Ettore Stratta
Ettore Stratta (1933-2015) was an Italian-American musician, composer, conductor, producer and music industry executive. He was a renowned record producer and conductor, who worked extensively across the popular, jazz and classical music realms, including many projects (such as his Symphonic Elvis album) that fused elements of several genres.
Biography
Stratta was born on 30 March 1933 in Cuneo, Italy. He studied piano and composition at the Conservatorio di Santa Cecilia in Rome.
After migrating to the US, Sratta became an A&R executive at Columbia Records in the 1960s. In 1967 he was instrumental in helping producer Rachel Elkind and composer-musician Wendy Carlos to secure a contract with Columbia, which led to the release of the hit album Switched-On Bach (1968), which won three Grammy awards and became the best-selling classical album of all time.
Stratta produced hundreds of recordings including titles by Barbra Streisand, Dave Brubeck, Tony Bennett, Nini Rosso, Andy Williams and others, and produced foreign language recordings of Broadway musicals. He had his own orchestra called Fantasy Strings and made more than 25 recordings of some of American Songbook compositions.
Stratta produced symphonic recordings that included such jazz artists as Al Jarreau, Dori Caymmi, Hubert Laws and Paquito D’Rivera, and was a resident or guest conductor for many major orchestras including the London Symphony Orchestra, Melbourne Symphony, Adelaide Symphony Orchestra, St Lukes Symphony Orchestra, and L’ Orchestra de Lille in France. He was involved in many jazz-classical recordings, working with artists such as Stephane Grappelli, Lena Horne, Dave Grusin, Ramsey Lewis, Nancy Wilson, Hank Jones, Toots Thielemans, Dick Hyman, and Michel Legrand.
Stratta was also a prolific composer—his song “Forget the Woman” recorded by Tony Bennett and many others.
Stratta served as musical director in England for major concerts with Gregory Hines, Nancy Wilson, Stephane Grappelli, Vic Damone, Michel Legrand, Rita Coolidge and others. He also presented concerts starring Stephane Grappelli, George Shearing's 80th, Thielemans, D’Rivera and Antonio Carlos Jobim's last major concert, plus a series of Brazilian music projects called “All Jobim and More.”
Stratta died in New York on 9 July 2015 at the age of 82.
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