Al Lerner (composer)
Encyclopedia
Al Lerner is an American pianist, composer, arranger, and conductor from the Big band
era. He was a member of the Harry James
band for many years, playing piano. He wrote music for several artists, including Allan Sherman
and Liza Minnelli
. He also wrote the music for "So Until I See You", the closing theme for The Tonight Show with Jack Paar in the early 1960s, and was the pianist for A Tribute to Eddie Duchin, which was a soundtrack for the 1956 biographical film pic The Eddy Duchin Story
.
banning the sale of alcohol, Abe Lerner used his metalworking abilities on the side to make still
s for Cleveland gangsters
and bootleggers
, and used his seven-year-old son Al as a courier for payments. It was a rough neighborhood with regular mob wars between rival gangsters, multiple killings on Lerner's street, and payoffs to the local police. Abe Lerner was eventually arrested and the still business was shut down, after which the family went broke.
As a child, Lerner helped to bring in money by climbing onto tables in local saloons and singing songs such as "All Alone by the Telephone", and then collecting coins thrown by the patrons. He then took piano lessons at a convent next to St. Anne's Hospital, but quit because he thought it was too difficult. When he saw a performance by Bill Robinson
at The Palace
, he decided he wanted to learn tap dancing, so studied with Roy Lewis
, and soon was winning amateur contests. He was also learning how to play drums from his brother Harold, and began playing for $1.50/night at a local brothel. As he tired of carrying the drums back and forth though, he decided to switch back to piano as it was easier, and resumed his lessons. His skills continued to improve, and by the age of 17 he had worked his way up to earning $15/week, playing at clubs such as Shadowland, and developing an affinity for jazz
by listening to records by Earl Hines
. He attended John Adams High School
and Glenville High School
.
Lerner was introduced to jazz pianist Art Tatum
at a Cleveland Club, and was "blown away" by the man's skill as a jazz player. Lerner then traveled in search of work, going to Miami Beach but the job fell through, so he then went to Havana
, Cuba, aboard The Cuba. When he returned to the United States, he got a call from Harry James
, who invited Lerner to join his band in New York. There, Lerner discovered that James wanted to have an unheard-of two pianos in his band, with Lerner playing one, and Jack Gardner
the other. With a steady job, Lerner proposed to his Cleveland girlfriend, Ruth Levkovitz, and they married on June 15, 1941 and settled in New York, though Lerner spent much of his time on the road with the band, doing 50 and 60 one-night-stands at a time.
In 1941, when Ray Bolger
(later the Scarecrow in The Wizard of Oz
) was a featured act with the James band at the Paramount Theatre in New York, Lerner and Bolger would do a "challenge" tap dance as part of the show. When Glenn Miller
enlisted in the Army, his band was not able to perform on the Chesterfield Hour radio program, after which the Harry James Band was chosen. This meant a major increase in salary for Lerner, up to $75/week. With the exposure on the radio show, the band also began getting work in the film industry, such as in Private Buckaroo
and Springtime in the Rockies
. The band got more attention, and was regularly on the move, from New York to Los Angeles and back again. It was during this time that Lerner began composing, such as writing an instrumental with Harry James, "Music Makers
", which became the band's theme. When the James Band finally broke up in 1944, Lerner stayed in Los Angeles and joined with singer Dick Haymes
, with whom he worked for the next thirteen years as musical director.
Over the course of his career, Lerner worked with many artists from the Big Band
era of music, such as Charlie Barnet
, Tommy Dorsey
, Glenn Miller
, Rosemary Clooney
, Kay Starr
, and Pat Boone
. He played with the Harry James
band at the Paramount Theater in 1940, featuring Bea Wain
, has performed at Carnegie Hall
, and was conductor at a Royal Command Performance
for Queen Elizabeth in 1954 at the London Palladium
, in a benefit for the Variety Artistes Benevolent Fund. Lyricists that he has worked with include Frankie Laine
. In 1961, he composed the music for "So Until I See You", with lyrics by Victor Gari Corpora. The music was used as the closing theme of the Jack Paar Show.
Lerner's first wife passed away in 1987. In 1991 he remarried, and as of 2011, Lerner is living in Palm Desert, California
with his wife, Jonne. He has two children by his first marriage.
Big band
A big band is a type of musical ensemble associated with jazz and the Swing Era typically consisting of rhythm, brass, and woodwind instruments totaling approximately twelve to twenty-five musicians...
era. He was a member of the Harry James
Harry James
Henry Haag “Harry” James was a trumpeter who led a jazz swing band during the Big Band Era of the 1930s and 1940s. He was especially known among musicians for his astonishing technical proficiency as well as his superior tone.-Biography:He was born in Albany, Georgia, the son of a bandleader of a...
band for many years, playing piano. He wrote music for several artists, including Allan Sherman
Allan Sherman
Allan Sherman was an American comedy writer and television producer who became famous as a song parodist in the early 1960s. His first album, My Son, the Folk Singer , became the fastest-selling record album up to that time...
and Liza Minnelli
Liza Minnelli
Liza May Minnelli is an American actress and singer. She is the daughter of singer and actress Judy Garland and film director Vincente Minnelli....
. He also wrote the music for "So Until I See You", the closing theme for The Tonight Show with Jack Paar in the early 1960s, and was the pianist for A Tribute to Eddie Duchin, which was a soundtrack for the 1956 biographical film pic The Eddy Duchin Story
The Eddy Duchin Story
The Eddy Duchin Story is a 1956 biopic of band leader and pianist Eddy Duchin. It was directed by George Sidney-helmed film, written by Samuel A. Taylor, and starred Tyrone Power and Kim Novak. The musical soundtrack recording, imitating Duchin's style, was performed by pianist Carmen Cavallaro....
.
Biography
Lerner was born on April 7, 1919 in Cleveland, the youngest of three children. Their father Abraham had passed away on November 11, 1918 before Al's birth, a victim of the 1918 flu pandemic. Lerner's mother Jennie Takiff then married a sheet metal worker named Abe Lerner, who became Al's adopted father. During the American ProhibitionProhibition in the United States
Prohibition in the United States was a national ban on the sale, manufacture, and transportation of alcohol, in place from 1920 to 1933. The ban was mandated by the Eighteenth Amendment to the Constitution, and the Volstead Act set down the rules for enforcing the ban, as well as defining which...
banning the sale of alcohol, Abe Lerner used his metalworking abilities on the side to make still
Still
A still is a permanent apparatus used to distill miscible or immiscible liquid mixtures by heating to selectively boil and then cooling to condense the vapor...
s for Cleveland gangsters
American gangsters during the 1920s
The terms "gangster" and "mobster" are mostly used in the United States to refer to members of criminal organizations who became prominent and are largely associated with Prohibition era in the 1920s.-Origins:...
and bootleggers
Bootlegging (business)
In economics and business administration literature, Kenneth E. Knight introduced the notion bootlegging in 1967. Bootlegging is defined as research in which motivated individuals secretly organize the innovation process. It usually is a bottom-up, non-programmed activity, without the official...
, and used his seven-year-old son Al as a courier for payments. It was a rough neighborhood with regular mob wars between rival gangsters, multiple killings on Lerner's street, and payoffs to the local police. Abe Lerner was eventually arrested and the still business was shut down, after which the family went broke.
As a child, Lerner helped to bring in money by climbing onto tables in local saloons and singing songs such as "All Alone by the Telephone", and then collecting coins thrown by the patrons. He then took piano lessons at a convent next to St. Anne's Hospital, but quit because he thought it was too difficult. When he saw a performance by Bill Robinson
Bill Robinson
Bill “Bojangles” Robinson was an American tap dancer and actor of stage and film. Audiences enjoyed his understated style, which eschewed the frenetic manner of the jitterbug in favor of cool and reserve; rarely did he use his upper body, relying instead on busy, inventive feet, and an expressive...
at The Palace
The Palace
The Palace is a British drama television series that aired on ITV in 2008. Produced by Company Pictures for the ITV network, it was created by Tom Grieves and follows a fictional British Royal Family in the aftermath of the death of King James III and the succession of his 24-year-old son, Richard...
, he decided he wanted to learn tap dancing, so studied with Roy Lewis
Roy Lewis
Roy Lewis was an English writer and small press printer.-Life and work:Although born in Felixstowe, Lewis was brought up in Birmingham and educated at King Edward's School. After studying at University College, Oxford, earning his BA in 1934, he went on to study at the London School of Economics...
, and soon was winning amateur contests. He was also learning how to play drums from his brother Harold, and began playing for $1.50/night at a local brothel. As he tired of carrying the drums back and forth though, he decided to switch back to piano as it was easier, and resumed his lessons. His skills continued to improve, and by the age of 17 he had worked his way up to earning $15/week, playing at clubs such as Shadowland, and developing an affinity for jazz
Jazz
Jazz is a musical style that originated at the beginning of the 20th century in African American communities in the Southern United States. It was born out of a mix of African and European music traditions. From its early development until the present, jazz has incorporated music from 19th and 20th...
by listening to records by Earl Hines
Earl Hines
Earl Kenneth Hines, universally known as Earl "Fatha" Hines, was an American jazz pianist. Hines was one of the most influential figures in the development of modern jazz piano and, according to one source, is "one of a small number of pianists whose playing shaped the history of jazz".-Early...
. He attended John Adams High School
John Adams High School (Cleveland, Ohio)
For schools with similar names, see Adams High School.John Adams High School is a public high school located on the east side of Cleveland, Ohio, United States. It is part of the Cleveland Metropolitan School District.-History:...
and Glenville High School
Glenville High School
Glenville Academic Campus is a public high school in the Glenville neighborhood on the East Side of Cleveland, Ohio. The school is part of the Cleveland Metropolitan School District. Founded in 1905, the school's original campus was located at Everton and Parkwood. The current campus was built in...
.
Lerner was introduced to jazz pianist Art Tatum
Art Tatum
Arthur "Art" Tatum, Jr. was an American jazz pianist and virtuoso who played with phenomenal facility despite being nearly blind.Tatum is widely acknowledged as one of the greatest jazz pianists of all time...
at a Cleveland Club, and was "blown away" by the man's skill as a jazz player. Lerner then traveled in search of work, going to Miami Beach but the job fell through, so he then went to Havana
Havana
Havana is the capital city, province, major port, and leading commercial centre of Cuba. The city proper has a population of 2.1 million inhabitants, and it spans a total of — making it the largest city in the Caribbean region, and the most populous...
, Cuba, aboard The Cuba. When he returned to the United States, he got a call from Harry James
Harry James
Henry Haag “Harry” James was a trumpeter who led a jazz swing band during the Big Band Era of the 1930s and 1940s. He was especially known among musicians for his astonishing technical proficiency as well as his superior tone.-Biography:He was born in Albany, Georgia, the son of a bandleader of a...
, who invited Lerner to join his band in New York. There, Lerner discovered that James wanted to have an unheard-of two pianos in his band, with Lerner playing one, and Jack Gardner
Jack Gardner (musician)
Francis Henry "Jack" Gardner August 14, 1903, Joliet, Illinois – November 26, 1957, Dallas, Texas) was an American jazz pianist.Gardner played locally in Denver in the early 1920s, including with Doc Becker's Blue Devils and Boyd Senter's band. He moved to Chicago in 1923, where he led his own band...
the other. With a steady job, Lerner proposed to his Cleveland girlfriend, Ruth Levkovitz, and they married on June 15, 1941 and settled in New York, though Lerner spent much of his time on the road with the band, doing 50 and 60 one-night-stands at a time.
In 1941, when Ray Bolger
Ray Bolger
Raymond Wallace "Ray" Bolger was an American entertainer of stage and screen, best known for his portrayal of the Scarecrow and Kansas farmworker Hank in The Wizard of Oz.-Early life:...
(later the Scarecrow in The Wizard of Oz
The Wizard of Oz (1939 film)
The Wizard of Oz is a 1939 American musical fantasy film produced by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. It was directed primarily by Victor Fleming. Noel Langley, Florence Ryerson and Edgar Allan Woolf received credit for the screenplay, but there were uncredited contributions by others. The lyrics for the songs...
) was a featured act with the James band at the Paramount Theatre in New York, Lerner and Bolger would do a "challenge" tap dance as part of the show. When Glenn Miller
Glenn Miller
Alton Glenn Miller was an American jazz musician , arranger, composer, and bandleader in the swing era. He was one of the best-selling recording artists from 1939 to 1943, leading one of the best known "Big Bands"...
enlisted in the Army, his band was not able to perform on the Chesterfield Hour radio program, after which the Harry James Band was chosen. This meant a major increase in salary for Lerner, up to $75/week. With the exposure on the radio show, the band also began getting work in the film industry, such as in Private Buckaroo
Private Buckaroo
Private Buckaroo is a 1942 American Musical film directed by Edward F. Cline and starring The Andrews Sisters, Dick Foran, Harry James, Shemp Howard, Joe E...
and Springtime in the Rockies
Springtime in the Rockies
Springtime in the Rockies is a Technicolor musical comedy film released by Twentieth Century Fox in 1942. A Betty Grable vehicle, with support from John Payne, Carmen Miranda, Cesar Romero, Charlotte Greenwood, and Edward Everett Horton. Also in the cast was Grable's future husband Harry James, and...
. The band got more attention, and was regularly on the move, from New York to Los Angeles and back again. It was during this time that Lerner began composing, such as writing an instrumental with Harry James, "Music Makers
Music Makers
The Music Makers was a 1940s band from Saint Kitts and Nevis. They were among the most popular of the Carnival bands from that era....
", which became the band's theme. When the James Band finally broke up in 1944, Lerner stayed in Los Angeles and joined with singer Dick Haymes
Dick Haymes
Richard Benjamin "Dick" Haymes was an Argentine actor and one of the most popular male vocalists of the 1940s and early 1950s. He was the older brother of Bob Haymes, who was an actor, television host, and songwriter....
, with whom he worked for the next thirteen years as musical director.
Over the course of his career, Lerner worked with many artists from the Big Band
Big band
A big band is a type of musical ensemble associated with jazz and the Swing Era typically consisting of rhythm, brass, and woodwind instruments totaling approximately twelve to twenty-five musicians...
era of music, such as Charlie Barnet
Charlie Barnet
Charles Daly Barnet was an American jazz saxophonist, composer, and bandleader.His major recordings were "Skyliner", "Cherokee", "The Wrong Idea", "Scotch and Soda", "In a Mizz", and "Southland Shuffle".-Early life:...
, Tommy Dorsey
Tommy Dorsey
Thomas Francis "Tommy" Dorsey, Jr. was an American jazz trombonist, trumpeter, composer, and bandleader of the Big Band era. He was known as "The Sentimental Gentleman of Swing", due to his smooth-toned trombone playing. He was the younger brother of bandleader Jimmy Dorsey...
, Glenn Miller
Glenn Miller
Alton Glenn Miller was an American jazz musician , arranger, composer, and bandleader in the swing era. He was one of the best-selling recording artists from 1939 to 1943, leading one of the best known "Big Bands"...
, Rosemary Clooney
Rosemary Clooney
Rosemary Clooney was an American singer and actress. She came to prominence in the early 1950s with the novelty hit "Come On-a My House" written by William Saroyan and his cousin Ross Bagdasarian , which was followed by other pop numbers such as "Botch-a-Me" Rosemary Clooney (May 23, 1928 –...
, Kay Starr
Kay Starr
Kay Starr is an American pop and jazz singer who enjoyed considerable success in the 1940s and 50s. She is best remembered for introducing two songs that became #1 hits in the 1950s, "Wheel of Fortune" and "The Rock And Roll Waltz"....
, and Pat Boone
Pat Boone
Charles Eugene "Pat" Boone is an American singer, actor and writer who has been a successful pop singer in the United States during the 1950s and early 1960s. He covered black artists' songs and sold more copies than his black counterparts...
. He played with the Harry James
Harry James
Henry Haag “Harry” James was a trumpeter who led a jazz swing band during the Big Band Era of the 1930s and 1940s. He was especially known among musicians for his astonishing technical proficiency as well as his superior tone.-Biography:He was born in Albany, Georgia, the son of a bandleader of a...
band at the Paramount Theater in 1940, featuring Bea Wain
Bea Wain
Bea Wain was an American Big Band-era vocalist born in New York City, New York. On a 1937 recording with Artie Shaw, she was credited as "Beatrice Wayne", which led some to assume that was her real name. On record labels, her name was shortened to "Bea" by the record company, ostensibly for space...
, has performed at Carnegie Hall
Carnegie Hall
Carnegie Hall is a concert venue in Midtown Manhattan in New York City, United States, located at 881 Seventh Avenue, occupying the east stretch of Seventh Avenue between West 56th Street and West 57th Street, two blocks south of Central Park....
, and was conductor at a Royal Command Performance
Royal Command Performance
For the annual Royal Variety Performance performed in Britain for the benefit of the Entertainment Artistes' Benevolent Fund, see Royal Variety Performance...
for Queen Elizabeth in 1954 at the London Palladium
London Palladium
The London Palladium is a 2,286 seat West End theatre located off Oxford Street in the City of Westminster. From the roster of stars who have played there and many televised performances, it is arguably the most famous theatre in London and the United Kingdom, especially for musical variety...
, in a benefit for the Variety Artistes Benevolent Fund. Lyricists that he has worked with include Frankie Laine
Frankie Laine
Frankie Laine, born Francesco Paolo LoVecchio , was a successful American singer, songwriter, and actor whose career spanned 75 years, from his first concerts in 1930 with a marathon dance company to his final performance of "That's My Desire" in 2005...
. In 1961, he composed the music for "So Until I See You", with lyrics by Victor Gari Corpora. The music was used as the closing theme of the Jack Paar Show.
Lerner's first wife passed away in 1987. In 1991 he remarried, and as of 2011, Lerner is living in Palm Desert, California
Palm Desert, California
Palm Desert is a city in Riverside County, California, United States, in the Coachella Valley, approximately east of Palm Springs. The population was 48,445 at the 2010 census, up from 41,155 at the 2000 census...
with his wife, Jonne. He has two children by his first marriage.
Notable works
- Pianist, Tribute to Eddie Duchin, soundtrack for the film The Eddy Duchin StoryThe Eddy Duchin StoryThe Eddy Duchin Story is a 1956 biopic of band leader and pianist Eddy Duchin. It was directed by George Sidney-helmed film, written by Samuel A. Taylor, and starred Tyrone Power and Kim Novak. The musical soundtrack recording, imitating Duchin's style, was performed by pianist Carmen Cavallaro....
, 1957 - Composer, "So Until I See You", closing theme for the Jack Paar Tonight Show in the early 1960s
- Conductor and Arranger of "My Son the Box", performed by humorist Allan ShermanAllan ShermanAllan Sherman was an American comedy writer and television producer who became famous as a song parodist in the early 1960s. His first album, My Son, the Folk Singer , became the fastest-selling record album up to that time...
- Composer, arranger, and pianist, "Jump Sauce", performed by the Harry James band
- Pianist, "On the Trail", sung by Frankie LaineFrankie LaineFrankie Laine, born Francesco Paolo LoVecchio , was a successful American singer, songwriter, and actor whose career spanned 75 years, from his first concerts in 1930 with a marathon dance company to his final performance of "That's My Desire" in 2005...
- Pianist, "Sentimental JourneySentimental Journey (song)"Sentimental Journey" is a popular song, published in 1944. The music was written by Les Brown and Ben Homer, and the lyrics were written by Arthur Green.-History:...
", sung by Helen ForrestHelen ForrestHelen Forrest was one of the most popular female jazz vocalists during America's Big Band era. She was born Helen Fogel to a Jewish family in Atlantic City, New Jersey on April 12, 1917... - 1989, co-executive producer for TV special "Glenn Miller Band Reunion"
- "Only If We Love" (with Frankie LaineFrankie LaineFrankie Laine, born Francesco Paolo LoVecchio , was a successful American singer, songwriter, and actor whose career spanned 75 years, from his first concerts in 1930 with a marathon dance company to his final performance of "That's My Desire" in 2005...
) - "Torchin" (with Frankie Laine)
- Music in 1942 film Give Out, SistersGive Out, SistersGive Out, Sisters is a 1942 black and white American film starring The Andrews Sisters. The film co-stars Dan Dailey, and the teenage couple of the time, Donald O'Connor and Peggy Ryan. Dailey and O'Connor went on to be in the 1954 film There's No Business Like Show Business....
- Other works as part of "Harry James and His Music Makers"
- Some music on the 2007 series DamagesDamages (TV series)Damages is an American television drama series created by the writing and production trio of Daniel Zelman and brothers Glenn and Todd A. Kessler . It is broadcast in the United States on the DirecTV channel Audience Network after originally airing on FX and is produced by the creators' own...
, starring Glenn CloseGlenn CloseGlenn Close is an American actress and singer of theatre and film, known for her roles as a femme fatale Glenn Close (born March 19, 1947) is an American actress and singer of theatre and film, known for her roles as a femme fatale Glenn Close (born March 19, 1947) is an American actress and...
. - Original music in the 1944 film Bathing BeautyBathing BeautyBathing Beauty is a 1944 musical starring Red Skelton, Basil Rathbone and Esther Williams and directed by George Sidney.Although this was not William's screen debut, it was her first Technicolor musical. The film was initially to be titled "Mr. Co-Ed" with Red Skelton having top billing...
with Esther WilliamsEsther WilliamsEsther Jane Williams is a retired American competitive swimmer and MGM movie star.Williams set multiple national and regional swimming records in her late teens as part of the Los Angeles Athletic Club swim team... - Music for 1953's All AshoreAll AshoreAll Ashore is a 1953 Technicolor musical comedy film directed by Richard Quine. It is the second of Mickey Rooney's three films for Columbia Pictures that was produced by Jonie Taps, directed by Richard Quine and written by Blake Edwards...
, with Dick HaymesDick HaymesRichard Benjamin "Dick" Haymes was an Argentine actor and one of the most popular male vocalists of the 1940s and early 1950s. He was the older brother of Bob Haymes, who was an actor, television host, and songwriter....
and Mickey RooneyMickey RooneyMickey Rooney is an American film actor and entertainer whose film, television, and stage appearances span nearly his entire lifetime. He has won multiple awards, including an Honorary Academy Award, a Golden Globe and an Emmy Award... - Music for 2007 film Married Life with Pierce BrosnanPierce BrosnanPierce Brendan Brosnan, OBE is an Irish actor, film producer and environmentalist. After leaving school at 16, Brosnan began training in commercial illustration, but trained at the Drama Centre in London for three years...
- Music in 1942 film Private BuckarooPrivate BuckarooPrivate Buckaroo is a 1942 American Musical film directed by Edward F. Cline and starring The Andrews Sisters, Dick Foran, Harry James, Shemp Howard, Joe E...
.
- Some music on the 2007 series Damages
External links
- http://www.oac.cdlib.org/
- Interview with Al Lerner
- http://www.jazzconnectionmag.com/remembering_martha_tilton.htm
- http://www.suneditwrite.com/screenplays_poetry/sew07_nonfiction3_photos_lern.pdf