Biography
An individual who crafts screenplays and maintains an intense fixation on jazz arrives at the Hollywood headquarters of Bregman Entertainment for a scheduled meeting. His goal is to present an idea to Buddy Bregman, the producer, director, and writer whose accomplishments also encompass major roles in music as an arranger, composer, and conductor. Among the active Bregman film projects then in development sits the drama The Trial of Ezra Pound, which gives the visitor reason to believe his concept will not be dismissed as excessively cerebral. The proposal offers a jazz-inflected twist on Oscar Wilde’s The Picture of Dorian Gray, wherein a vain protagonist keeps his youthful appearance while a magically altered portrait simultaneously deteriorates. In this adaptation an authoritative reference book compiled by a leading jazz critic accelerates the perceived ages of numerous musicians simply by publishing erroneous birth dates. Bregman promptly dismisses the visitor. It is not merely that the producer’s schedule is already consumed by his many duties as “Owner, producer, director, writer, composer, arranger, rehearsal pianist and God knows what else” for the imminent stage production Capone: The Musical at The Derby. The subject strikes too close to personal experience. The Encyclopedia of Jazz, issued in 1960, records Bregman’s birth year as 1930, a date some observers consider more than a decade too late. The entry creates the impression that Bregman belongs to an earlier generation, incorrectly linking him as a nephew to Jules Styne, the prolific songwriting partner of Sammy Cahn whose catalog includes the blizzard of hits typified by “Let It Snow! Let It Snow.” In reality Bregman’s professional path opened during his sophomore year at college, although he was only 17 because he had skipped multiple grades. One early assignment involved preparing arrangements for the white vocal trio the Cheers—“You couldn’t get three whiter people in this life,” Bregman later remarked—on their Capitol recording of the Leiber & Stoller composition “Bazoom I Need Your Lovin’,” released according to contemporary sheets in 1954. Consequently the noteworthy aspect of his trajectory is not advanced age but precocious accomplishment, nurtured both by the presence of the celebrated composer in his extended family and by his parents’ decision to surround him with frequent live performances. He maintains that he could orchestrate by age 11 and that three years afterward one of his charts received a performance by the jazz musician Bill Russo, an effort Bregman himself later described as horrible. Clearer progress had occurred by the time Norman Granz heard “Bazoom I Need Your Lovin’” on the radio and offered the young musician a position at the newly founded Verve label. Bregman served as A&R head yet became best known to jazz listeners for his arranging and conducting on numerous sessions featuring singers such as Ella Fitzgerald and Anita O’Day; he also produced what many regard as one of Bing Crosby’s finest albums, Bing Sings Whilst Bregman Swings. Despite Fitzgerald’s characteristically warm disposition, her first reaction to the inexperienced producer hired by Granz was captured by Italian composer, percussionist, and conductor Andrea Centazzo’s comment upon encountering an unexpected dinner guest: “Who the hell is this guy?” The double albums devoted to Cole Porter and Rodgers & Hart remain undisputed masterpieces. Interviews given decades later illuminate the distinctive contributions the youthful Bregman supplied, among them his requirement that performers include the original verses of these standards, passages Fitzgerald and most other interpreters of the classic repertoire preferred to omit. Verve additionally allowed Bregman to release projects under his own name, among them the vigorous 1956 album Swinging Kicks. Within a few years his career extended into television. He became musical director of The Eddie Fisher Show and soon received an opportunity to host his own program positioned as competition for Dick Clark. Buddy Bregman’s Music Shop endured for an unlucky 13 episodes without displacing American Bandstand. Nevertheless certain established figures in the music industry believed Bregman was advancing too rapidly. “I’m 15 years younger than the guys like Nelson Riddle and Bill May, who were my contemporaries,” Bregman wrote years afterward. “I was never with a band in my whole life. I just went from wealthy kid to hot arranger, composer, conductor. And they all resented me cause I worked with such big stars and had no real ‘road-like’ experience. But I couldn’t care less about what they thought—I just plowed ahead.” Subsequent collaborations with leading vocalists, together with work in television direction, production, and film scoring, formed the terrain he cultivated. Those who recognize names such as Betty Hutton, Sammy Davis, Jr., Annie Ross, and Roger Corman may wish to reconsider any notion that the metaphor implies conventional agriculture, since Bregman has partnered with each of them. His standing as producer and director rose markedly through an association with the international production entity Intel, which placed him in charge of a series of award-winning programs created in Europe. That achievement prompted an invitation from BBC-TV to produce and direct major specials and a series, making Bregman the first foreigner granted such latitude by the network. He later served as head of entertainment for the London-based ITV network. Before returning to the United States he composed Jump Jim Crow, the Royal Shakespeare Company’s inaugural stage musical. An Emmy nomination recognized the television adaptation of Ain’t Misbehavin’, his tribute to Fats Waller and fellow musicians of that era. Although his versatility makes any single specialty difficult to isolate, Bregman has maintained a steady involvement with projects honoring figures in American musical history, including Bing Crosby. Another film under development examines the relationship between singer Billie Holiday and saxophonist Lester Young. In television he has developed more than 50 pilot scripts.
Albums
