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Galt MacDermot

January 01, 1970

Arthur Terence Galt MacDermot (December 18, 1928 – December 17, 2018) was a Canadian-American composer, pianist and writer of musical theater. He won a Grammy Award for the song "African Waltz" in 1960. His most-successful musicals were Hair (1967; its cast album also won a Grammy) and Two Gentlemen of Verona (1971). MacDermot also composed music for film soundtracks, jazz and funk albums, and classical music, and his music has been sampled in hit hip-hop songs and albums. He is best known for his work on Hair, which produced three number-one singles in 1969: "Aquarius/Let the Sunshine In", "Good Morning Starshine", and the title song "Hair".

Galt MacDermot
Born
Arthur Terence Galt MacDermot

(1928-12-18)December 18, 1928
Montreal, Quebec, Canada
DiedDecember 17, 2018(2018-12-17) (aged 89)
Staten Island, New York, U.S.
EducationBishop's University
Cape Town University
Spouse
Marlene Bruynzeel
​
(m. 1956)​
Children5
RelativesTerence MacDermot (father)
Musical career
Genres
  • Musical theater
  • jazz
  • funk
  • classical music
  • film score
Occupation(s)
  • Composer
  • pianist
Years active1954–2018

Biography edit

External image
  Galt MacDermot in 2009.

MacDermot was born in Montreal, the son of Canadian diplomat Terence MacDermot and Elizabeth Savage.[1] He was educated at Upper Canada College and Bishop's University (Sherbrooke, Quebec, Canada). He received a bachelor's degree in music from Cape Town University, South Africa, and made a study of African music his specialty. He studied the piano privately with Neil Chotem.[2]

It was also during his time at Cape Town where he would meet his future wife, Marlene Bruynzeel, a clarinetist of Dutch descent. They married in 1956 and had five children.[1]

MacDermot won his first Grammy Award for the Cannonball Adderley recording of his song "African Waltz" (the title track of the album of the same name) in 1960.[3]

MacDermot moved to New York City in 1964 where, three years later, he wrote the music for the hit musical Hair, which he later adapted for the 1979 film of the same name.[4] Its Broadway cast album won a Grammy Award in 1969, and the musical generated three number-one singles that year: "Aquarius/Let the Sunshine In", "Good Morning Starshine", and the title song "Hair". His next musicals were Isabel's a Jezebel (1970) and Who the Murderer Was (1970), which featured British progressive rock band Curved Air.[5]

MacDermot had another hit with the musical Two Gentlemen of Verona (1971), which won the Tony Award for Best Musical. For that show, MacDermot was nominated for a Tony for best music and won the Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Music. His later musicals, including Dude and Via Galactica (both 1972) and The Human Comedy (1984), were not successful on Broadway, running 16 performances, 7 performances, and 13 performances respectively.[6]

MacDermot's film soundtracks include Cotton Comes to Harlem, a 1970 blaxploitation film starring Godfrey Cambridge, Raymond St. Jacques, and Redd Foxx, based on Chester Himes's novel of the same name; Rhinoceros (1974) starring Zero Mostel and Gene Wilder, and directed by original Broadway Hair director Tom O'Horgan; and Mistress (1992). He wrote his own orchestrations and arrangements for his theater and film scores.[3]

In 1979, MacDermot formed the New Pulse Jazz Band, which performed and recorded his original music and was one of the first jazz bands to feature synthesizer.[7] The band played as part of the on-stage band in the 2009 Broadway revival of Hair. MacDermot's oeuvre also includes ballet scores, chamber music, the Anglican liturgy, orchestral music, poetry, incidental music for plays, band repertory, and opera.[3]

In 2009, MacDermot was inducted into the Songwriter's Hall of Fame.

On November 22, 2010, MacDermot was awarded the Lifetime Achievement Award by SOCAN at the 2010 SOCAN Awards in Toronto.[8]

Death edit

MacDermot died at his home in Staten Island, New York on December 17, 2018, the day before his 90th birthday.[1][9]

His identical twin daughters and caregivers, Bonnie "Nummy" Jolanthe MacDermot and Sarah "Sassy" Rowena MacDermot, died one day apart in November 2020 at the age of 55, also in Staten Island, New York, where they were born on February 8, 1965. Sarah died on November 7 from undisclosed causes, and Jolanthe -- who had battled stage four breast cancer -- died one day later, on November 8, 2020.[10]

Samples and other use edit

MacDermot's music is popular with collectors of jazz and funk. Working with jazz musicians such as Bernard Purdie, Jimmy Lewis, and Idris Muhammad, MacDermot created pieces that prefigured the funk material of James Brown. In more-recent decades, his work became popular with hip hop musicians including Busta Rhymes, who sampled "Space" from MacDermot's 1969 record Woman Is Sweeter for the smash-hit "Woo-Hah!! Got You All in Check", and Run DMC, which sampled the Hair song "Where Do I Go?" in its Grammy Award-winning "Down with the King".[3] Handsome Boy Modelling School ("The Truth"), DJ Vadim, DJ Premier and Oh No have all sampled the same segment from "Coffee Cold", from Shapes of Rhythm (1966).[11]

Scottish electronica duo Boards of Canada used a loop in their track "Aquarius" (Music Has the Right to Children) which was sampled from MacDermot's song of the same name from the 1979 soundtrack of the film Hair.[12]

As part of his Special Herbs series, rapper MF DOOM sampled three MacDermot songs from Woman Is Sweeter: "Cathedral" for his song "Pennyroyal", "Space" for "Cinquefoil", and "Princess Gika" for "Styrax Gum".[13] "Cathedral" is also sampled in Westside Gunn's "Dear Winter Bloody Fiegs" for his 2015 mixtape Hitler Wears Hermes 3. In 2006, rapper and producer Oh No released an album produced completely with MacDermot samples, titled Exodus into Unheard Rhythms.[14]

Shows edit

Discography edit

(excluding cast albums and soundtracks)

  • Art Gallery Jazz (1956)
  • African Waltz (1960)
  • The English Experience (1961)
  • Galt MacDermot by Arrangement (1963)
  • Shapes of Rhythm (1966)
  • Hair Cuts (1969)
  • Woman is Sweeter (1969)
  • Galt MacDermot's First Natural Hair Band(1970)
  • The Nucleus (1971)
  • Ghetto Suite (1972)
  • Salome Bey Sings Songs From Dude (1972)
  • The Highway Life (1973)
  • Take This Bread: A Mass in our Time (1973)
  • Memphis Dude (1973)
  • La Novela (1973)
  • The Karl Marx Play (1973)
  • The Joker Of Seville (Trinidad Theatre Workshop Original Cast Album)(1974)
  • New Pulse Jazz Band (1979)
  • O Babylon! (1980)
  • Pulse On! (1981)
  • New Pulse Jazz Band III (1983)
  • Boogie Man (1985)
  • Lost Conquest (Conquista Perdida) (1986)
  • Purdie as a Picture (1994)
  • Reflections of a Radically Right Wing Composer (1992)
  • The Thomas Hardy Songs (1997)
  • El Niño (1998)
  • Up from the Basement Volumes 1 & 2 (2000)[15]
  • Corporation (2000)
  • Spotted Owl (2000)
  • Live In Nashville (2000)
  • Foolish Lover (2001)
  • Paul Laurence Dunbar in Song (2001)
  • Waiting For The Limo (2003)
  • In Film (2004)
  • Asian Suite (2005)
  • Many Faces of Song (2009)
  • Sun (2009)
  • The Sun Always Shines for the Cool (2014)
  • Air & Angels (2017)

References edit

  1. ^ a b c Seelye, Katharine Q. (December 18, 2018). "Galt MacDermot, Composer of the Rock Musical 'Hair,' Dies at 89". The New York Times. Retrieved August 28, 2020.
  2. ^ "Galt MacDermot". The Canadian Encyclopedia. February 13, 2010, at the Wayback Machine
  3. ^ a b c d "MacDermot's Official Website". Galtmacdermot.com. Retrieved September 27, 2014.
  4. ^ Harris, Tracy (March 2, 1998). . Archived from the original on October 27, 2009.
  5. ^ . Curvedair.com. Archived from the original on May 19, 2006. Retrieved September 27, 2014.
  6. ^ "Galt MacDermot". IBDB. Retrieved March 20, 2023.
  7. ^ "Galt MacDermot - New Pulse Jazz Band".
  8. ^ . SOCAN. Archived from the original on October 17, 2017. Retrieved January 3, 2018.
  9. ^ "Galt MacDermot, Composer of Hair, Dead at 89". Playbill. December 17, 2018. Retrieved December 22, 2018.
  10. ^ Lubin, Gail (November 10, 2020). . Staten Island Advance. Archived from the original on November 10, 2020.
  11. ^ Kinos-Goodin, Jesse (July 21, 2021). "How Canadian composer Galt MacDermot unwittingly became rap royalty". CBC. Retrieved March 20, 2023.
  12. ^ Rogerson, Ben (January 27, 2011). "The 16 best uses of a sample ever". MusicRadar. Retrieved March 20, 2023.
  13. ^ "MF Doom". Metalfacedoom.com. Retrieved September 27, 2014.
  14. ^ "Oh No". Stones Throw Records. Retrieved September 27, 2014.
  15. ^ . Galtmacdermot.com. Archived from the original on September 25, 2014. Retrieved September 27, 2014.

External links edit

January 01, 1970
galt, macdermot, arthur, terence, december, 1928, december, 2018, canadian, american, composer, pianist, writer, musical, theater, grammy, award, song, african, waltz, 1960, most, successful, musicals, were, hair, 1967, cast, album, also, grammy, gentlemen, ve. Arthur Terence Galt MacDermot December 18 1928 December 17 2018 was a Canadian American composer pianist and writer of musical theater He won a Grammy Award for the song African Waltz in 1960 His most successful musicals were Hair 1967 its cast album also won a Grammy and Two Gentlemen of Verona 1971 MacDermot also composed music for film soundtracks jazz and funk albums and classical music and his music has been sampled in hit hip hop songs and albums He is best known for his work on Hair which produced three number one singles in 1969 Aquarius Let the Sunshine In Good Morning Starshine and the title song Hair Galt MacDermotBornArthur Terence Galt MacDermot 1928 12 18 December 18 1928Montreal Quebec CanadaDiedDecember 17 2018 2018 12 17 aged 89 Staten Island New York U S EducationBishop s UniversityCape Town UniversitySpouseMarlene Bruynzeel m 1956 wbr Children5RelativesTerence MacDermot father Musical careerGenresMusical theaterjazzfunkclassical musicfilm scoreOccupation s ComposerpianistYears active1954 2018 Contents 1 Biography 2 Death 3 Samples and other use 4 Shows 5 Discography 6 References 7 External linksBiography editExternal image nbsp Galt MacDermot in 2009 MacDermot was born in Montreal the son of Canadian diplomat Terence MacDermot and Elizabeth Savage 1 He was educated at Upper Canada College and Bishop s University Sherbrooke Quebec Canada He received a bachelor s degree in music from Cape Town University South Africa and made a study of African music his specialty He studied the piano privately with Neil Chotem 2 It was also during his time at Cape Town where he would meet his future wife Marlene Bruynzeel a clarinetist of Dutch descent They married in 1956 and had five children 1 MacDermot won his first Grammy Award for the Cannonball Adderley recording of his song African Waltz the title track of the album of the same name in 1960 3 MacDermot moved to New York City in 1964 where three years later he wrote the music for the hit musical Hair which he later adapted for the 1979 film of the same name 4 Its Broadway cast album won a Grammy Award in 1969 and the musical generated three number one singles that year Aquarius Let the Sunshine In Good Morning Starshine and the title song Hair His next musicals were Isabel s a Jezebel 1970 and Who the Murderer Was 1970 which featured British progressive rock band Curved Air 5 MacDermot had another hit with the musical Two Gentlemen of Verona 1971 which won the Tony Award for Best Musical For that show MacDermot was nominated for a Tony for best music and won the Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Music His later musicals including Dude and Via Galactica both 1972 and The Human Comedy 1984 were not successful on Broadway running 16 performances 7 performances and 13 performances respectively 6 MacDermot s film soundtracks include Cotton Comes to Harlem a 1970 blaxploitation film starring Godfrey Cambridge Raymond St Jacques and Redd Foxx based on Chester Himes s novel of the same name Rhinoceros 1974 starring Zero Mostel and Gene Wilder and directed by original Broadway Hair director Tom O Horgan and Mistress 1992 He wrote his own orchestrations and arrangements for his theater and film scores 3 In 1979 MacDermot formed the New Pulse Jazz Band which performed and recorded his original music and was one of the first jazz bands to feature synthesizer 7 The band played as part of the on stage band in the 2009 Broadway revival of Hair MacDermot s oeuvre also includes ballet scores chamber music the Anglican liturgy orchestral music poetry incidental music for plays band repertory and opera 3 In 2009 MacDermot was inducted into the Songwriter s Hall of Fame On November 22 2010 MacDermot was awarded the Lifetime Achievement Award by SOCAN at the 2010 SOCAN Awards in Toronto 8 Death editMacDermot died at his home in Staten Island New York on December 17 2018 the day before his 90th birthday 1 9 His identical twin daughters and caregivers Bonnie Nummy Jolanthe MacDermot and Sarah Sassy Rowena MacDermot died one day apart in November 2020 at the age of 55 also in Staten Island New York where they were born on February 8 1965 Sarah died on November 7 from undisclosed causes and Jolanthe who had battled stage four breast cancer died one day later on November 8 2020 10 Samples and other use editMacDermot s music is popular with collectors of jazz and funk Working with jazz musicians such as Bernard Purdie Jimmy Lewis and Idris Muhammad MacDermot created pieces that prefigured the funk material of James Brown In more recent decades his work became popular with hip hop musicians including Busta Rhymes who sampled Space from MacDermot s 1969 record Woman Is Sweeter for the smash hit Woo Hah Got You All in Check and Run DMC which sampled the Hair song Where Do I Go in its Grammy Award winning Down with the King 3 Handsome Boy Modelling School The Truth DJ Vadim DJ Premier and Oh No have all sampled the same segment from Coffee Cold from Shapes of Rhythm 1966 11 Scottish electronica duo Boards of Canada used a loop in their track Aquarius Music Has the Right to Children which was sampled from MacDermot s song of the same name from the 1979 soundtrack of the film Hair 12 As part of his Special Herbs series rapper MF DOOM sampled three MacDermot songs from Woman Is Sweeter Cathedral for his song Pennyroyal Space for Cinquefoil and Princess Gika for Styrax Gum 13 Cathedral is also sampled in Westside Gunn s Dear Winter Bloody Fiegs for his 2015 mixtape Hitler Wears Hermes 3 In 2006 rapper and producer Oh No released an album produced completely with MacDermot samples titled Exodus into Unheard Rhythms 14 Shows editMy Fur Lady 1957 Hair 1967 Isabel s a Jezebel 1970 Who the Murderer Was 1970 Two Gentlemen of Verona 1971 Dude 1973 Via Galactica 1973 The Human Comedy 1984 The Special 1985 Time and the Wind 1995 The Legend of Joan of Arc 1997 Sun 1998 Blondie 1998 The Corporation 1999 Gone Tomoro 2009 Discography editThis list is incomplete you can help by adding missing items July 2018 excluding cast albums and soundtracks Art Gallery Jazz 1956 African Waltz 1960 The English Experience 1961 Galt MacDermot by Arrangement 1963 Shapes of Rhythm 1966 Hair Cuts 1969 Woman is Sweeter 1969 Galt MacDermot s First Natural Hair Band 1970 The Nucleus 1971 Ghetto Suite 1972 Salome Bey Sings Songs From Dude 1972 The Highway Life 1973 Take This Bread A Mass in our Time 1973 Memphis Dude 1973 La Novela 1973 The Karl Marx Play 1973 The Joker Of Seville Trinidad Theatre Workshop Original Cast Album 1974 New Pulse Jazz Band 1979 O Babylon 1980 Pulse On 1981 New Pulse Jazz Band III 1983 Boogie Man 1985 Lost Conquest Conquista Perdida 1986 Purdie as a Picture 1994 Reflections of a Radically Right Wing Composer 1992 The Thomas Hardy Songs 1997 El Nino 1998 Up from the Basement Volumes 1 amp 2 2000 15 Corporation 2000 Spotted Owl 2000 Live In Nashville 2000 Foolish Lover 2001 Paul Laurence Dunbar in Song 2001 Waiting For The Limo 2003 In Film 2004 Asian Suite 2005 Many Faces of Song 2009 Sun 2009 The Sun Always Shines for the Cool 2014 Air amp Angels 2017 References edit a b c Seelye Katharine Q December 18 2018 Galt MacDermot Composer of the Rock Musical Hair Dies at 89 The New York Times Retrieved August 28 2020 Galt MacDermot The Canadian Encyclopedia Archived February 13 2010 at the Wayback Machine a b c d MacDermot s Official Website Galtmacdermot com Retrieved September 27 2014 Harris Tracy March 2 1998 The HAIR Pages Archived from the original on October 27 2009 Who the Murderer Was Curvedair com Archived from the original on May 19 2006 Retrieved September 27 2014 Galt MacDermot IBDB Retrieved March 20 2023 Galt MacDermot New Pulse Jazz Band 2010 SOCAN Awards SOCAN Archived from the original on October 17 2017 Retrieved January 3 2018 Galt MacDermot Composer of Hair Dead at 89 Playbill December 17 2018 Retrieved December 22 2018 Lubin Gail November 10 2020 Twin sisters who shared inseparable existence die one day apart at age 55 Staten Island Advance Archived from the original on November 10 2020 Kinos Goodin Jesse July 21 2021 How Canadian composer Galt MacDermot unwittingly became rap royalty CBC Retrieved March 20 2023 Rogerson Ben January 27 2011 The 16 best uses of a sample ever MusicRadar Retrieved March 20 2023 MF Doom Metalfacedoom com Retrieved September 27 2014 Oh No Stones Throw Records Retrieved September 27 2014 Galt MacDermot Complete List of Works Galtmacdermot com Archived from the original on September 25 2014 Retrieved September 27 2014 External links editOfficial website and archival pages Galt MacDermot s Discography Galt MacDermot s Free Streaming Music Galt MacDermot s Full Biography Galt MacDermot s New Pulse Jazz Band Ear of the Heart the Music of Galt MacDermot Galt MacDermot s MySpace Page Galt MacDermot s Photo Gallery Galt MacDermot at IMDb Galt MacDermot at the Internet Broadway Database nbsp Galt MacDermot at the Internet Off Broadway Database Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Galt MacDermot amp oldid 1203983830, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,

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