Columnist Joe Delaney: Riddle’s answer: Let’s return to Sinatra era

Joe Delaney

Friday, Aug. 2, 2002 | 9:01 a.m.

The Nelson Riddle Orchestra, directed by Riddle's son Christopher, will play for dancing and/or delightful listening, starting at 7 p.m. Saturday in the Stardust Ballroom ... Doors open at 6 p.m. and admission is $15 ... Nelson Riddle is best known for his arrangements for Frank Sinatra during his swinging Capitol Records years in the 1950s and 1960s.

Such Sinatra classics as "The Lady Is a Tramp," "The Tender Trap," "I've Got You under My Skin," "You Make Me Feel So Young," "Young at Heart," his comeback song in the mid-1950s, "It Happened In Monterey," and "I've Got the World on a String" are just a few of the Riddle arrangements featured during those definitive decades.

Five of this columnist's favorite Sinatra albums were in collaboration with Riddle: "In the Wee Small Hours," "Only the Lonely," "Nice 'n' Easy," "Songs for Young Lovers" and "Songs for Swinging Lovers."

Even earlier, also on Capitol, Riddle arranged three million-record sellers for Nat "King" Cole: "Mona Lisa," "Too Young," and the now classic "Unforgettable." In the early 1970s Hilton musical director Joe Guercio took the Riddle chart and persuaded Natalie Cole to sing it onstage as a duet with her father.

Fifteen years later, she recorded "Unforgettable," that version of the duet with her dad, resulting in platinum single and album sales and multiple 1991 Grammy Awards -- 26 years after her dad's death ... Rosemary Clooney, Bing Crosby, Ella Fitzgerald, Judy Garland, the HiLos, Peggy Lee, Dean Martin and Linda Ron- stadt are other beneficiaries of Riddle arrangements.

On his own, Riddle had a 1956 gold record with "Lisbon Antiqua," received an Academy Award for his writing in the 1975 film, "The Great Gatsby" and Grammy Awards as an arranger in 1958 for his "Cross Country Suite," and in 1983 for "What's New," and 1985 (the year of his death) for "Lush Life," both albums of great standards sung by Ronstadt.

Saturday evening in the Stardust Ballroom should be a perfect night for dancing, listening and just reminiscing ... As a companion piece, powerful reading, we recommend the book, "September in the Rain, The Life of Nelson Riddle," written by Peter J. Levinson, published by Billboard Books, the first covering Riddle's painful yet prolific life.

Levinson is also the author of "Trumpet Blues: The Life of Harry James," now in its fourth printing and available in paperback ... In both books, Levinson captures the essence of his subject, warts and all ... These are thoroughly researched full-life stories, great documentation. Each is a must for all music lovers, libraries and research centers.

It's all there ... Riddle's mother from hell; the first wife, an alcoholic; and the second wife, his mother all over again ... The formative period with Tommy Dorsey; the halcyon years writing arrangements for Sinatra, et al.; the fallout with Frank; the down period; and the renaissance at the start of the 1980s, with Linda Ronstadt and two more Grammy Awards.

Weekend wrap-up

The Las Vegas International Mariachi Festival returns to the Aladdin Theatre for the Performing Arts this year, Sept. 14 at 8 p.m., starring Ana Gabriel, Alicia Villarreal, Antonio Aguilar Jr., and the World's Finest Mariachis: Mariachi Sol de Mexico de Jose Hernandez, Mariachi Los Caporales, and Mariachi Estrellas de Mexico.

Friday is Jazz Night at Pogo's; Friday and Saturday, it's the Bill Trujillo Quartet (Anthem's Trumpets Lounge); also on Saturday, it's Ronni DiFillips, Jimmy Russell and Chuck Diamond (Zodie's); and the Lon Bronson Orchestra (Riviera); Sundays, catch the Mellowtones (JW Marriott); and Mondays, Gus Mancuso, Santo Savino and special guests (Bootlegger).

Please support the Sun Summer Camp Fund; it's so important ... Enjoy your weekend ... See you next Thursday.