Manny Albam

Manny Albam spent seven decades as a composer and arranger, collaborating with jazz icons such as Count Basie, Dizzy Gillespie, and Stan Getz. He further shaped the field by helping establish the BMI Jazz Composers Workshop, where he guided successive waves of emerging writers as co-founder and musical director.

Albam entered the world on June 24, 1922, during his family’s voyage from Russia to New York City; his mother went into labor while the ship lay off the Dominican Republic port of Samana. At seven he first encountered jazz through a Bix Beiderbecke recording and soon took up the alto saxophone. By sixteen he had left school to tour with Muggsy Spanier’s Dixieland group, later joining Georgie Auld, where bandmate Budd Johnson gave him his initial arranging lessons. He next worked with Charlie Barnet before moving to Charlie Spivak’s orchestra. During his two-year stint with Spivak, Albam produced roughly two charts each week.

Following U.S. Army service in World War II he rejoined Barnet, yet his growing focus on writing led him to quit performing in 1950, just as the big-band era faded. Albam then thrived as a freelance arranger for leading bop musicians, crafting concise, understated scores that often carried a dry wit. He later recorded several albums under his own name for Mercury, RCA Victor, and Dot, assembling players such as Phil Woods, Al Cohn, and Bob Brookmeyer for well-received easy-listening projects that included The Blues Is Everybody’s Business and The Drum Suite.

His 1957 jazz treatment of Leonard Bernstein’s West Side Story score so impressed the composer that Bernstein asked Albam to contribute to the New York Philharmonic. The invitation spurred Albam to study classical composition with Tibor Serly, resulting in pieces such as the luminous Concerto for Trombone and Strings. He also supplied music for motion pictures, television, and commercial jingles. In 1964 he became musical director for Sonny Lester’s new Solid State imprint, which released his jazz suite The Soul of the City two years later.

Teaching gradually claimed more of his attention. After faculty positions at the Eastman School of Music, Glassboro State College, and the Manhattan School of Music, Albam co-founded the BMI Jazz Composers Workshop in 1988. Three years afterward he succeeded Brookmeyer as the workshop’s musical director. Albam died of cancer on October 2, 2001.