John E. Neel (September 21, 1930 – September 22, 1973)State of California. California Death Index, 1940-1997. Sacramento, CA, USA: State of California Department of Health Services, Center for Health Statistics, ''Ancestry.com''
Retrieved 22 January 2017 was an American

composer A composer is a person who writes music. The term is especially used to indicate composers of Western classical music, or those who are composers by occupation. Many composers are, or were, also skilled performers of music. Etymology and def ...

, conductor and musician, who recorded in the 1960s and early 1970s. Born in

Mobile, Alabama Mobile ( , ) is a city and the county seat of Mobile County, Alabama, United States. The population was 187,041 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. After a successful vote to annex areas west of the city limits in July 2023, Mobil ...

by the early 1960s he worked in

Los Angeles Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...

as a composer and conductor of film

soundtracks A soundtrack is a recorded audio signal accompanying and synchronised to the images of a book, drama, motion picture, radio program, television program, or video game; colloquially, a commercially released soundtrack album of music as featured ...

.John Neel, ''Discogs.com''
Retrieved 22 January 2017 In the late 1950s, he wrote cues for several TV westerns, like

Sugarfoot ''Sugarfoot'' is an American Western television series that aired for 69 episodes on ABC from 1957-1961 on Tuesday nights on a "shared" slot basis – rotating with ''Cheyenne'' (first season); ''Cheyenne'' and '' Bronco'' (both second and fo ...

and

Maverick Maverick or Maveric may refer to: History * Maverick (animal), an unbranded range animal, derived from U.S. cattleman Samuel Maverick Aviation * AEA Maverick, an Australian single-seat sportsplane design * General Aviation Design Bureau T-32 M ...

. Along with lyricist Roger Nichols, he also wrote the theme songs for the films

High School Caesar ''High School Caesar'' is a 1960 American film directed by O'Dale Ireland. Matt Stevens ( John Ashley) as the "guy with the power" at his high school but everyone despises him. He isn't, after all, known for his fairness and generosity. The ta ...

and

Date Bait ''Date Bait'' is a 1960 American film directed by O'Dale Ireland. Filmgroup released the film as a double feature with ''High School Caesar''. Plot U.S. film. Delinquent teenage drama! Two confused teenagers are in love and want to get hitched, ...

. In 1963, he composed and conducted the album '' Blue Martini'', which featured saxophonist

Plas Johnson Plas John Johnson Jr. () (born July 21, 1931) is an American soul-jazz and hard bop tenor saxophonist, probably most widely known as the tenor saxophone soloist on Henry Mancini’s " The Pink Panther Theme". He also performs on alto and bar ...

and was released by

Äva Records Äva Records was a short-lived American record company and label founded in 1961 by Fred Astaire, Elmer Bernstein, Jackie Mills, and Tommy Wolf. The original name was Choreo Records, but it was changed in 1962 to Äva Records, after Astaire's dau ...

. According to Neel, writing in the album's

liner notes Liner notes (also sleeve notes or album notes) are the writings found on the sleeves of LP record albums and in booklets that come inserted into the compact disc jewel case or cassette j-cards. Origin Liner notes are descended from the prog ...

, the recording aimed for a new "arrangement form" incorporating solo improvisations and an outer orchestral "shell". In 1969, Neel recorded a second album, '' John Neel's Amazing Marching Machine'', released by

Epic Records Epic Records is an American record label owned by Sony Music Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Corporation of America, the American division of Japanese conglomerate Sony is a Japanese multinational conglomerate (company), cong ...

.'John Neel's Amazing Marching Machine, ''Discogs.com''
Retrieved 22 January 2017 He also recorded for the

Paramount Paramount (from the word ''paramount'' meaning "above all others") may refer to: Entertainment and music companies * Paramount Global, also known simply as Paramount, an American mass media company formerly known as ViacomCBS. **Paramount Picture ...

label in the early 1970s. Neel died in California in 1973, aged 43.

References

1930 births 1973 deaths Äva Records artists {{US-jazz-musician-stub