Lennie Niehaus, Who Set Eastwood's Films to Music, Dies at 90 (NYT)
Richard Sandomir
By Richard Sandomir
June 10, 2020
Lennie Niehaus, who became well known as an alto saxophonist and arranger for the jazz bandleader Stan Kenton in the 1950s before turning to a career as a composer of film scores, notably for Clint Eastwood movies like “Bird” and “Unforgiven,” died on May 28 at his daughter’s home in Redlands, in Southern California. He was 90.
His son-in-law, Owen Sheeran, said the cause was probably heart-related.
Mr. Niehaus had been with the Kenton band for several months when he was drafted into the Army in 1952. He played in the base band at Fort Ord in Northern California and in a quartet that performed at noncommissioned officers’ clubs where Mr. Eastwood, a jazz lover, was a regular.
He returned to Kenton’s band in 1954 and remained until 1959, but he did not reconnect with Mr. Eastwood until the 1970s. By then, Mr. Niehaus was orchestrating scores for the composer Jerry Fielding, including some for movies starring Mr. Eastwood, including “The Outlaw Josey Wales” (1976).
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more: https://www.nytimes.com/2020/06/10/movies/lennie-niehaus-dead.html?campaign_id=9&emc=edit_nn_20200611&instance_id=19296&nl=the-morning®i_id=81904417&segment_id=30654&te=1&user_id=cbf876d4d6aa4869bb72862a58731bff
Funny, I recognized the name as a jazz alto and arranger but had no idea he scored for films (I don't pay much attention to films). His active playing career ended a few years earlier than I would have thought -- his discography lists mostly performances from the late 50's. More of his work is listed at Wikipedia.
