Friday,
February 23,
Obit: Al Viola, 87; Frank Sinatra
Accompanist for 25 years
The
ANNOTICO Report
Al
Viola was born in
Viola first met Sinatra after the war when the singer dropped
in to hear him as part of the Page Cavanaugh Trio in a club on Sunset
Boulevard. Sinatra liked them so much, that he took the trio to
Sinatra
called him "one of the world's great guitarists. I think he plays
beautifully. As a matter of fact, if you weren't looking at him, you'd swear he
was an octopus."
"Viola
was a chameleon and could play in any style that was his great talent," said
jazz singer Judy Chamberlain,
"He was a flawless player," "You could barely see his hands move, he was so smooth and quick with his fingers. He was a
marvel of dexterity on the guitar, even until the end."
Jazz musician Buddy Collette said : "Once you
played with him, you knew how great he was. He had his own way of playing, his
own style; you could tell within a couple of bars who it was. And you could ask
him to play anything. He had a background that was unbelievable.
"What
I enjoyed most about working with Sinatra is that he was
unpredictable," Viola said. "When I accompanied him, I couldn't quite
predict where he was going, which made it challenging and exciting. He always
surprised me on stage. Although he wasn't known as a jazz singer, he ad-libbed
like one and wouldn't sing a song the same way twice."
OBITUARIES
By
Dennis McLellan, Times Staff Writer
February 23, 2007
Al Viola, a versatile guitarist best known for his
long association with Frank Sinatra and his memorable mandolin playing on
"The Godfather" soundtrack, has died. He was 87.
Viola died of cancer Wednesday at his home in
Viola, who arrived in
"He was a chameleon and could play in any style that was his great talent," said
jazz singer Judy Chamberlain, a friend who performed with Viola in many
settings, including a jazz salute to Sinatra at the Hollywood & Highland
Center in 2005.
"He was a flawless player," she said. "You could barely see his
hands move, he was so smooth and quick with his
fingers. He was a marvel of dexterity on the guitar, even until the end."
Said jazz musician Buddy Collette: "Once you played with him, you knew how
great he wa s. He had his
own way of playing, his own style; you could tell within a couple of bars who
it was. And you could ask him to play anything. He had a background that was
unbelievable."
Sinatra, with whom Viola worked for about 25 years on recordings, TV specials,
Las Vegas appearances and concerts, offered his own distinctive praise of Viola
during a concert at the Lido in Paris in 1962, which can be heard on the 1994
CD "Sinatra and Sextet: Live in Paris."
After finishing a free-form vocal-guitar duet of Cole Porter's "Night and
Day" with Viola, Sinatra called him "one of the world's great
guitarists. I think he plays beautifully. As a matter of fact, if you weren't
looking at him, you'd swear he was an octopus."
For Viola, the positive feelings were mutual.
"I had to turn down a lot of work to go on a world tour with him for 10
weeks," Viola told Guitar Player magazine in 1994, "but I liked what
he was puttin' down."
Viola, whose work wit h Sinatra took him from the Sands Hotel in
He first met Sinatra after the war when the singer dropped in to hear the Page
Cavanaugh Trio in a club on Sunset Boulevard. Sinatra liked them so much, Viola
later recalled, that he took the trio to
The trio also did a recording session at Columbia Records with Sinatra, turning
out two sides: "That's How Much I Love You" and "You Can Take My
Word for It, Baby."
After quitting the trio in 1949, Viola remained in
He worked in the recording studio and occasionally did local gigs with the big bands of Harry James, Ray
Anthony, Les Brown and Nelson Riddle. He also worked with jazz groups, incl uding playing with Collette,
Red Callender, Bobby Troup, Terry Gibbs and Shelly Manne.
"When I was working with Bobby Troup [in the mid-'50s], one of Sinatra's
buddies heard me and told me that Frank needed a guitar player," Viola
recalled in an interview on his website.
"What I enjoyed most about working with Frank is that he was
unpredictable," Viola said. "When I accompanied him, I couldn't quite
predict where he was going, which made it challenging and exciting. He always
surprised me on stage. Although he wasn't known as a jazz singer, he ad-libbed
like one and wouldn't sing a song the same way twice."
As a studio musician, Viola appeared on more than 500 albums with artists such
as Julie London, Steve Lawrence, Marvin Gaye, Neil Diamond, Linda Ronstadt and Natalie Cole.
In addition to being the solo mandolinist who
performed the classic "Godfather" theme, he played on numerous TV and
film soundtracks, including "West Side Story," "Who's Afr aid of Virginia Woolf?" and "Blazing
Saddles."
Born in
"My
brother, who played mandolin, needed someone to accompany him, so he taught me
a few chords on guitar to play behind him," Viola recalled on his website.
Teaming up with a violinist friend, they began playing duets in their
neighborhood and performed in Chinese restaurants.
"My mother thought I was robbing the bank because I was bringing home $22
a week during the Depression!" he recalled.
While stationed in
After arriving in
More than 60 years later, Viola was still playing. His final performance was at
Spazio, a jazz supper club in Sherman Oaks, in late
January.
"He played great that night too," Glenna Viola said.
In addition to his wife of 62 years, Viola is survived by his two sons, Dan and
Jeff; and a granddaughter.
A funeral service for Viola will be held at 3 p.m. Monday at Church of the
Hills, Forest Lawn Memorial-Park,
http://www.latimes.com/news/obituaries/
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