Lennie Niehaus facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Lennie Niehaus
Lennie Niehaus in the late 1950s
Background information
Birth name	Leonard Niehaus
Born	(1929-06-01)June 1, 1929 St. Louis, Missouri
Died	May 28, 2020(2020-05-28) (aged 90) Redlands, California
Genres	Jazz, West Coast jazz, film music
Occupation(s)	Composer, arranger, orchestrator
Instruments	Alto saxophone
Labels	Contemporary
Associated acts	Stan Kenton, Bill Perkins, Shelly Manne, Jerry Fielding, Clint Eastwood

Leonard Niehaus (born June 1, 1929 – died May 28, 2020) was a talented American musician. He was known for playing the alto saxophone and for creating music as a composer and arranger. He was a big part of the West Coast jazz music scene.

Lennie Niehaus played with the famous Stan Kenton Orchestra. He also wrote many of their musical arrangements. Later in his career, he worked closely with actor and director Clint Eastwood, composing and arranging music for many of Eastwood's movies.

A Musician's Journey

Early Life and Musical Training

Lennie Niehaus was born in St. Louis, Missouri, on June 1, 1929. His father was a violinist who played music for silent films. His sister was also a concert pianist, so music was a big part of his family.

Lennie started playing the violin at age seven. He then learned the bassoon. When he was thirteen, he began playing the alto saxophone and clarinet. Around this time, he also started writing his own music.

After finishing high school in 1946, Lennie studied music in college. He earned a degree in music education in 1951. He began his professional career playing and arranging music for Phil Carreón and His Orchestra in Los Angeles.

Playing with Stan Kenton

After college, Lennie joined the Stan Kenton Orchestra in 1951. He toured with them for six months. His time with the band was paused when he joined the United States Army in 1952. He served for two years in California.

After leaving the Army in 1954, he rejoined Stan Kenton's band. He became the main alto saxophonist and stayed for five more years. Lennie wrote and arranged a lot of music for the band. He was also a featured soloist on many of their recordings.

He played the alto saxophone with the group longer than anyone else. In 1959, Lennie stopped playing his saxophone professionally to focus on writing music. He continued to arrange music for Kenton into the 1960s. He also wrote music for famous entertainers like Mel Tormé and Carol Burnett.

Music for TV and Movies

In 1962, when he was 33, Lennie Niehaus started writing music for television and film composer Jerry Fielding. He worked with Fielding on about 70 TV shows and movies. Some of these included Hogan's Heroes, Charlie's Angels, and The Bad News Bears.

After Jerry Fielding passed away, Lennie became a leading film composer himself. He always wrote all the parts for his musical scores, meaning he did not use other writers to help him.

Lennie always remembered his jazz roots when writing for films. For example, in the movie City Heat (1984), which was set in the 1930s, he wrote jazz music from that time. He even hired musicians who could play in the style of famous jazz artists.

Working with Clint Eastwood

Lennie Niehaus had a very important working relationship with Clint Eastwood. They first met when they were both serving in the U.S. Army in the 1950s. They both loved jazz music.

Lennie first arranged music for movies starring Eastwood, like Tightrope (1984). But he wrote his first full movie score for an Eastwood-directed film called Pale Rider in 1985. He then wrote the music for twelve more of Eastwood's films, up until Blood Work (2002). He also arranged music for six more of Eastwood's movies, including Gran Torino (2008).

Lennie won several awards for his music in Eastwood's films, including for Heartbreak Ridge (1986) and Unforgiven (1992).

One of their most special projects was the 1988 movie Bird. This film was about the famous jazz musician Charlie Parker. Lennie's music for Bird was nominated for a BAFTA Award. It also won an award from the Los Angeles Film Critics. This was because the movie used special technology to take Charlie Parker's original saxophone solos and add new music around them.

Other Award-Winning Scores

Lennie Niehaus also wrote music for another jazz-related TV movie in 1993 called Lush Life. He won a Primetime Emmy Award for his music in this film. He was nominated for another Emmy in 2008.

Later Works and Teaching

Lennie Niehaus also wrote other musical pieces, like a Spiritual Jazz Suite and several Christmas Jazz suites. He also wrote books to help people learn about jazz music and how to play jazz saxophone.

After many years, Lennie started playing his alto saxophone again. He led his own octet (an eight-person band) on his album Sunday Afternoons At The Lighthouse Cafe (2004).

Final Years

In his later years, Lennie Niehaus continued to play with jazz groups in the Los Angeles area. He passed away in Redlands, California, at the age of 90.

Selected Music Albums

• Volume 1: The Quintets (1954)
• Volume 2: The Octet, No. 1 (1954)
• Volume 3: The Octet, No. 2 (1955)
• Volume 4: The Quintets and Strings (1955)
• Volume 5: The Sextet (1958)
• Zounds! (1958)
• I Swing for You (1957)
• The Lennie Niehaus Quintet: Live at Capozzoli's (2000)

With Stan Kenton

• Popular Favorites by Stan Kenton (1953)
• The Kenton Era (1955)
• Contemporary Concepts (1955)
• Kenton in Hi-Fi (1956)
• Kenton with Voices (1957)
• Rendezvous with Kenton (1957)
• Back to Balboa (1958)
• The Ballad Style of Stan Kenton (1958)
• The Stage Door Swings (1958)
• Kenton Live from the Las Vegas Tropicana (1961)
• Sophisticated Approach (1961)
• Adventures in Standards (1961)
• Stan Kenton! Tex Ritter! (1962)
• Stan Kenton / Jean Turner (1963)
• Kenton / Wagner (1964)

Selected TV and Movie Scores

• Faerie Tale Theatre (1984)
• Tightrope (1984)
• City Heat (1984)
• Pale Rider (1985)
• Follow that Bird (1985)
• Never Too Young to Die (1986)
• Ratboy (1986)
• Heartbreak Ridge (1986)
• Emanon (1987)
• Bird (1988)
• White Hunter Black Heart (1990)
• The Rookie (1990)
• Unforgiven (1992)
• Lush Life (TV movie, 1993)
• A Perfect World (1993)
• The Bridges of Madison County (1995)
• Dogwatch (1996)
• Absolute Power (1997)
• Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil (1997)
• Pocahontas II: Journey to a New World (1998)
• True Crime (1999)
• The Jack Bull (TV, 1999)
• Space Cowboys (2000)
• Blood Work (2002)
• Oprah Winfrey Presents: Mitch Albom's For One More Day (TV, 2007)

See also

In Spanish: Lennie Niehaus para niños

• List of jazz arrangers