Johnny Mandel, considered one of the nation’s top composer/arrangers in jazz, pop, and film music, celebrates his 89th birthday today. He’s composed and arranged for Frank Sinatra, Barbra Streisand, Michael Jackson and Natalie Cole, among many others. His famous movie scores include such memorable songs as “Emily,” “The Shadow of Your Smile,” and the theme from “M.A.S.H.” In 2004, the late jazz and recording session pianist Mike Melvoin commented in an interview that, “…on many studio dates, musicianly camaraderie outweighed the music at hand. ‘When I played a Johnny Mandel date,’ Melvoin clarified, ‘I realized: This is why I became a musician. This is why I’ve been eating hamburger for the past six months — so I can dine on Mandel’s filet mignon.” Listen to an interview from January with Johnny Mandel on “Song Travels” on NPR.
