Gordon Jenkins was one of jazz and pop's most popular arrangers from the 1940s into the 1960s, known for his work with some of jazz's greatest vocalists and for his distinctive string arrangements. Born on May 12, 1910, in the St. Louis suburb of Webster Groves, music was a big part of his life from early on. His father played the organ in a movie theater, and this got him started on keyboards; he soon was playing piano around town, and a job at a radio station led him to learn more instruments and begin writing arrangements. This early aptitude for and dedication to versatility defined a career that would see him compose standards, work in various genres and media, and arrange and conduct for mid-century musical giants.

Arranging for Isham Jones and his very popular band during the first half of the 1930s gave Jenkins the chance to really expand his skills. Jones's group was known as a dance band and featured both well-known vocalists and instrumentalists. Jenkins began to write complex original charts to accentuate the band's diverse skills. After writing and arranging for several other bands, Jenkins moved to the Los Angeles area later in the 1930s. For the next decade, he was heavily in demand and really sharpened his impressive array of talents, also working in movies, TV, and radio, joining the staff and then becoming musical director at Decca Records, and composing the hit song San Fernando Valley. (1,2)

Decca led Jenkins to begin working with some of its vocalists in the second half of the 1940s, including superstars Louis Armstrong (who he was especially thrilled to work with; apparently becoming quite emotional in the studio) (3), Ella Fitzgerald, and Billie Holiday. His style helped shape their performances and brought him to the attention of other important singers of the era as well. It was during this time that Jenkins composed and arranged a rather unique work, Manhattan Tower. The 1946 release was somewhat ahead of its time, including not just music but spoken word, dialogue, and sound effects to fully tell the story of a trip to New York City by a young man, perhaps influenced by Jenkins's own experiences. Jenkins's son calls it the "first concept album ever written."(4) Over the next decade Jenkins expanded the work and performed it on television as well. While it is not as well-known today, at mid-century it was considered a very forward-looking innovative work. It so well captured the spirit of New York City at the time, maximizing the use of the technology available, that Jenkins was awarded the key to the city after performing the work on the Ed Sullivan Show in 1950.(5,6,7)

The breadth and depth of Jenkins's musical vision is highlighted by his association with the Weavers at the outset of their stardom. A folk group that had struggled for years, they were playing gigs at the Village Vanguard in New York City when Jenkins basically discovered them. He was immediately taken by their style, became a huge fan, and brought them to Decca, who signed the group.(8) They soon rocketed to stardom, with Jenkins arranging for them during their peak, including their #1 million-selling hit Goodnight Irene in 1950, merging his style with folk music to create something uniquely American.

As the 1950s bloomed into a golden age of American entertainment, Jenkins appeared regularly in the show business hotbeds of New York City and Las Vegas, while continuing to work in television. His prominence grew, and arranging several hits for Peggy Lee led him to Capitol Records, where he enjoyed some of his greatest successes, highlighted by his collaborations with Nat King Cole and Frank Sinatra.

1957's Love is the Thing with Cole was the first of four records the two did together, and is widely regarded as among the very best work of either man's career. Jenkins's arranging style was a perfect match for the restrained brilliance of Cole's vocals, and some of the cuts-especially When I Fall in Love and Stardust-approach definitive brilliance.(9,10) Nat's wife Maria was close to the Jenkins family and is worth quoting at length as she encapsulates much of what clearly made Jenkins so appealing to some of the era's greatest vocal talents: "...Gordon was the only person who could do those things with strings, to really embellish what (Nat) was doing on ballads...the only person (Nat) worked with where he was totally at ease...the arrangements were just there, perfect, and you can hear it in the records. I always felt Gordon had in his music what Nat had in his voice, and they really were wedded."(11)

Frank Sinatra had thoroughly re-established his superstardom with Nelson Riddle by then and was in the midst of his remarkable run of 1950s albums. He and Jenkins teamed up for two records which demonstrated a pairing as moving and singular as Sinatra had developed with Nelson Riddle and would soon have with Billy May. 1957's Where Are You? and 1959's No One Cares marked another two milestones of Jenkins's arranging career. Both albums featured the dark themes of brooding ballads and torch songs which Sinatra loved and had first mastered with 1955's In the Wee Small Hours. Jenkins's style meshed perfectly with this side of Sinatra, and over 60 years later these two records stand with the other giants of Sinatra's 1950s catalog in showcasing America's greatest singer in a manner that allowed the full range of emotions his vocals were able to emote to shine for all time.

Jenkins formed a particularly close relationship with Sinatra; as tastes began to rapidly change in the 1960s, Sinatra continued to call on Jenkins periodically over the next two decades. Sinatra throughout his career became close to many of the arrangers he worked with, from Axel Stordahl, Riddle, and May to Don Costa and Jenkins. Sinatra is heard on a bonus track recording of Jenkins's composition This is All I Ask from Carnegie Hall in 1984 (on a later re-issue of 1965's classic September of My Years album) lauding "Gordie" and describing why he was so fond of him. "...when Gordie wrote a song, he wrote the words and the music and the orchestration, and this particular song...was obviously his shining hour..."(12) Very strong and meaningful words from The Chairman which shine bright lights on not just Jenkins's arranging skills but his overall musical versatility. Sinatra was used to being fawned over, and Jenkins's bold nature clearly impressed Sinatra. Jenkins's son Bruce recalls a story where Jenkins once reprimanded Sinatra during a session when several of his regular companions were making a racket in the studio; some onlookers were shocked, as many assumed this could mean a strict rebuke from the hotheaded singer. But in this case, Sinatra immediately obeyed and quieted his entourage as requested.(13) It is moments like this that helped Sinatra develop the deep respect he felt for Jenkins. Comedian/actor/raconteur Alan King, a member of Sinatra's inner circle, simply stated, "You couldn't threaten or intimidate Gordon Jenkins."(14)

The changing musical tastes led to Jenkins's distinctive style somewhat falling out of favor over the coming years. He had some prominent critics, foremost among them New York City radio personality Jonathan Schwartz. Schwartz's criticism mirrored what some others thought of Jenkins's work, calling it "overblown" with an "overkill of violins." Originally a fan of Manhattan Tower, Schwartz had come to resent the influence it had on later projects he detested.(15) But Jenkins certainly persevered and continued to have his shining moments, such as his Grammy-winning arranging for Sinatra's 1965 classic September of My Years; Jenkins was the perfect choice to help Sinatra realize this melancholy musical vision of middle age. His talents also were called upon by the eclectic Harry Nilsson, and the two collaborated on a standards record that was well before its time when it came to pop/rock figures tackling the Great American Songbook. Long before Nelson Riddle and Linda Ronstadt ushered in the era of this sort of project, Jenkins arranged for Nilsson's aptly titled 1973 record A Little Touch of Schmilsson in the Night. Today it is perhaps a curiosity, but Nilsson said it best in his inimitable fashion when in 1988 he apparently remembered the sessions this way: "My album with Gordon Jenkins is the best I've ever been associated with. I'll hold it up against anybody's. Show me what you got."(16)

Jenkins stayed active in his later years, crowning his long association with Sinatra with his The Future contribution to Trilogy: Past, Present, Future. Around 1980 he began to suffer from what would be diagnosed as ALS/Lou Gehrig's disease. In November 1981 he was in a terrible car accident that left him and his wife and sister-in-law seriously injured and killed his brother-in-law. After this accident, he was left largely incapacitated-physically-and unable to speak. Jenkins remained very alive for the next two-and-a-half years, constantly writing down his often humorous and always insightful thoughts for others on ever-present pads. He died on May 1, 1984 at age 73.(17)

During his prime, Gordon Jenkins with his signature lush string arrangements was one of the architects of the hugely successful mid-century jazz vocal genre. His early time with Jones helped him develop his trademark sound, which enhanced the ensembles for which he wrote and ideally backed the great singers of his day. In addition to his arranging and performing skills, his songwriting leaves its own legacy, as he wrote Goodbye, which became a theme of Benny Goodman's. He was a frequent collaborator with lyricist Johnny Mercer, and their output included the often-covered P.S. I Love You. He also had hits putting his signature sound on standards such as My Foolish Heart and Bewitched before his later successes at Capitol. Working as he did with Sinatra, Cole, Billie Holiday, Ella Fitzgerald, Louis Armstrong, Bing Crosby, Judy Garland, Al Jolson, and many more of similar stature, it is clear that the vision that he had for how arrangements and bands should accompany a vocalist was tremendously valued at the highest level of the art form.

While he may not have the name recognition of Nelson Riddle today, Jenkins most definitely left an indelibly large mark on popular music with his collaborations with Sinatra and Cole and others. Adding this to his songwriting, multi-media work, visionary talent scouting when it came to the Weavers, and the insufficiently credited achievement of launching the now mega-market of pop stars' standards records by helping Harry Nilsson realize his vision, it is quite a legacy to behold.

Jenkins's place in American music at mid-century simply cannot be overstated. Nat King Cole's wife Maria told his son Bruce that Nat proposed to her with Manhattan Tower playing in the background.(18) Mel Brooks apparently met Anne Bancroft after she sang Jenkins's Married I Can Always Get on the Perry Como show in 1961.(19) Best of all, in July, 1950, four of Billboard's top six songs had his imprint on them: The Weavers's Tzena, Tzena, Tzena at #2, the Andrews Sisters's I Wanna be Loved as he arranged it at #4, Goodnight Irene at #5, and his own orchestra's Bewitched at #6.(20) Any argument regarding Jenkins's talent, versatility, artistic power, influence, success, and legacy ends here.

Jenkins's son Bruce has been a longtime sports media presence in the San Francisco Bay Area and wrote a very well-received biography of his father in 2005. Goodbye: In Search of Gordon Jenkins helped both raise the current profile of his father's spectacular career and fill in many more details of a man who certainly achieved considerable fame in his own right, but also often stood to the side as the musical megastars he worked with basked in the glory that was magnified by his presence.

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1-https://www.songhall.org/profile/Gordon_Jenkins

2-https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gordon_Jenkins

3-https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gordon_Jenkins

4-Bruce Jenkins, Goodbye: In Search of Gordon Jenkins, (Berkeley CA, Frog, Ltd, 2005), Pg 8

5-https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manhattan_Tower_(Gordon_Jenkins_album)

6-https://www.allmusic.com/album/the-complete-manhattan-tower-mw0000569674

7-https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manhattan_Tower_(Gordon_Jenkins_album)

8-https://www.allmusic.com/artist/the-weavers-mn0000586689/biography

9-https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Love_Is_the_Thing

10-https://www.allmusic.com/album/love-is-the-thing-mw0000649997

11-Bruce Jenkins, Goodbye: In Search of Gordon Jenkins, (Berkeley CA, Frog, Ltd, 2005), Pgs 190-191

12-Frank Sinatra, September of My Years, Concord Records, 2010, Track 14

13-Bruce Jenkins, Goodbye: In Search of Gordon Jenkins, (Berkeley CA, Frog, Ltd, 2005), Pg 75

14-Bruce Jenkins, Goodbye: In Search of Gordon Jenkins, (Berkeley CA, Frog, Ltd, 2005), Pg 76

15-Bruce Jenkins, Goodbye: In Search of Gordon Jenkins, (Berkeley CA, Frog, Ltd, 2005), Pgs 208-209

16-Bruce Jenkins, Goodbye: In Search of Gordon Jenkins, (Berkeley CA, Frog, Ltd, 2005), Back Cover

17-Bruce Jenkins, Goodbye: In Search of Gordon Jenkins, (Berkeley CA, Frog, Ltd, 2005), Pgs 299-312

18-Bruce Jenkins, Goodbye: In Search of Gordon Jenkins, (Berkeley CA, Frog, Ltd, 2005), Pg 11

19-Bruce Jenkins, Goodbye: In Search of Gordon Jenkins, (Berkeley CA, Frog, Ltd, 2005), Pg 44

20-Bruce Jenkins, Goodbye: In Search of Gordon Jenkins, (Berkeley CA, Frog, Ltd, 2005), Pgs 46-47

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