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Ferrante & Teicher

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Ferrante & Teicher were a duo of American piano players, known for their light arrangements of familiar classical pieces, movie soundtracks, and show tunes.

Career

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Arthur Ferrante (September 7, 1921, New York City – September 19, 2009), and Louis Teicher (August 24, 1924, Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania – August 3, 2008) met while studying at the Juilliard School of Music in New York.[1][2] Musical prodigies, they began performing as a piano duo while still in school. After graduating, they both joined the Juilliard faculty.

Steven Tyler of Aerosmith relates the story that in the 1950s the two students practiced in the home of his grandmother Constance Neidhart Tallarico.[3]

In 1947, they launched a full-time concert career, at first playing nightclubs, then quickly moving up to playing classical music with orchestral backing. Between 1950 and 1980, they were a major American easy listening act, and scored four big U.S. hits: "Theme From The Apartment" (Pop #10), "Theme From Exodus" (Pop #2), "Tonight" (Pop #8), and "Midnight Cowboy" (Pop #10).[4] They performed and recorded regularly with pops orchestras popular standards by George Gershwin, Jerome Kern, Cole Porter, Richard Rodgers and others. In 1973, they did the Hollywood Radio Theater theme for the Rod Serling radio drama series, The Zero Hour.[5][6]

The duo also experimented with prepared pianos, adding paper, sticks, rubber, wood blocks, metal bars, chains, glass, mallets, and other found objects to piano string beds. In this way they were able to produce a variety of bizarre sounds that sometimes resembled percussion instruments, and at other times resulted in special effects that sounded as if they were electronically synthesized.[7]

Both men were initiated as honorary members of Tau Kappa Epsilon at Central State University (now University of Central Oklahoma) while on tour.

Ferrante and Teicher ceased performing in 1989 and retired to Longboat Key and Siesta Key, respectively, both close to each other on the west coast of Florida. They continued to play together occasionally at a local piano store.

CDs of their music, some of it not previously released, have continued to appear.[8]

Louis Teicher died of a heart attack in August 2008, three weeks before his 84th birthday.[9] Arthur Ferrante died of natural causes on September 19, 2009 at the age of 88[10] (he had once said he wanted to live one year for each piano key). Arthur is survived by his wife, Jena; his daughter, Brenda Eberhardt; and two granddaughters.[11]

Discography

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1950s

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  • Mississippi Boogie/African Echoes (1952) Joe Davis Records
  • Piano Playhouse (1952) MGM E209
  • Hi-Fireworks (1953) Columbia CL-573
  • Can-Can & Me & Juliet (1954) Columbia CL-6264
  • Continental Holiday (1954) Columbia CL-6291
  • Rhapsody (1955) Urania URA-78011
  • Rachmaninoff Two-Piano Suites (1955) Westminster XWN-18059
  • Original Variations for Two Pianos (1955) Westminster XWN-18169
  • Ravel/Debussy (1955) Westminster XWN-18219
  • Encores! (1955) Westminster XWN-18786
  • Postcards From Paris (1955) Westminster WP-6001
  • Adventure In Carols (1955) Westminster WP-6021
  • Soundproof (1956) Westminster WP-6014
  • Soundblast (1956) Westminster WP-6041
  • Heavenly Sounds In Hi-Fi (1957) ABC ABCS-221 (Re-released in 1966 under the title Heavenly Sounds of Ferrante & Teicher, ABCS-555)
  • Ferrante & Teicher With Percussion (1958) ABCS-248 (Re-released in 1966 under the title Temptation, ABCS-561)
  • Blast Off (1959) ABCS-285 (Overdubbed with strings and re-released in 1966 under the title We've Got Rhythm, ABCS-556)
  • Play Light Classics (1959) ABCS-313
  • Themes From Broadway Shows (1959) ABCS-336

1960s

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  • Dream Concerto (1960) UAS-6103
  • Dynamic Twin Pianos (1960) WWS-8504
  • The World's Greatest Themes (1960) UAS-6121
  • Latin Pianos (1960) UAS-6135
  • Golden Piano Hits (1961) WWS-8505
  • Goodbye Again OST (1961) UAS-5091
  • Love Themes (1961) WWS-8514
  • West Side Story (1961) UAS-6166
  • Tonight! (1961) UAS-6171
  • Golden Themes From Motion Pictures (1962) UAS-6210
  • Pianos In Paradise (1962) UAS-6230
  • Snowbound (1962) UAS-6233
  • The Keys To Her Apartment (1962) UAS-6247
  • Love Themes From Cleopatra (1963) UAS-6290
  • Holiday For Pianos (1963) UAS-6298
  • Concert For Lovers (1963) UAS-6315
  • Fifty Fabulous Favorites (1964)UAS-6343
  • My Fair Lady (1964) UAS-6361
  • The People's Choice (1964) UAS-6385
  • Springtime (1964) UAS-6406
  • By Popular Demand (1965) UAS-6416
  • Only The Best (1965) UAS-6434
  • A Rage To Live OST (1965) UAS-5130
  • The Ferrante & Teicher Concert-Part 1 (1965) UAS-6444
  • The Ferrante & Teicher Concert-Part 2 (1965) UAS-6475
  • For Lovers Of All Ages (1966) UAS-6483
  • You Asked For It!(1966) UAS-6526
  • We Wish You A Merry Christmas (1966) UAS-6536
  • The piano artistry (1967) S 21004 - Unart (Canada)
  • Our Golden Favorites (1967) UAS-6556
  • A Man & A Woman (1967) UAS-6572
  • In the Heat Of The Night (1967) UAS-6624
  • Live For Life (1967) UAS-6632
  • The Painted Desert (1968) UAS-6636
  • A Bouquet Of Hits (1968) UAS-6659
  • Love In The Generation Gap (1968) UAS-6671
  • Listen To the Movies With Ferrante & Teicher (1969) UAS-6701
  • Midnight Cowboy (1969) UAS-6725

1970s

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1980s

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  • 30th Anniversary-On Stage (1984) Avant-Garde (Bainbridge) AVG-1001
  • A Few Of Our Favorites-On Stage (1985) Avant-Garde (Bainbridge) AVG-1002
  • American Fantasy-On Stage (1986) Avant-Garde (Bainbridge) AVG-1003
  • Dos Amigos (1988) Avant-Garde (Bainbridge) AVG-1004

1990s

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  • 40th Anniversary-On Stage (1992) Avant-Garde (Intersound) AVG-1005
  • All-Time Great Motion Picture Themes (1993) 0777-7-98823-2
  • The Ferrante & Teicher Collection (1998) Avant-Garde (Varese Sarabande Vintage) AVG-1006

2000s

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  • The Sound Of Music (2000) Avant-Garde/Varese Sarabande Records AVG-1007
  • Denizens Of The Deep (2001) Avant-Garde /Varese Sarabande Records 302 066 261 2
  • Can-Can and Me & Juliet/Continental Holiday (2001) Sony/Collectables Records CDL-CD-6692
  • Christmas Is So Special (2000) 724352905720
  • Great 1970's Motion Picture Themes (2001) 72435-30518-2
  • America Forever (2002) Avant-Garde/Varese Sarabande Records 302 066 312 2

Track appearances

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  • Filme, Die Man Nicht Vergisst United Artists Records
  • Music To Read James Bond By United Artists Records
  • Dusty Fingers Volume One "Lady Love" Strictly Breaks Records 1997
  • Ultra-Lounge - Christmas Cocktails Part Two Capitol Records 1997
  • Ultra-Lounge Vol. 16 - Mondo Hollywood Capitol Records 1997
  • The Best Of Blue Juice Blue Note 2001
  • Hard To Find Orchestral Instrumentals II Eric Records 2003

References

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  1. ^ Lanza, Joseph (2004). Elevator Music: A Surreal History of Muzak, Easy-Listening, and Other Moodsong. University of Michigan Press. pp. 98–100. ISBN 978-0472089420.
  2. ^ Whitburn, Jowl (2004). The Billboard Book of Top 40 Hits. Billboard Books. p. 221. ISBN 978-0823074990.
  3. ^ Davis, Stephen (2003). Walk This Way: The Autobiography of Aerosmith. It Books. pp. 19–20. ISBN 978-0060515805. {{cite book}}: More than one of |author= and |last= specified (help)
  4. ^ Smith, Jeff (1998). The Sounds of Commerce. Columbia University Press. p. 39. ISBN 978-0231108638.
  5. ^ Dunning, John (1998). On the Air: The Encyclopedia of Old-Time Radio. Oxford University Press. p. 744. ISBN 978-0195076783.
  6. ^ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'Module:Citation/CS1/Suggestions' not found.
  7. ^ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'Module:Citation/CS1/Suggestions' not found.
  8. ^ "NME Artists". NME.
  9. ^ Thedeadrockstarsclub.com 1 - accessed April 2011
  10. ^ Thedeadrockstarsclub.com 2 - accessed April 2011
  11. ^ Arthur Ferrante dies at 88, Los Angeles Times
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