Don Sebesky obituary

Legendary American composer, arranger, conductor, and jazz trombonist keyboardist Don Sebesky has died. Sebesky was born on December 10, 1937 and died on April 29, 2023 at age 85.

Sebesky trained in trombone at the Manhattan School of Music and in his early career, he played with Kai Winding, Claude Thornhill, Tommy Dorsey, Warren Covington, Maynard Ferguson and Stan Kenton.

In 1960, Sebesky began devoting himself primarily to arranging and conducting — one of his best-known arrangements was for Wes Montgomery’s 1965 album Bumpin’.

His song “Memphis Two-Step” was the title track of the Herbie Mann 1971 album of the same name. His 1973 release, Giant Box, hit #16 on the U.S. Billboard Jazz Albums chart.

Porgy and Bess (London production by Trevor Nunn), Sinatra at the Palladium, Sweet Charity, Kiss Me, Kate, Bells Are Ringing, Flower Drum Song, Parade, The Life, Cyrano, The Goodbye Girl, The Will Rogers Follies, Sinatra at Radio City, Pal Joey, Come Fly Away, Baby It’s You!, and Honeymoon In Vegas are among his Broadway theater credits.

Sebesky’s television work has received three Emmy nominations: Allegra’s Window on Nickelodeon, The Edge of Night on ABC, and Guiding Light on CBS.

He also wrote film scores for The People Next Door (1970), F. Scott Fitzgerald and ‘The Last of the Belles’ (1974), and The Rosary Murders (1987).

Sebesky was nominated for 31 Grammy Awards and won three in the 1990s, including Best Instrumental Arrangement for “Waltz for Debby” (1998) and “Chelsea Bridge” (1999), and Best Instrumental Composition for “Joyful Noise Suite” (1999).

He won the Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Orchestrations twice, for Parade (1999) and Kiss Me, Kate(2000). For the revival of Kiss Me, Kate, Sebesky won a Tony Award for Best Orchestrations (2000).

Sebesky is survived by his wife Janina Serden and their daughters Olivia and Elizabeth, sons Ken and Kelvin and daughters Ali and Cymbaline from a previous marriage.