Composer, arranger, producer and recording artist Jack de Mello, who created an expansive new synthesis of Hawaiian melodies and lush, contemporary orchestral music, died Saturday in Las Vegas. He was 102.
During his prolific career, de Mello recorded close to 160 albums of all types of music, including almost 500 Hawaiian songs. He recorded at top studios around the world and “gave Hawaiian music a new identity,” according to a statement from his family.
Born Nov. 15, 1916, in Oakland, Calif., de Mello showed early musical talent. He studied music and music theory at the Bickett Military Band School in San Francisco and was only 9 years old when he began playing the trumpet. The family recalled his stories about piling into a Model T Ford with his brother to go to his lessons, which also required travel by ferry boat and train since the Bay Bridge had yet to be built.
As a young musician in San Francisco, de Mello joined the staff band at the CBS radio network and later served as a musical director at ABC and NBC. He entered the Army as a bandmaster at Camp McQuaide in California.
As musical director of Mutual Network top-rated radio show, “Beat The Villian,” de Mello hired the Society Band led by Joe Reichman. They went on to perform together at major U.S. hotels including the Waldorf Astoria and Roosevelt in New York. During a run at the St. Francis Hotel in San Francisco, they accepted an invitation to reopen the Royal Hawaiian hotel in 1947. The hotel had been used exclusively by the U.S. Navy during World War II.
From...HONOLULU STAR ADVERTISER
beautiful music radio...
Popular Posts
-
1933 - Robert Gerard Goulet (November 26, 1933 – October 30, 2007) was a Canadian/ American entertainer. He rose to international stard...
-
Heywood, Jr. was a jazz pianist who was popular in the 1940s. His father, Eddie Heyward, Sr. was also a jazz musician from the 1920s. Heyw...
-
CATERINA VALENTE + JACK JONES 1931 Caterina Valente (born 14 January 1931, Paris) is a singer, dancer, and actress. She was born into a...
-
1915 Édith Piaf (Death: 11 October 1963), born Édith Giovanna Gassion, was a French singer and cultural icon who became universally r...
-
Burt Bacharach's official press biography is effusive, impressive, overwhelming - and almost beside the point. The 14-page document du...
-
LEW BROWN, MORTON GOULD, DOROTHY LAMOUR, DON SEBESKY 1893 - LEW BROWN , (Death: February 5, 1958) was a lyricist for American popular so...
-
CONNIE BOSWELL IRVING FINE NINO ROTA ANDY WILLIAMS CONNIE BOSWELL Connie Boswell born 1907 in New ...
-
Dorothy Jacqueline Keely (March 9, 1928 – December 16, 2017), known as Keely Smith, was a Grammy Award-winning American jazz and popular mus...
-
RAY HENDERSON MARY MARTIN BETTE MIDLER 1896 Ray Henderson, Composer b. Buffalo, NY, USA. d. Dec. 31, 1970, Greenwich, CT, U...
-
The papers of legendary conductor, arranger and broadcaster Andre Kostelanetz have been donated to the Library of Congress by his estate. K...