Artist:Sid Ramin
Song:Prologue
Album:West Side Story: The Original Sound Track Recording
Sid Ramin was an arranger, conductor and composer who worked for most of his career on Broadway. He and Irwin Kostal arranged and conducted the orchestra for Leonard Bernstein's 1957 Broadway musical West Side Story. Ramin also worked on the 1961 film version. He won an Oscar and Grammy for that. He was born Jan. 22, 1919 in Boston. His parents were Russian Jewish immigrants. His father was a window dresser. His best friend and neighbor growing up in Roxbury was Leonard Bernstein. This was the beginning of a life long professional relationship. While Bernstein was studying at Harvard, Ramin was in the US Army for five years. He moved to New York upon his return and he studied at Columbia University. Ramin's big break came when he became musical director of Texaco Star Theater AKA The Milton Berle Show. Then he was an arranger and conductor at RCA Records. He worked with the vocal group The Three Suns. Then Bernstein called about West Side Story. Ramin worked on the Broadway show and the film and won an Oscar and Grammy. He probably would have won a Tony too but Tonys were not awarded for orchestration until 1997. Ramin worked on all kinds of Broadway shows until the 90s including the 1959 show Gypsy. He also worked in advertising. Ramin won 12 Clio awards. A Diet Pepsi jingle he wrote became the 1966 Bob Crewe Generation hit single Music To Watch Girls By. His knack for jingles got him TV work. He wrote the themes for The Patty Duke Show and Candid Camera. He won a Daytime Emmy in 1983 for All My Children. His son Ron Ramin has composed music for TV shows since the 80s. After his final Broadway show in 1993, Ramin retired and died on July 1, 2019 at age 100. Here's Sid Ramin performing the Prologue as it appeared in the 1961 film West Side Story. Most of this info comes from Sid Ramin's New York Times obit. I follow New York Times Music on Twitter for detailed obits of jazz musicians. You should too.
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