Stuart Scharf (1941 – November 8, 2007) was an American composer,

guitarist A guitarist (or a guitar player) is a person who plays the guitar. Guitarists may play a variety of guitar family instruments such as classical guitars, acoustic guitars, electric guitars, and bass guitars. Some guitarists accompany themselve ...

, and

record producer A record producer is a recording project's creative and technical leader, commanding studio time and coaching artists, and in popular genres typically creates the song's very sound and structure. Virgil Moorefield"Introduction" ''The Producer as ...

. Scharf grew up in Crown Heights and attended Winthrop Junior High School. Scharf graduated, with honors, from

CCNY The City College of the City University of New York (also known as the City College of New York, or simply City College or CCNY) is a public university within the City University of New York (CUNY) system in New York City. Founded in 1847, City ...

in 1962 (mathematics major). He was a friend of guitarist Jay Berliner, who influenced his career. In the early 1960s, Scharf was lead guitarist for folk-singer Leon Bibb. He also worked with arranger Walter Raim and folk-singer

Judy Collins Judith Marjorie Collins (born May 1, 1939) is an American singer-songwriter and musician with a career spanning seven decades. An Academy Award-nominated documentary director and a Grammy Award-winning recording artist, she is known for her ...

as well as bassist Bill Lee (father of

Spike Lee Shelton Jackson "Spike" Lee (born March 20, 1957) is an American film director, producer, screenwriter, and actor. His production company, 40 Acres and a Mule Filmworks, has produced more than 35 films since 1983. He made his directorial debut ...

). For several years he partnered with Martin Gersten, chief engineer of

WNCN WNCN (channel 17) is a television station licensed to Goldsboro, North Carolina, United States, serving the Research Triangle area as an affiliate of CBS. Owned by Nexstar Media Group, the station maintains studios on Front Street in north ...

, in a recording studio at 18 Jones Street in

Greenwich Village Greenwich Village ( , , ) is a neighborhood on the west side of Lower Manhattan in New York City, bounded by 14th Street to the north, Broadway to the east, Houston Street to the south, and the Hudson River to the west. Greenwich Village ...

. They shared this space with

folk music Folk music is a music genre that includes traditional folk music and the contemporary genre that evolved from the former during the 20th-century folk revival. Some types of folk music may be called world music. Traditional folk music has ...

broadcaster

Skip Weshner Theodore Stewart "Skip" Weshner (August 8, 1927 – December 22, 1996) was an American radio disc jockey on stations in New York City, New York and Los Angeles from the mid-1950s until the mid-1980s. In particular, he hosted a popular show on K ...

. Scharf was a prolific

studio musician Session musicians, studio musicians, or backing musicians are musicians hired to perform in recording sessions or live performances. The term sideman is also used in the case of live performances, such as accompanying a recording artist on a ...

in New York City in the 1960s, playing guitar with Chad Mitchell,

Janis Ian Janis Ian (born Janis Eddy Fink; April 7, 1951) is an American singer-songwriter who was most commercially successful in the 1960s and 1970s. Her signature songs are the 1966/67 hit " Society's Child (Baby I've Been Thinking)" and the 1975 Top T ...

Al Kooper Al Kooper (born Alan Peter Kuperschmidt; February 5, 1944) is a retired American songwriter, record producer and musician, known for organizing Blood, Sweat & Tears, although he did not stay with the group long enough to share its popularity. ...

, and

Carly Simon Carly Elisabeth Simon (born June 25, 1943) is an American singer-songwriter, memoirist, and children's author. She rose to fame in the 1970s with a string of hit records; her 13 Top 40 U.S. hits include " Anticipation" (No. 13), " The Right Thi ...

. He also had a producing partnership with

Bob Dorough Robert Lrod Dorough (December 12, 1923 – April 23, 2018) was an American bebop and cool jazz vocalist, pianist, composer, songwriter, arranger, and producer. Dorough became famous as the composer and performer of songs in the TV series ''School ...

for many years, and together they produced albums by

Spanky and Our Gang Spanky and Our Gang was an American 1960s sunshine pop band led by Elaine "Spanky" McFarlane. The band derives its name from Hal Roach's ''Our Gang'' comedies of the 1930s (known to modern audiences as ''The Little Rascals''), because of the s ...

. Scharf was the composer of Spanky and Our Gang's hit " Like to Get to Know You." In 1980, he moved to Hamilton Township, Monroe County, Pennsylvania, where he continued his recording business.

Discography

As sideman

With Charles Earland *''

Charles III Charles III (Charles Philip Arthur George; born 14 November 1948) is King of the United Kingdom and the 14 other Commonwealth realms. He was the longest-serving heir apparent and Prince of Wales and, at age 73, became the oldest person to ...

'' (Prestige, 1973) With

J. J. Johnson J.J. Johnson (January 22, 1924 – February 4, 2001), born James Louis Johnson and also known as Jay Jay Johnson, was an American jazz trombonist, composer and arranger. Johnson was one of the earliest trombonists to embrace bebop. Biograph ...

and Kai Winding *''

Betwixt & Between ''Betwixt & Between'' is an album by American jazz trombonists Kai Winding and J. J. Johnson featuring performances recorded in 1968 and released on the CTI label.

'' (A&M/CTI, 1969) With

*'' You Never Know Who Your Friends Are'' (Columbia, 1969) *'' Easy Does It'' (Columbia, 1970) *''

Naked Songs ''Naked Songs'' is the sixth album by American singer-songwriter Al Kooper for Columbia Records, released in 1973. Two singles were released in the fall of 1972, preceding the album. Background A contract-fulfilling release, coming months after ...

'' (Columbia, 1973) With

Hubert Laws Hubert Laws (born November 10, 1939) is an American flutist and saxophonist with a career spanning over 40 years in jazz, classical, and other music genres. Laws is one of the few classical artists who has also mastered jazz, pop, and rhyth ...

*''

The Rite of Spring ''The Rite of Spring''. Full name: ''The Rite of Spring: Pictures from Pagan Russia in Two Parts'' (french: Le Sacre du printemps: tableaux de la Russie païenne en deux parties) (french: Le Sacre du printemps, link=no) is a ballet and orchestral ...

'' (CTI, 1971) With

Pearls Before Swine A pearl is a hard, glistening object produced within the soft tissue (specifically the mantle) of a living shelled mollusk or another animal, such as fossil conulariids. Just like the shell of a mollusk, a pearl is composed of calcium carb ...

*'' Beautiful Lies You Could Live In'' (Reprise, 1971) With

Phil Woods Philip Wells Woods (November 2, 1931 – September 29, 2015) was an American jazz alto saxophonist, clarinetist, bandleader, and composer. Biography Woods was born in Springfield, Massachusetts. After inheriting a saxophone at age 12, he began ...

*'' Greek Cooking'' (Impulse!, 1967)

As producer

With

*'' Like to Get to Know You'' (Mercury, 1968) *''"Anything You Choose b/w Without Rhyme or Reason"'' (Mercury, 1969) wrote 6 songs for this album, including the politically-significant 'Give a Damn', which was adopted as a theme song by the New York Urban Coalition, and by New York Mayor John Lindsay during his 1969 re-election campaign.

Notes

American jazz composers American jazz guitarists People from Monroe County, Pennsylvania Guitarists from Pennsylvania 1941 births 2007 deaths Plastic Ono Band members Guitarists from New York City 20th-century American guitarists Jazz musicians from New York (state) Jazz musicians from Pennsylvania American male guitarists American male jazz composers People from Crown Heights, Brooklyn City College of New York alumni 20th-century jazz composers 20th-century American male musicians {{US-music-bio-stub