Pete Rugolo

Pete Rugolo , an award-winning composer and arranger who came to prominence in the world of jazz as the chief arranger for Stan Kenton's post-World War II band and later wrote the themes for TV's "The Fugitive" and "Run for Your Life," has died. He was 95. Rugolo, who also had a recording career with his own band, died Sunday of age-related causes at a nursing facility in Sherman Oaks,said his daughter, Gina Rugolo Judd. "Pete Rugolo's passing is a notable event, as he was a true and powerful original, whose music made an invaluable contribution to a very rich period in American music," composer John Williams said in a statement to The Times on Monday.

Pete Rugolo , an award-winning composer and arranger who came to prominence in the world of jazz as the chief arranger for Stan Kenton's post-World War II band and later wrote the themes for TV's "The Fugitive" and "Run for Your Life," has died. He was 95. Rugolo, who also had a recording career with his own band, died Sunday of age-related causes at a nursing facility in Sherman Oaks,said his daughter, Gina Rugolo Judd. "Pete Rugolo's passing is a notable event, as he was a true and powerful original, whose music made an invaluable contribution to a very rich period in American music," composer John Williams said in a statement to The Times on Monday.

Pete Rugolo may well be the most unfairly forgotten man of jazz. An attempt to rectify that injustice will be undertaken this evening when some of his most brilliant arrangements, for Stan Kenton and for his own orchestras, will be performed, by a band under the direction of trumpeter Paul Cacia, in a Rugolo tribute at the Grand Avenue Bar of the Biltmore.

I enjoyed your "Life Outside the Lines" article (in the "Defining Moments of the 20th Century" issue, Oct. 3) very much. But I believe a few important things were left out (perhaps due to space, etc.). Here are my additions: 1915--Dada movement, which eventually led to Surrealism, etc. 1946--"Progressive jazz" created by Stan Kenton and Pete Rugolo, transforming jazz from dance music to concert music. 1948--Long-playing phonograph records changed the way people listened to music (longer stretches of play)

Concerning Pete Welding's Oct. 12 letter to Calendar ("Miles Davis on Record") about the "Birth of the Cool" LP: The title came, not from Pete Rugolo, but from Will McFarland, a free-lance writer active on the Hollywood jazz scene. He was assigned the liner notes for the album by Bob Wilheim, then head of editorial at Capitol and the man I worked for. Panic time, as usual. The album was already scheduled for release; the cover art had been prepared but was being held past deadline because we still didn't have a title.

Here is the complete schedule for "Back to Balboa: a 50th Anniversary Celebration of the Stan Kenton Orchestra." All events, unless otherwise noted, take place at the Hyatt Newporter Resort, 1107 Jamboree Road, Newport Beach. Four-day registration: $225, though tickets to individual events are available. Cruises optional. Information: (213) 430-6960, (213) 985-5566 or at the Hyatt Newporter, (714) 729-1234. TODAY: 8 a.m.: Registration begins. 9:45-11:15 a.m.

When Pete Rugolo steps in front of the Stan Kenton Alumni Orchestra on Sunday in Irvine to conduct Kenton's well-known theme song, "Artistry in Rhythm," he'll mark an association with the band and the tune that goes back almost 50 years. Kenton's principal arranger during the band's glory years of 1945-49, Rugolo penned a number of variations of his boss's anthem. "I did several versions of 'Artistry in Rhythm,' " Rugolo, 77, said recently in a phone conversation from his home in Sherman Oaks.

I enjoyed your "Life Outside the Lines" article (in the "Defining Moments of the 20th Century" issue, Oct. 3) very much. But I believe a few important things were left out (perhaps due to space, etc.). Here are my additions: 1915--Dada movement, which eventually led to Surrealism, etc. 1946--"Progressive jazz" created by Stan Kenton and Pete Rugolo, transforming jazz from dance music to concert music. 1948--Long-playing phonograph records changed the way people listened to music (longer stretches of play)

Joseph Perkins Greene, a composer and lyricist whose best-known works came through his collaboration with Stan Kenton during that bandleader's glory years of the 1940s and '50s, has died in a Pasadena hospital. The writer of "Across the Alley From the Alamo," "And Her Tears Flowed Like Wine" and "Don't Let the Sun Catch You Crying," popularized by Kenton vocalists June Christy and Chris Connor, was 71 and died of kidney failure.

With tributes to artists ranging from Duke Ellington and Count Basie to Gerry Mulligan and Thad Jones, KLON-FM's "Blowin' Up a Storm," May 23 through 26 at the Redondo Beach Holiday Inn Crowne Plaza hotel, will be a feast for big-band devotees.

When Pete Rugolo steps in front of the Stan Kenton Alumni Orchestra on Sunday in Irvine to conduct Kenton's well-known theme song, "Artistry in Rhythm," he'll mark an association with the band and the tune that goes back almost 50 years. Kenton's principal arranger during the band's glory years of 1945-49, Rugolo penned a number of variations of his boss's anthem. "I did several versions of 'Artistry in Rhythm,' " Rugolo, 77, said recently in a phone conversation from his home in Sherman Oaks.

Concerning Pete Welding's Oct. 12 letter to Calendar ("Miles Davis on Record") about the "Birth of the Cool" LP: The title came, not from Pete Rugolo, but from Will McFarland, a free-lance writer active on the Hollywood jazz scene. He was assigned the liner notes for the album by Bob Wilheim, then head of editorial at Capitol and the man I worked for. Panic time, as usual. The album was already scheduled for release; the cover art had been prepared but was being held past deadline because we still didn't have a title.

Here is the complete schedule for "Back to Balboa: a 50th Anniversary Celebration of the Stan Kenton Orchestra." All events, unless otherwise noted, take place at the Hyatt Newporter Resort, 1107 Jamboree Road, Newport Beach. Four-day registration: $225, though tickets to individual events are available. Cruises optional. Information: (213) 430-6960, (213) 985-5566 or at the Hyatt Newporter, (714) 729-1234. TODAY: 8 a.m.: Registration begins. 9:45-11:15 a.m.

Pete Rugolo may well be the most unfairly forgotten man of jazz. An attempt to rectify that injustice will be undertaken this evening when some of his most brilliant arrangements, for Stan Kenton and for his own orchestras, will be performed, by a band under the direction of trumpeter Paul Cacia, in a Rugolo tribute at the Grand Avenue Bar of the Biltmore.

Big-band music has always been a lively part of the West Coast jazz scene. From such early local ensembles as the Les Hite and Eddie Barefield bands of the '20s and '30s to the visiting appearances of Duke Ellington and Count Basie and dozens of other groups, and the emergence of Gerald Wilson and Stan Kenton, among others, Southland jazz fans have had continuing opportunities to experience the excitement of big jazz band sounds.

Is it really possible to blend "classical traditions with a language whose roots are jazz"? Jack Elliott and the New American Orchestra seem to think so, but the evidence produced at the ensemble's Sunday night concert at the Wadsworth Theatre suggested that the quest may have quixotic, rather than harmonic, overtones. The works included in the program (which was fairly typical of the orchestra's repertoire) defined part of the problem.