Bob Florence, 75; won Grammy as bandleader of elegant jazz
WASHINGTON - Bob Florence, a Grammy Award-winning bandleader and arranger whose elegant harmonic stylings brought him a devoted following in jazz circles, died May 15 of pneumonia at Barlow Respiratory Hospital in Los Angeles. He was 75 and lived in Thousand Oaks, Calif.
Mr. Florence had a low profile among the general public, but musicians vied to perform in his 18-piece Bob Florence Limited Edition, considered one of the most musically challenging bands in jazz.
His eclectic career took him from early training in classical piano to pounding out rock 'n' roll rhythms for recording studios. He worked in Hollywood for years, leading bands and writing music for the TV variety shows of Dean Martin, Red Skelton, and Andy Williams. From the 1970s until the early 1990s, he teamed with singers, most notably Vikki Carr and Julie Andrews, for a series of recordings and tours.
But Mr. Florence's heart was always in jazz, and he began to devote himself increasingly to writing and conducting for Limited Edition. Since 1979, he released 15 albums, each of them rapturously reviewed by critics who often likened his music to the sonic sophistication of Duke Ellington and Stan Kenton.
Mr. Florence was nominated for 15 Grammy Awards over the years and finally broke through in 2000, when his album "Serendipity 18" won for best jazz performance by a large ensemble. He also won two Emmy Awards, in 1981 for singer Linda Lavin's "Linda in Wonderland" and in 1990 for "Julie Andrews in Concert."
In 1961, Mr. Florence wrote a rock 'n' roll arrangement of Hoagy Carmichael's "Up a Lazy River," which won a Grammy for bandleader Si Zentner.
"Si never acknowledged that I wrote the arrangement," Mr. Florence wrote on his website. "I was very young and I got paid scale while Hoagy Carmichael made a lot of money."
A Los Angeles native, Mr. Florence was taking piano lessons before his 4th birthday. He seemed headed toward a career in classical music when he was exposed to jazz at Los Angeles City College.
He began writing for a rehearsal band he had formed at the musicians' union and found his life's work as an arranger.
After college, Mr. Florence played in groups led by Alvino Rey and Les Brown and began arranging for trumpeter Harry James and Zentner, with whom he collaborated on 11 albums. As a staff arranger for Liberty Records, he wrote daringly fresh arrangements for early incarnations of his Limited Edition and made his first recording in 1964.
Mr. Florence arranged albums for saxophonist Bud Shank and worked on an album of Beatles songs for Count Basie.
He also wrote arrangements for Doc Severinsen's "Tonight Show" band and for singers as diverse as Sarah Vaughan, Jack Jones, and Ann-Margret. 