Reisman, Joe

Joe Reisman (b. Dallas, TX, 16 Sept. 1924, d. Los Angeles, CA, 15 Sept. 1987) was raised in Ennis, Texas, and attended Baylor University, Texas Western College and Texas Christian University before starting his music career as a saxophonist and arranger with the Herb Miller band. Through the late 1940s he also toured with and arranged for Jimmy Joy, Bob Crosby, Jack Teagarden, Louis Prima, Glen Gray, Sam Donahue, Frankie Masters and Johnny “Scat” Davis.

Reisman met Patti Page when both were in the Joy band, and from 1950 - 1955 he was her principal arranger and conductor. His arrangements for Page included the major hits Tennesee Waltz, Doggie In The Window, Changing Partners, Cross Over The Bridge, I Went To Your Wedding, Mocking Bird Hill and Mr. and Mrs. Mississippi . He also arranged for her television series Scott Music Hall Presents Patti Page and Oldsmobile Presents Patti Page, and composed and produced the main title and prologue music for the film Indiscretions Of An American Wife (1953), performed by Page.

In 1955, after Reisman arranged Perry Como’s hit Papa Loves Mambo, RCA Victor hired him as Musical Director and Artists and Repertoire producer. He remained there until 1959, when he began a three-year stint as AandR director at Roulette Records, after which he freelanced before returning to RCA in 1963. In 1968 Reisman was promoted to Manager and Executive Producer in charge of RCA’s west coast AandR department. In the early 1970s Reisman left RCA to establish his own company, Manor Productions, where he continued to produce until his death.

In addition to Page and Como, Reisman’s clients over the course of his career included Jack Jones, June Valli, Sunny Gale, the Ames Brothers, Johnny Ray, Julius La Rosa, Vic Damone, the Four Lads, Georgia Gibbs, Lena Horne, Lorne Greene, Rouvaun, Ann Margret, Jimmie Rodgers, Sarah Vaughan, and, for over 20 years and dozens of film, television and album projects, Henry Mancini. As a freelance producer, arranger and conductor he worked with Vic Damone, Robert Mitchum, Jerry Vale and Lou Monte. His work at RCA also produced a series of easy-listening albums for subscribers to Reader’s Digest . In his last years Reisman mainly worked with Henry Mancini and John Williams and the Boston Pops Orchestra. His resume lists at least 18 singles or albums that sold over a million copies.

In addition to producing his clients, Reisman arranged and produced his own records. He released three on Roulette: Great American Waltzes (Roulette R-25089), Joe Reisman Salutes The All-Time Instrumental Favorites (Roulette R-25082) and Instrumental Imports (Roulette R-25114). At RCA he released four more: Party Night At Joe's (RCA LPM-1476), Door of Dreams (RCA LPM-1519), Walt Disney - Songs For The Family (RCA LPM-1119) and Today’s Hits - Tomorrow’s Memories (RCA LSP-2051). He also directed and arranged for the ensemble Orchestra ’70 . Reisman’s composition Joey’s Song was a hit for many other artists, including Bill Haley and the Comets.

Reisman occasionally took on television and theatrical music projects of his own. These included the Sid and Marty Krofft production Les Poupees De Paris (1964), for which he arranged the music of Sammy Cahn and Jimmy Van Heusen, incidental music for the play Infidel Caesar (1969), and soundtracks for the television series The Cop And The Kid (1975) and The Aeromeds (1976).

Source:

“Joe Reisman”, Space Age Pop Music Page (Accessed 9 Nov. 2005), http://www.spaceagepop.com

From the guide to the Joe Reisman scores, 1945-1986, (The New York Public Library. Music Division.)