Donald's Encyclopedia of Popular Music

A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

FLORENCE, Bob

(b 20 May 1932, Los Angeles CA; d 15 May 2008, Thousand Oaks CA) Pianist, composer, arranger, leader and educator. He studied classical piano, but switched to jazz at age 19, turned on by Duke Ellington, Count Basie and Woody Herman. In 1959 he wrote arrangements for Harry James, and found more work with drummer Louie Bellson and bandleader Si Zentner, arranging Hoagy Carmichael's 1932 song 'Up A Lazy River' for Zentner's Billboard chart hit in 1961. He also wrote for Doc Severinsen, the leader of the in-house big band on the Johnny Carson Tonight show.

Florence was nominated for Grammy awards 16 times, winning Best Large Jazz Ensemble Performance in 2000 with his album Serendipity 18. He won Emmys for Outstanding Achievement in Music Direction, for the 1981 CBS program Linda In Wonderland with Linda Lavin (b 15 October 1937, Portland ME; award-winning Broadway and TV singer and actress), and for the 1990 PBS show Julie Andrews in Concert. He also played piano for singers and TV stars including Vikki Carr, Dean Martin, Andy Williams and Red Skelton.

His many recordings included two sets accompanying guitarist Joe Pass on Pacific Jazz/World Pacific in the mid-1960s, and he arranged Bud Shank's Michelle, an album of pop songs which also featured Chet Baker on flugelhorn, reaching no. 56 on the Billboard pop album chart '66. He was an inspiring and much-loved teacher, at Centrum, a music and arts center based at Fort Worden State Park in Port Townsend WA, where he led workshops at its annual jazz festival, and leading his own West Coast big band Limited Edition for many years.