Burns, Ralph

Burns, Ralph

(1922–  ) musician; born in Newton, Mass. An innovative modern jazz arranger, he attended the New England Conservatory of Music in 1938–39. He began with Charlie Barnet in New York as a pianist-arranger from 1940–43, then played with Red Norvo for a year. He joined Woody Herman in 1944 and served as his staff arranger until 1954, helping to establish the distinctive style of Herman's First, Second, and Third Herds. In the late 1940s, Herman recorded Burns's highly-acclaimed compositions, "Summer Sequence" and "Early Autumn," the latter introducing Stan Getz. In 1955, Burns began working exclusively on commercial recording sessions with singers and for television and film soundtracks.

The Cambridge Dictionary of American Biography, by John S. Bowman. Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1995. Reproduced with permission.