Don Sebesky, Gloria Nissenson and Janina Serden

Don Sebesky was best known as house arranger for many of producer Creed Taylor's Verve, A&M, and CTI productions; he was the man whose orchestral backgrounds helped make artists like Wes Montgomery, Paul Desmond, Freddie Hubbard, and George Benson acceptable to audiences outside of jazz. He took some critical heat for this, but Sebesky's arrangements were usually among the classiest in his field, reflecting a solid knowledge of the orchestra and drawing variously from big-band jazz, rock, ethnic music, classical music of all eras, and even the avant-garde for ideas. He once ci...