Talk:Nelson Riddle

Linda Ronstadt

I think there should be a citation concerning Linda's comments about working with Riddle. Where did those quotes come from?

..To the talk session person above: I DID NOT WRITE THOSE WORDS, but I have my own story... the son of Nelson Riddle, who I met my chance years ago in Florida, after his father's passing, told me that Miss Ronstadt revived his father's career, and he was deeply grateful to her. I am a contributor here, and I never try to lie or demean anyone. It was a chance meeting where I heard it from a family member. Thanks for letting me share. I think the whole story speaks for itself. I am a great fan of Miss Ronstadt, and I am grateful to her for turning me on to the great standards. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 70.211.6.167 (talk) 03:33, 26 March 2008 (UTC)

Film & TV Work

I thought Jerry Goldsmith wrote the theme for Man from U.N.C.L.E. ? US 71 02:25, 28 June 2006 (UTC)

Billboard's site[1] lists Riddle as having done some orchestration for that series. However, UNCLE sites list a number of composers who did that (and not Riddle, in the ones I saw). Goldsmith certainly wrote the title theme. Similar situation with the tv series Batman. Riddle did not write the theme music, but did work on the series - and put out an LP. Karen 16:14, 2 July 2006 (UTC)

"Later years" subjective phrasing

"Riddle's music from Batman was only issued on one soundtrack LP and one 45 RPM and sadly many of his tracks had clips and sound effects from the series in them ruining them for true fans of not only Riddle's music but from the TV series itself."

"Sadly" and "true" are subjective and should be removed. Also, there are punctuation issues (mostly missing commas). Also, no citations are given for the above.--Skaizun (talk) 11:16, 22 December 2012 (UTC)

Age

According to my calculator, 1985-1921 = 64 years. Why does the Box claim he was 69 when he died? In the box there seems to be an additional year added in there - 1915. Why? ExTwoZero (talk) 23:52, 16 February 2013 (UTC)

Wikipedia Editor Review of the book Arranged by Nelson Riddle

I've recently bought the book (secondhand):

Arranged by Nelson Riddle: The Definitive Study of Arranging by America's #1 Composer, Arranger and Conductor (Warner Bros 1985) ISBN 9780897249546

The book is an excellent introduction on how to score for instruments especially in the field of Jazz and Popular music. Riddle avoids the normal ego-driven complexity that some authors display - so no Schoenberg methodology or pedantic chord clusters - instead the reader is given practical examples including advice on scoring for banjo and other specialized instruments (basically no one is ever going to write a symphony for banjo yet countless films and adverts rely on its power to evoke a sense of folk tradition especially in relation to ragtime music, etc) and excellent advice on scoring for drums including a classic tip on don't tell the drummer that he has to play it exactly as written.

All through the book Riddle describes how he has had to seek advice from players. There are also many observations such as:

"In Gershwin's Porgy and Bess, the banjo is prominent in "I've Got Plenty of Nothin'". The melody is doubled with bassoon. As you can see, the banjo can be utilized in many ways by the arranger."

and

"The smallest section of saxes usually consists of a trio; two E flat altos, plus one B flat tenor, though in what was known as "Society Tenor Bands", three B flat tenors were used."

The above examples would be considered "beginner's stuff" by experienced composers but is fit for purpose and Riddle is to be highly commended for avoiding the mistake that many authors make of " expert writing for other experts".

Excellent book and surprisingly seems to be out of print. For musicians who read notation it would be an excellent purchase and hopefully you can find a copy on the shelves of your music department at your college or university.

I've had Orchestration by Piston for years but it focuses on Classical scoring whereas Riddle seems to know that students may need "bread and butter" examples for modern mediums such as television, film and stage. As you can tell I've very happy to have found this book now if only I could stop Wikipedia editing and...

Sluffs (talk) 00:36, 15 July 2013 (UTC)

The Untouchables

Riddle composed the theme for the American TV series 'The Untouchables.' — Preceding unsigned comment added by 71.255.165.232 (talk) 10:56, 25 December 2013 (UTC)

Yes; that's on the long list of similar works at Nelson Riddle discography. Klbrain (talk) 14:26, 26 January 2024 (UTC)