as co-Musical Director. He was also a professor of composition at the Manhattan School of Music. He previously co-directed the Eastman School of Music’s summer arrangers’ workshop.
He is survived by his wife, artist Betty Hindes; daughters Amy and Kate, son Evan, stepsons Paul and Andrew, and many grandchildren.
Jack Conner
Jack Conner, 87, a percussionist who joined Local 802 in 1939, died on Aug. 20.
A native of St. Louis, Mr. Conner was raised by his aunt, a piano teacher. He began studying with her at the age of 5, and at 10 he took up the drums. Within two years, he began playing with Ted Straeter’s KMOX Radio Junior Orchestra. His love of percussion instruments led him to the marimba and the vibraphone.
As a young man, Mr. Conner began performing in St. Louis hotels and nightclubs. Later, he would perform for audiences in Chicago, New York, Brussels and Paris. Mr. Conner also played on radio shows and television, and as a USO entertainer during World War II.
In 1948 he joined the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra. He left the symphony in the early 1950s to become a marimba soloist and percussionist with Xavier Cugat and his orchestra. Mr. Conner’s greatest love was inspirational and sacred music, and he was associated for many years with Youth For Christ and World Vision. He was also a producer of Christian films and concerts.
He is survived by his daughter Rose, son Garrett, brothers William and Robert, sisters June, Patricia, Janet and Betty Jo, and a granddaughter.
Joseph J. Connolly
Joseph J. Connolly, 89, a saxophone player and 60-year member of Local 802, died on April 13.
Mr. Connolly began studying the saxophone at the age of 13 and began playing professionally when he was 17. He sat in with big bands (including the orchestras led by Claude Thornhill and Eddie Duchin) and small trios and quartets, playing in local saloons and for settlement house dances.
He joined the Army in March 1943, after receiving a telegram from Capt. Glenn Miller requesting Connolly’s assignment to Fort Dix, N.J., to play with the Glenn Miller Army band. He was assigned to the Third Air Corps and the 372nd Army Air Force Band.
As a young musician, he played clubs and hotels including the Biltmore, the Plaza, the Commodore, the Astor Ballroom and the St. Regis, mostly with big band groups. As that era passed, he worked with groups playing local affairs, weddings and banquets.
Mr. Connolly moved to Franklin County, Mass., in the 1970s. He never retired from music. Among the groups he played with in more recent years were Angus and The Dream Makers, Dick Hurlburts Ork. and the Shelburne Falls Military Band.
He is survived by nieces Sheila Chlanda and Judith Schopneier, nephew Kimberly Joseph Chlanda, and several grand-nephews and grand-nieces.
George Fauntleroy
George Fauntleroy, 87, a saxophone player who joined local 802 in 1941, died on Sept. 10.
Born in Newport News, Va., Mr. Fauntleroy discovered his love for jazz early on and learned to play the saxophone, clarinet and flute. After high school, he hit the road with his jazz band, touring the United States. After many years, health problems caused him to stop traveling but he maintained the band. Although poor health prevented him from joining the army, he performed at benefits for off-duty servicemen throughout World War II.
After going to work for the city of New York in the late 1940s as a stock keeper, he joined District Council 37 and then became an early member of Teamsters Local 237, which was founded in 1952. He was head stores worker at the Department of Purchases in Queens when he retired in 1978. He and his wife, Ada, have been extremely active in the Retiree Division of Local 237. His band performed at Retiree Division dances and senior centers until failing health forced Mr. Fauntleroy to stop several years ago.
He is survived by his wife Ada, daughter Rosalie, and several grandchildren and great-grandchildren.
James B. Hosmer
James B. Hosmer, 90, a flutist and composer and a 65-year member of Local 802, died on Sept. 21.
Mr. Hosmer was principal flutist of the 1927 National High School Orchestra in Chicago. A 1932 graduate of the Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania, he studied flute with Georges Barrère at the Juilliard Graduate School from 1934 to 1937 and earned his M.A. in music education from Columbia University. He also studied flute with William Kincaid and Marcel Moyse.
He served as first flute of the Indianapolis Symphony (1937-42), where he appeared annually as soloist, and the Worcester (Mass.) Festival Orchestra (1939-41), and was a member of the Chautauqua Symphony Orchestra. He played in the New York Philharmonic for its Lewisohn Stadium summer concerts. Mr. Hosmer served in the U.S. Army as a Warrant Officer/Band Leader during World War II and then joined the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra, where he remained until his retirement in 1976.
A well respected teacher, he was on the faculties of the Jordan Conservatory of Music at Butler University and the Chautauqua Summer School. He also published a number of compositions for flute. He was a longstanding member of the New York Flute Club and served as its financial secretary for many years.
He is survived by sisters Harriet and Deanie, two nieces, three nephews, and 10 grandnieces and nephews. His wife Doris and daughter Evaline predeceased him.
Richard Schulze
Richard Schulze, 72, a clarinetist, conductor, music educator, composer and arranger, died on Aug. 21. He had joined Local 802 in 1955.
Mr. Schulze served as Music Director of the Telemann Society and is widely known for the society’s first major recording, ‘The English Country Dancing Master.” It was favorably reviewed in the international critical press, and was followed by more than 50 recordings by the Telemann Society orchestra, chorus, and instrumental ensembles.
Mr. Schulze performed in Carnegie Hall and Town Hall in New York, Jordan Hall in Boston, the Sunrise Musical Theatre in Sunrise, Florida, the Busch-Reisinger Museum at Harvard University and other major performance centers. He appeared with the Radio City Music Hall Orchestra, the Boston Ballet and the Jerusalem Radio Symphony Orchestra.
As one of the founders of the Carnegie Hall Fund, he and his wife, Theodora, prepared the feasibility study and operating plan that enabled the Isaac Stern Citizens Committee to save the world-renowned Carnegie Hall Building in New York. He was appointed Chairman of the American Conservatory of Music in 1991, and was chairman emeritus at the time of his death.
Along with his far-ranging career in music, Mr. Schulze was a mechanical engineer who was at the forefront in the invention and development of stereo, developing sound equipment, speakers, and radios. His engineering work was in New York City and Boston.
He is survived by his wife Theodora and son Otto.
Isaac Stern
Isaac Stern, 81, a violinist who was considered one of the great instrumentalists of the 20th century, a dedicated teacher, and a member of Local 802 since 1942, died on Sept. 22. Mr. Stern led the successful campaign to save Carnegie Hall from destruction in the early 1960s, and since then had served as its president, playing a central role in the building’s restoration in 1986 and the celebration of its centenary in 1991.
Born in the Ukraine, he grew up in San Francisco, where he began studying the piano at age 6 and soon began to take violin lessons. After two years he began studying at the San Francisco Conservatory. He made his debut with the San Francisco Symphony in 1936, when he was 16, and his New York debut with a recital at Town Hall in 1937. Represented by the impresario Sol Hurok, he soon became one of the busiest musicians of his day. Mr. Stern made his Carnegie Hall debut in 1943 and his New York Philharmonic debut in 1944. During World War II, he performed for Allied troops in Greenland, Iceland and the South Pacific. By 1950 he had performed with all the major American orchestras, and had achieved international stature.
During the 1960s, he made chamber music a central component of his repertory. In 1961 he formed a trio with cellist Leonard Rose and pianist Eugene Istomin. The group made classic recordings of the centerpieces of the trio repertory, including all the Beethoven, Schubert and Mendelssohn Trios. After Mr. Rose died in 1984, he formed a new trio with pianist Emanuel Ax and cellist Yo-Yo Ma.
Mr. Stern recorded all the great violin works – a wide array of concertos, recital works and chamber music. CBS Masterworks compiled his recordings in a collection called Isaac Stern: A Life in Music, a 44-CD set released in 1995. He was also devoted to contemporary works, including the Bartok, Prokofiev, Berg and Barber concertos in his repertory long before they were commonly played.
His playing was also heard in movie theatres: In 1946 Mr. Stern played on the soundtrack of Humoresque; he played the Belgian violin virtuoso Eugène Ysaye in the film Tonight We Sing in 1953; and in 1970 he played on the soundtrack for Fiddler on the Roof. He was the subject of several documentaries, including From Mao to Mozart: Isaac Stern in China, which followed him on tour in 1979.
He was convinced of the need for government support of the arts, and in the 1960s played an advisory role in the creation of the National Endowment for the Arts.
He published an autobiography, “My First 79 Years,” written with the novelist Chaim Potok, in 1999, and in September 2000, Carnegie Hall honored him with a weekend-long celebration of his 80th birthday. Mr. Stern received many honors and awards, including the first Albert Schweitzer Award (1974), the Kennedy Center Honors Award (1984), a Lifetime Achievement Grammy (1987) and an Emmy for Outstanding Individual Classical Music Performance (1987). He received the Commander’s Cross of the Order of the Dannebrog, from Denmark (1985), the Wolf Prize, from Israel (1987) and was made a Commandeur of the French Legion d’Honneur (1990).
Mr. Stern is survived by his wife, Linda Reynolds, three children by an earlier marriage, Shira, Michael and David, and five grandchildren.