AccuRadio Song Of The Day-Sammy Nestico and the SWR Big Band

Artist:Sammy Nestico and the SWR Big Band

Song:Blue Samuel

Album:Fun Time

Composer and arranger Sammy Nestico Was best known for his days with Count Basie in the 70s. For the most part, he was an arranger and conductor for hire. Nestico recorded several albums at the end of his career in Germany with the SWR Big Band. He was born Feb. 6, 1924 in Pittsburgh. His parents were Italian immigrants. He became obsessed with big band music as a child while listening to the radio. Tommy Dorsey was his favorite so Nestico started playing trombone in high school. At age 17 he joined the orchestra at Pittsburgh radio station WCAE. He learned to arrange by analyzing recordings and eventually became staff arranger. Nestico joined Charlie Barnet's trombone section and worked on his arranger. But his mother asked him to come home and study music at Duquesne University. After graduating in 1950, Nestico joined the US Air Force and led the United States Air Force Band  from 1950-63. Then he became director of the United States Marine Band until he became a freelance arranger in 1967. That's when he started working for Count Basie. His first album as composer and arranger was the 1968 album Basie Straight Ahead. Nestico worked for Basie until Basie's 1984 death. Four of Nestico's arrangements earned Grammy awards. After Basie's death, Nestico worked as a freelance arranger in films, TV and commercials. And he also worked for Quincy Jones, Phil Collins, Barbra Streisand and many others. Nestico recorded his first album as a leader in 1982. Probably his most high profile recording was the 2000 album Basie & Beyond with Quincy Jones and an all star big band. The 2009 album Fun Time was the third of five albums that Nestico recorded with the SWR Big Band in Germany. This band is run by Germany's public broadcaster SWR. So they are on TV all the time. Nestico wrote, arranged and conducted the album. Nestico recorded his final album in 2017 and died on Jan. 17, 2021 at age 96. Here's Sammy Nestico and the SWR Big Band performing Blue Samuel at the 2009 Jazz Open Stuttgart in Stuttgart, Germany. Solos are by Klaus-Peter Schopfer on guitar, Andreas Maile, Axel Kuhn on tenor sax, Marc Godfroid on trombone and Klaus Wagenleiter on piano.