Posted on 11/28/2022 8:00:30 PM PST by nickcarraway
Gene Cipriano, Wrecking Crew Saxophonist, Dead at 94
Gene Cipriano, a prolific session musician who performed on a long list of popular albums and major motion pictures, has died at the age of 94.
The musician’s death was confirmed by his son, who told the Hollywood Reporter that Cipriano passed away on Nov. 12 of natural causes.
Cipriano was born into a musical family, his father having played on Broadway and with the New Haven Symphony. He’d take up the clarinet as a child, eventually becoming proficient in all woodwinds, including saxophone, oboe and flute. As a young adult, he’d relocate to California, where composer Henry Mancini enlisted Cipriano’s services for the TV series Peter Gunn.
“That got me started,” Cipriano recalled to the Television Academy in 2019, “because it became such a hot item and then all the other leaders said, 'Well, get me those guys who played with Henry Mancini.' And that got me rolling."
Cipriano’s cinematic career would span generations. With Mancini, he contributed to the scores for The Days of Wine and Roses (1962), Charade (1963) and The Hawaiians (1970). Cipriano’s clarinet work can also be heard on the famous tune “Baby Elephant Walk” from 1962’s Hatari!.
Other films to feature Cipriano’s playing included The Thomas Crown Affair (1968), West Side Story (1961), Cleopatra (1963), The Wild Bunch (1969), The French Connection (1971), The Karate Kid (1984), Up (2009) and many more.
The musician’s skills weren’t isolated to movie scores, as Cipriano – through his own work, as well as his tenure in the fabled Wrecking Crew collection of session musicians – contributed to a long list of famous rock and pop songs. The musician’s resume included material by the Monkees, Harry Nilsson, Randy Newman, Glen Cambell, Frank Zappa, Neil Diamond, Johnny Cash and the Beach Boys. Cipriano performed oboe on Frank Sinatra’s pensive “It Was a Very Good Year” and played woodwinds on Prince’s 1986 album Parade. He was also part of the band who played with Elvis Presley during the King’s 1968 comeback special, aired on NBC.
Cipriano’s further career highlights included work alongside two former Beatles. He played on John Lennon’s 1975 album Rock ‘n’ Roll and jazz singer Peggy Lee’s 1974 LP Let’s Love (which Paul McCartney produced).
Thanks to his many contributions to film, TV, commercials and recorded music, Cipriano has unofficially been called the most recorded woodwind player in show business history.
It was really something to learn that all those classic songs from the 60’s weren’t even played by the groups that supposedly played them.
Yup.
I know exactly how you feel. Have you ever watched the documentary about "The Wrecking Crew" directed by Denny Tedesco? Denny is the son of Tommy Tedesco, the noted studio guitarist who played in The Wrecking Crew.
The documentary is a real eye-opener. I remember seeing a number of top acts in the late 60s and early 70s whose studio work was done by The Wrecking Crew. I don't think I was more let down than when I learned that TWC did a lot of work for The Beach Boys. I was on the concert committee at the University of Missouri 1969-1971 and we brought in The Beach Boys and, at the time, I believed they did all of their own work. I didn't realize at the time how much work went into studio production work. It was hard for live acts to make their sound somewhat similar to what was recorded in the studio.
The Wrecking Crew were famous as the horn section on most of the recordings in the 60s and 70s.
“Baby Elephant Walk’ was performed on an Eb clarinet”
I always wanted one or a Chinese soprano sax. These instrments get blamed for bad tune but the higher the register the more “tune” can be blamed on the player.
“The Wrecking Crew” (and the making of) is simply a fantastic story, more like a saga.
In the first place, Denny Tedesco started working on this in 1996 IIRC, when his Dad, Tommy, was diagnosed with cancer and quit his studio career. Despite all the interest one would imagine (and indeed how it has turned out) would gravitate to the story, he was unable to get funding because nobody suspected he would be to pay for clearance rights for all the music that would have been required to tell the story in any meaningful way.
[when a piece of recorded music to which a performer; either the featured act or a sideman has rights is used in a different medium, the performer is due additional payment. So if an old 45 RPM tune gets used in a commercial, the performer(s) are due add’l payment. If it gets used in a film, that’s yet again a “different use” for which payment must be made to the players]
So my point is that Denny T. has been working on this for a rock solid 20+ years, which I find crazy, because the story is so compelling.
The careers of some of TWC are astounding. Hal Blaine, probably the best known drummer in the TWC, you could take any 5 years of his career, spread it out over 20 years for anyone else, and those 20 years would be a notable career.
I went with him to check it out, and when I played it, I was surprised by the sound. I usually play the big horns.
Yes. I did see that documentary. It was very good.
Good stuff. I heard a little Stan Getz in there, or maybe when I hear Stan Getz, I hear a little Gene Cipriano.
I’d say Hal Blaine is the most heard musician in history. The guy was on everything.
The hardest part was probably trying to get Brian Wilson when he wasn’t high on something
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EFDFpS9_ZWY
” I don’t think I was more let down than when I learned that TWC did a lot of work for The Beach Boys.”
It’s a bit before my time, but I’m a little puzzled by that mentality, particularly with regard to Brian Wilson’s productions after, say, 1964. When the tracks began advancing beyond the basic guitar-bass-drums setup to grander, more orchestral backing tracks, did you notice? If so, was it really reasonable to think that the Beach Boys themselves were playing all those different instruments? Cello, strings, brass, harpsichords, multiple pianos, etc. on songs like ‘Good Vibrations,’ ‘God Only Knows’ and ‘Wouldn’t It Be Nice’?
High or sober, the man was a hell of a talent. One of a kind, really. In Denny Tedesco’s Wrecking Crew documentary referenced above, the musicians rave about Brian’s musical ability. In that film, Leon Russell, no slouch himself on the talent scale, asserts that Brian was the greatest genius he ever worked with.
Two other studio bands behind the hits were MoTown’s “Funk Brothers” and the Muscle Shoal’s “Swampers”.
I think The Wrecking Crew was the most “diverse” in the sense that would work with rock groups in the morning and Sinatra in the afternoon. Glen Campbell played guitar for them until some one said “Hey! That guy can sing too!”.
There are documentaries, or parts of, on YouTube about all three groups
If you want even more American music back stories, I suggest a bunch of interviews found on YouTube done by Nashville's Musician's Hall of Fame.
a very good biography of Brian just aired on PBS’ “American Masters”.
As I understand it, there’s some controversy over whether Carol’s bass is on the released GV 45 or not. Another Crew member, Ray Pohlman, also played Fender bass for Brian. Carol most certainly played the lick... and she’ll tell you that she did... but the thing is that Brian recorded the same bits and pieces over and over and over again on multiple dates and then spliced the whole thing together. Some have argued that the bass playing that made it onto the record was Ray’s.
See this thread on Talk Bass:
https://www.talkbass.com/threads/2019-thesis-the-carol-kaye-james-jamerson-controversy.1433871/page-9
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.