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Hal Mooney | |
|---|---|
| Born | February 4, 1911 Brooklyn, New York, U.S. |
| Died | March 23, 1995 (1995-03-24) (aged 84) |
| Education | Brooklyn Law School; St. John's University School of Law; New York University |
| Occupation(s) | Composer, arranger |
Harold "Hal"Mooney (February 4, 1911 – March 23, 1995) was an Americancomposer andarranger.
Hal Mooney was born inBrooklyn, New York. As a young man, Mooney was a professionalpianist. He attendedBrooklyn andSt. John'sLaw Schools. After studyingmusic underNew York Universityprofessor Orville Mayhood and then under the influentialJoseph Schillinger, he was invited to join the arrangers' roster for the popularHal Kemp Orchestra, alongsideJohn Scott Trotter (who was about to leave the band) andLou Busch.
Mooney then moved to theJimmy Dorsey Orchestra, butWorld War II was breaking out and soon he was called up by theUnited States Army.
On his return from the war, Mooney became afreelance arranger inHollywood and started to make a name for himself, providing charts for top vocalists such asBing Crosby,Frank Sinatra,Judy Garland,Peggy Lee,Kay Starr, andBilly Eckstine. His well-known arrangement of Kay Starr's hit, "Wheel of Fortune" in the early 1950s, led to his contract with Mercury Records in New York City.
In 1956, Mooney finally swapped freelancing for an exclusive contract, becoming in-house arranger andA&R Director atMercury Records, where he would remain until the late 1960s. There, he provided arrangements for more top singers, includingSarah Vaughan,Dinah Washington,Helen Merrill,Ernestine Anderson and, on Mercury's parent labelPhilips Records,Nina Simone.
Mooney was described as a "nuts and bolts arranger" by fellow chart writerBilly May. It was meant as a compliment, and Mooney's versatility can be characterised by some of the more notable arrangements he wrote at the Mercury stable. For Vaughan, he provided lush, string settings (along with more brassy, upbeat numbers) on albums such asGreat Songs From Hit Shows (1956) andSarah Vaughan Sings George Gershwin (1957). Though those arrangements grated with some jazz purists, their dramatic qualities inspired the acclaimed singer to some of her finest work, for exampleHit Shows' "It Never Entered My Mind"[1] and the Gershwin album'sIsn't It a Pity?. Apart from such highbrow projects, Mooney also arranged some of Vaughan's forays intoR&B-inspired '50spop, for example theClyde Otis-penned "Sweet Affection" (1957).
Mooney's numerous arrangements forDinah Washington, meanwhile, ranged from straightbig bandswing, through Latinmambo torhythm and blues, but the seven albums on which he worked with Simone, between 1964 and 1967, display the greatest versatility. Though they contain the occasional string-backed track not unlike Mooney's classic work with Vaughan, they took him a world away from it at other times. For example, Simone's final Philips album,High Priestess of Soul (1967), is a diverse combination of pop, jazz and gospel. Mooney's two best-known arrangements for Simone, "I Put A Spell On You" and "Feelin' Good", might be quite different in some ways to his earlier work with Vaughan, but the same sense of drama is evident.
In hisA&R capacity, Mooney helped to wooXavier Cugat to Mercury, and he also produced several albums, includingDizzy Gillespie'sJambo Caribe (1964) and Vaughan's penultimate work for MercuryIt's a Man's World (1967), for which Mooney also arranged some of the songs.
Mooney recorded numerous orchestral albums in his own name, such asBallet With A Beat (1961), which fused famous ballet melodies such as "Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy" and "Sabre Dance" withWest Coast jazz, and the earlierMusical Horoscope, for which Mooney composed a different tune for each of thesigns of the zodiac.
Having joinedASCAP in 1936, Mooney's compositions included "Rigamarole", "Hodge-Podge", "Jumpin' Jiminy", "Sing, It's Good For Ya", and "Goin' to Town".
Philips decided to phase out the Mercury label in the late 1960s and so Mooney moved on toUniversal Studios, where he becamemusical director on many of the most popular TV shows of the 1970s, includingColumbo,Kojak,Marcus Welby, M.D.,Ellery Queen,The Six Million Dollar Man,The Bionic Woman,Kolchak: The Night Stalker andThe Rockford Files. His film work included the score to theRichard Burton war filmRaid on Rommel (1971), as well as television movies such asThe Longest Night (1972),Runaway! (1973),Sunshine (1973),Death Race (1973),A Case of Rape (1974) andThe Execution of Private Slovik (1974).
Hal Mooney retired after composing themusical score to the 1977 television seriesThe Storyteller. He died in the apt location ofStudio City, Los Angeles, California in 1995 at the age of 84. He was cremated. His ashes were given to his family.[citation needed]
WithJudy Garland
WithBilly Eckstine
With Beverly Kenney
WithHelen Merrill
WithNina Simone
WithSarah Vaughan
WithDinah Washington
WithEsther Ofarim
