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1 of 1- Richard Baker
- Moderator
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- From: Kenilworth, Warwickshire, Engl
- Registered: 20/11/2010
- Posts: 1,542
Johnny Keating
Johnny Keating, arranger and band leader has died.
An obituary here
He was involved with Bing once, in 1966 for a "Reprise" single with "Far From Home" and "How Green Was My Valley" from a very short lived show "A Time For Singing" based on the novel "How Green Was My Valley".
Keating recorded with a number of other notable singers, including Tony Bennett and also led his band on a number of jazz influenced big band recordings in a fairly distinctive sound as well as writing a number of themes for TV shows. 
- Anton G.-F.
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- Registered: 06/4/2012
- Posts: 256
Re: Johnny Keating
Richard,
Thanks for alerting me (and everyone else) to the sad news of the passing of Johnny Keating. I've always loved the two West Coast-influenced jazz albums I have by him, English Jazz and Swinging Scots, which I consider two of the best British jazz records of all time. I think it's too bad that he concentrated on movie and TV scores (not to mention those Space Experience albums that have always been hard for me to digest!) instead of doing more jazz-oriented albums like those two. His career as a producer is quite respectable, though!
Following your post, I wrote and published a brief piece on Keating in my blog, The Vintage Bandstand, and of course, I gave you credit for being the one who let me know about his passing. You can access the article here:
Thanks, and rest in peace, Johnny Keating.
- Richard Baker
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- From: Kenilworth, Warwickshire, Engl
- Registered: 20/11/2010
- Posts: 1,542
Re: Johnny Keating
Thank you Anton. I see you have been on the British Dance Band forum as well!
A number of the jazz oriented records Keating made were recorded in the rather extreme and artificial stereo process "Phase 4" by Decca/ London. I remember friends using them as Hi Fi stereo demonstration pieces!
At least two albums were with a standard orchestra - The Royal Philharmonic, one titled "Ireland" the other "Scotland" featuring orchestral arrangements of more or less traditional tunes - a far cry from "The Keating Sound" of the jazz albums, and from the "Swinging Scots" album. The two titles with Bing were also very untypical of most of Keating's work. Hardly a high point for Bing and not one for Keating either.
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