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Sammy Nestico
At the age of 17, Sammy Nestico became the staff arranger for ABC radio station, WCAE, Pittsburgh, Pa. He received his B.S. degree in music education from Duquesne University, and has been honored three times by the school with an honorary Doctor of Music degree, the Distinguished Alumni award, and in 1994, he was inducted into the Century Club. North Texas State also presented him with special music awards in 1978, 1979 and 1980. As an educator, he has directed the music programs at Westinghouse Memorial High School, Wilmerding Pa., Pierce College, Los Angeles, Ca. and the University of Georgia, Athens, Ga.
Sammy joined the United States Air Force Band in Washington, D.C. as staff arranger, and subsequently became the leader of the famous Airmen of Note. Following his 15 year tenure with the Air Force, he enlisted with the United States Marine Band in Washington, serving as chief arranger and director of the White House orchestra which performed for important judicial and congressional social functions during the Kennedy and Johnson administrations.
In the years between 1970 and 1984, Sammy was the composer/arranger for the Count Basie orchestra. He directed the recording of ten albums of original music, four of which won Grammy awards. During the same period he was also engaged by Capitol Records as arranger/orchestrator, co- writing the equivelant of 63 albums for that organization.
Sammy has collaborated with Steve Allen, Stan Freberg, Bobby Troupe and Johnny Mercer in the songwriting field, and he has orchestrated for such major film studios as 20th Century Fox, Universal, Paramount, Warner Brothers, MGM and Columbia. He has also arranged and/or conducted albums for recording artists Phil Collins, Barbra Streisand, Natalie Cole, Frank Sinatra, Bing Crosby, Sarah Vaughan, Toni Tennille, Patti Austin, Nancy Wilson, Pia Zadora, Paul Anka, Pat Boone, Ronnie Milsap, Daniel Rodriguez and others.
His televison credits are numerous. As arranger, Sammy has written for specials by Julie Andrews, George Burns, Gene Kelly, Merv Griffin, Mary Tyler Moore, Goldie Hawn, The Grammy Awards, The Tonight Show, Perry Como, Toni Tennille, Liza Minelli, Bob Hope and many more. As Orchestrator he has worked on Mission Impossible, The Tony Randall Show, Medical Center, The Mary Tyler Moore Show, Hawaii Five-O, The Bob Newhart Show, Gomer Pyle, The Streets of San Fransisco, Mannix, Mayberry RFD, MOD Squad, The Bionic Woman, Cannon, Emergency, Columbo, Charlie?s Angels, The Lou Grant Show, M.A.S.H. and fifty others. Sammy has also written commercials for Anheuser Busch, Zenith, the Ford Motor Company, Mattel Toys, Pittsburgh Paints, the National Guard, Dodge, Remington Bank Americard and more.
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Tribute To Sammy Nestico at Dizzy's Club Coca-Cola
by Nick Catalano
On Monday March 24th Dizzy's Club Coca-Cola was the again the scene of a memorable big band concert from the Manhattan School of Music Concert Jazz Band under the direction of Justin DiCioccio. On the occasion of Sammy Nestico's 90th birthday, the director (who was a cohort of Nestico's in White House dance bands of the 60's and 70's) focused on the legendary charts that the famed composer/arranger wrote for the Count Basie Band from 1966-84. Beginning ...
read moreSammy Nestico and the SWR Big Band: Fun Time and More Live
by C. Michael Bailey
Big band jazz has evolved into its own avant-garde art form, where the arrangements have become progressively more complex and cerebral. Not that there is anything wrong with that, but it does make for a different type of big band listening experience. Modern big band jazz, in some quarters, has veered off into a non-swinging, Stan Kenton direction and, while it remains interesting, it is not as enjoyable as a sweet Count Basie blues romp. Speaking of ...
read moreSammy Nestico and the SWR Big Band: Basie-Cally Sammy
by Jack Bowers
Some people are born to rule, others to serve. Sammy Nestico, it seems, was born to swing. From his early years as chief arranger for the US Air Force Airmen of Note and later for the irrepressible Count Basie Orchestra, Nestico prized swinging above all else, and that's no less true on Basie-cally Sammy, his warmhearted homage to the Count with Germany's superlative SWR Big Band, which marks their second collaboration in as many years. The album swings buoyantly from ...
read moreSammy Nestico: A Portrait of Sammy
by Jack Bowers
The Portrait of Sammy shown on the cover of renowned composer/arranger Sammy Nestico's newest album shows a man grinning from ear to ear, clearly enjoying what he does and relishing the fruits of his enduring success. And why not? Sammy has been at the top of his game for nearly half a century, and he shows no signs of slowing down at age 81. Ten of the fifteen selections on Portrait were recorded last year with an orchestra comprised of ...
read moreSammy Nestico: This Is the Moment
by Jack Bowers
Those who’ve been wondering, if indeed there are any, will be pleased to learn that Sammy Nestico hasn’t lost his touch. Now in his seventy–eighth year, Count Basie’s former Grammy–winning chief arranger can still write persuasive charts that swing at the drop of a high–hat, which he does more often than not on This Is the Moment, Sammy’s first album under his own name since Sea Breeze reissued 1985’s Night Flight (with four tracks from his earlier Black Orchid ) ...
read moreJazz Musician of the Day: Sammy Nestico
Source:
Michael Ricci
All About Jazz is celebrating Sammy Nestico's birthday today!
At the age of 17, Sammy Nestico became the staff arranger for ABC radio station, WCAE, Pittsburgh, Pa. He received his B.S. degree in music education from Duquesne University, and has been honored three times by the school with an honorary Doctor of Music degree, the Distinguished Alumni award, and in 1994, he was inducted into the Century Club. North Texas State also presented him with special music awards in 1978, ...
read more
Jazz Musician of the Day: Sammy Nestico
Source:
Michael Ricci
All About Jazz is celebrating Sammy Nestico's birthday today!
At the age of 17, Sammy Nestico became the staff arranger for ABC radio station, WCAE, Pittsburgh, Pa. He received his B.S. degree in music education from Duquesne University, and has been honored three times by the school with an honorary Doctor of Music degree, the Distinguished Alumni award, and in 1994, he was inducted into the Century Club. North Texas State also presented him with special music awards in 1978, ...
read more
Jazz Musician of the Day: Sammy Nestico
Source:
Michael Ricci
All About Jazz is celebrating Sammy Nestico's birthday today!
At the age of 17, Sammy Nestico became the staff arranger for ABC radio station, WCAE, Pittsburgh, Pa. He received his B.S. degree in music education from Duquesne University, and has been honored three times by the school with an honorary Doctor of Music degree, the Distinguished Alumni award, and in 1994, he was inducted into the Century Club. North Texas State also presented him with special music awards in 1978, ...
read more
Sammy Nestico (1924-2021)
Source:
JazzWax by Marc Myers
Sammy Nestico, whose swing-happy compositions and arrangements for Count Basie's orchestra in the 1960s and '70s gave the band fresh relevance and enabled Nestico to fulfill a lifelong ambition, died January 17. He was 96. Nestico started young, in the early 1940s, in the orchestra of Pittsburgh's ABC affiliate radio station before joining Charlie Barnet's band mid-decade. By honoring the wish of his worried mother, Nestico returned to the local radio station and enrolled in college, missing out on the ...
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Jazz Musician of the Day: Sammy Nestico
Source:
Michael Ricci
All About Jazz is celebrating Sammy Nestico's birthday today!
At the age of 17, Sammy Nestico became the staff arranger for ABC radio station, WCAE, Pittsburgh, Pa. He received his B.S. degree in music education from Duquesne University, and has been honored three times by the school with an honorary Doctor of Music degree, the Distinguished Alumni award, and in 1994, he was inducted into the ?Century Club?. North Texas State also presented him with special music awards in 1978, ...
read more
Jazz Musician of the Day: Sammy Nestico
Source:
Michael Ricci
All About Jazz is celebrating Sammy Nestico's birthday today!
At the age of 17, Sammy Nestico became the staff arranger for ABC radio station, WCAE, Pittsburgh, Pa. He received his B.S. degree in music education from Duquesne University, and has been honored three times by the school with an honorary Doctor of Music degree, the Distinguished Alumni award, and in 1994, he was inducted into the ?Century Club?. North Texas State also presented him with special music awards in 1978, ...
read more
The Sammy Nestico Sessions
Source:
JazzWax by Marc Myers
The swingin'est arranger around today is Sammy Nestico. In fact, Sammy probably has held that title since the late 1960s, when he first arranged Count Basie's album Straight Ahead. My first encounter with Sammy's finger-snapping scores was in the early 1970s, when I was in high school. As member of the school's dance band, I recall that Mr. Lowery, the band's teacher and conductor, ordered Sammy's charts for the band. Music parts came in an envelope along with a floppy ...
read more
Jazz Musician of the Day: Sammy Nestico
Source:
Michael Ricci
All About Jazz is celebrating Sammy Nestico's birthday today!
At the age of 17, Sammy Nestico became the staff arranger for ABC radio station, WCAE, Pittsburgh, Pa. He received his B.S. degree in music education from Duquesne University, and has been honored three times by the school with an honorary Doctor of Music degree, the Distinguished Alumni award, and in 1994, he was inducted into the ?Century Club?. North Texas State also presented him with special music awards in 1978, ...
read more
Jazz Musician of the Day: Sammy Nestico
Source:
Michael Ricci
All About Jazz is celebrating Sammy Nestico's birthday today!
At the age of 17, Sammy Nestico became the staff arranger for ABC radio station, WCAE, Pittsburgh, Pa. He received his B.S. degree in music education from Duquesne University, and has been honored three times by the school with an honorary Doctor of Music degree, the Distinguished Alumni award, and in 1994, he was inducted into the ?Century Club?. North Texas State also presented him with special music awards in 1978, ...
read more
Jazz Musician of the Day: Sammy Nestico
Source:
Michael Ricci
All About Jazz is celebrating Sammy Nestico's birthday today!
At the age of 17, Sammy Nestico became the staff arranger for ABC radio station, WCAE, Pittsburgh, Pa. He received his B.S. degree in music education from Duquesne University, and has been honored three times by the school with an honorary Doctor of Music degree, the Distinguished Alumni award, and in 1994, he was inducted into the ?Century Club?. North Texas State also presented him with special music awards in 1978, ...
read more
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Sammy Nestico
Instrument: Composer / conductor
Born: February 6, 1924
Died: January 17, 2021
