Johnny Mandel(1925-2020)

Inducted into the ASCAP Jazz Wall of Fame in 2009 and the Songwriters Hall of Fame a year later, Johnny Mandel is perhaps best known as the composer of the iconic M*A*S*H (1972) theme song, "Suicide is Painless". Born and raised in Manhattan, he was the son of a garment manufacturer and an opera singer. Music was a major part of his family (an uncle was a writer of show tunes). Johnny learned to play piano, trumpet and trombone in quick succession and was mentored in arranging by Van Alexander. He refined his natural abilities by completing studies at the Manhattan School of Music and the prestigious Juilliard School. By his mid-teens, he worked with big bands, starting professionally in 1943 with the orchestra of violinist Joe Venuti. He became noted in the era as one of the most accomplished arrangers (also doubling on trombone until 1954), working for some of the most popular swing outfits like Artie Shaw, Boyd Raeburn, Jimmy Dorsey, Charlie Barnet, Alvino Rey, and Buddy Rich. By the mid-50s, he devoted his time primarily to arranging and writing jazz compositions, among many others, for Stan Getz, Count Basie and Woody Herman. His songs include standards like "The Straight Life", "Summer Wishes, Winter Dreams" and the beautiful love theme for the motion picture The Sandpiper (1965), "The Shadow of Your Smile", which won him an Academy Award for Best Original Song (shared with lyricist Paul Francis Webster, with whom he also collaborated on An American Dream (1966)). Mandel has worked on numerous film and TV soundtracks as composer and/or conductor/orchestrator. As arranger, he worked with some of the most famous recording artists, including Quincy Jones, Frank Sinatra, Natalie Cole (her "Unforgettable" album) and Barbra Streisand. A five-time Grammy Award winner, Mandel was a member of ASCAP from 1956 and served on the Board of Directors from 1989.