Robert Frederick Graettinger (October 31, 1923 – March 12, 1957) was an American composer, best known for his work with

Stan Kenton Stanley Newcomb Kenton (December 15, 1911 – August 25, 1979) was an American popular music and jazz artist. As a pianist, composer, arranger and band leader, he led an innovative and influential jazz orchestra for almost four decades. Though ...

Biography

Graettinger grew up in

Ontario, California Ontario is a city in southwestern San Bernardino County, California, United States, east of downtown Los Angeles and west of downtown San Bernardino, the county seat. Located in the western part of the Inland Empire metropolitan area, it lies ...

, United States, learning to play the

saxophone The saxophone (often referred to colloquially as the sax) is a type of single-reed woodwind instrument with a conical body, usually made of brass. As with all single-reed instruments, sound is produced when a reed on a mouthpiece vibrates to p ...

in high school. While at school he also began arranging music. In the 1940s he played alto saxophone with

Benny Carter Bennett Lester Carter (August 8, 1907 – July 12, 2003) was an American jazz saxophonist, clarinetist, trumpeter, composer, arranger, and bandleader. With Johnny Hodges, he was a pioneer on the alto saxophone. From the beginning of his career ...

among others. Around this time he focused more on composing. In 1947 he offered a short composition, "Thermopylae", to Stan Kenton, who decided to record it. Graettinger then came up with "City of Glass", a four-part

tone poem A symphonic poem or tone poem is a piece of orchestral music, usually in a single continuous movement (music), movement, which illustrates or evokes the content of a poem, short story, novel, painting, landscape, or other (non-musical) source. T ...

. At this time he was studying composition under Russell Garcia. Graettinger's radical polystylistic soundworld, with its polyphonic density and bracing atonality, while drawing on ideas previously explored by the likes of

Charles Ives Charles Edward Ives (; October 20, 1874May 19, 1954) was an American modernist composer, actuary and businessman. Ives was among the earliest renowned American composers to achieve recognition on a global scale. His music was largely ignored d ...

Igor Stravinsky Igor Fyodorovich Stravinsky ( – 6 April 1971) was a Russian composer and conductor with French citizenship (from 1934) and American citizenship (from 1945). He is widely considered one of the most important and influential 20th-century c ...

Aaron Copland Aaron Copland (, ; November 14, 1900December 2, 1990) was an American composer, critic, writer, teacher, pianist, and conductor of his own and other American music. Copland was referred to by his peers and critics as the "Dean of American Compos ...

and even

Arnold Schoenberg Arnold Schoenberg or Schönberg (13 September 187413 July 1951) was an Austrian and American composer, music theorist, teacher and writer. He was among the first Modernism (music), modernists who transformed the practice of harmony in 20th-centu ...

, still remains truly distinctive. He died aged only 33, of lung cancer.

Discography

Capitol recordings with Stan Kenton

* ''

Thermopylae Thermopylae (; ; Ancient: , Katharevousa: ; ; "hot gates") is a narrow pass and modern town in Lamia (city), Lamia, Phthiotis, Greece. It derives its name from its Mineral spring, hot sulphur springs."Thermopylae" in: S. Hornblower & A. Spaw ...

'' (78) 1947 * '' Everything Happens To Me'' (78) 1947 * '' A Presentation of Progressive Jazz'' (includes "Thermopylae") * ''

Innovations in Modern Music ''Innovations in Modern Music'' is an album by pianist and bandleader Stan Kenton with his "Innovations" Orchestra featuring performances recorded in 1950 and originally released on the Capitol label.Vosbein, PStan Kenton Discographyaccessed Apr ...

'' (includes "Incident in Jazz") 1950 * '' Stan Kenton Presents'' (includes "House of Strings") 1950 * '' City of Glass'' (10") 1951 * '' The Kenton Era'' (includes "Modern Opus" and "You Go to My Head") 1952 * '' This Modern World'' 1953

The Ebony Big Band

* ''City of Glass: Robert Graettinger'' 1994 * ''The Ebony Big Band: Live at the Paradiso — Robert Graettinger'' 1998

Terry Vosbein and the Knoxville Jazz Orchestra

* ''Progressive Jazz 2009'' ax Frank Music2009

Arrangements and compositions created for Kenton

+ indicates original composition * Afternoon + (1948) * April in Paris (1948) * April in Paris (1949) oodwinds, brass, strings* Autumn in New York (1947) * Beachcomber, The + (1948) * Cello, A + (1952) * Cello Solo + (1951) * City of Glass + (1947) * City of Glass + (1951) * Condolence + (1948) * Cuban Pastorale + (1948) * Everything Happens to Me (1948) une Christy/vocal ith strings* Everything Happens to Me (1948) une Christy/vocal ithout strings* Fine and Dandy (1948) une Christy/vocal* Graettinger No.1 + (1949) ka Incident in Jazz* Graettinger No.2 + (1950) * Graettinger No.3 + (1950) * Horn, A + (1951) * House of Strings + (1950) * I Only Have Eyes for You (1948) * I'm in the Mood for Love (1947) * Irresistible You (1948) * Laura (1948) * Lover Man (1948) une Christy/vocal* Modern Opus + (1952) * Molshoaro + (1947) * Orchestra, An + (1953) * Piece for Flute and String Quartet + * Some Saxophones + (1953) * Suite for Small Orchestra + (1950) ka Above The Timberline * Suite for String Trio and Wind Quartet + (1953–57) * Theme (1946) + * Thermopylae + (1947) * Thought, A + (1947) * Thought, A + (1953) * Too Marvelous for Words (1948) * Transparency + (1952) * Trumpet, A + (1952) aynard Ferguson feature* Untitled n Three Tempi+ (1948) * Untitled Piece for Innovations Orchestra + (1950) * Untitled Piece for Jazz Band + * Untitled Piece for Jazz Band + (1948) * Untitled Piece for Jazz Band + (1952) * Untitled Piece for Jazz Band + (1952) Conte Candoli feature * Untitled Piece for Jazz Band + (1952) Frank Rosolino feature * Untitled Piece for Jazz Band + wo In One, parts 1 & 2(1952) * Untitled Piece for Jazz Band + (1948) nfinished* Untitled Piece for Strings + (1950) * Walkin' by the River * Yenta + * You Go To My Head (1953)