Skitch... Tonight! Skitch Henderson & 'The Tonight Show' Orchestra

• 1 Bill's Blues 01:52
• 2 Curacao 02:17
• 3 Heart and Soul 02:02
• 4 Tootie Flutie 01:23
• 5 Try Again 03:03
• 6 Cleopatra's Asp 01:36
• 7 Come Thursday 02:01
• 8 So What Else Is New? 02:59
• 9 See-Saw 02:17
• 10 Night-Lights 02:17
• 11 30 Rockefeller Plaza 02:05
• 12 Night Life 03:14
• Total Runtime 27:06

Info for Skitch... Tonight!

Skitch Henderson is best remembered for his stints as the bandleader on 'The Tonight Show' in the 1950s and 1960s. He signed on as performer and musical director when NBC started 'Tonight' with Steve Allen in 1954, then returned in the 1960s when Johnny Carson took over. Some viewers probably remember him more for his distinctive taste in clothes (he was never seen without a vest) than his music.

Henderson started out as a hard-score classical musician, studying piano, then conducting with Fritz Reiner, and composition with Arnold Schoenberg, and attending both Juilliard and the school of music at UCLA. But he was smart enough to see where real money was being made, and he switched to popular music, working in radio and theater orchestras before accompanying the young Judy Garland on one of her first tours. He settled in Los Angeles and joined the staff of RCA Victor, working as an orchestrator and pianist. Arranger Axel Stordahl brought him in (to replace the band's pianist, Joe Bushkin) to play on some of Frank Sinatra's most successful recordings with Tommy Dorsey.

Produced by John Simon

Digitally remastered

No biography found.

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