THEY ALSO SERVED
POLISH trumpeter TOMASZ STANKO
(b.1942) developed his free-jazz instincts under communism, listening to Voice Of America broadcasts. Inspired by Ornette Coleman and Miles Davis, in 1963 he joined the Krzysztof Komeda Quintet, taking a central role on the highly-regarded 1966 album Astigmatic. He later led his own quintet and worked with players including Cecil Taylor and improv super-ensemble the Globe Unity Orchestra. From the ’90s he released music on the ECM label, including a 1997 tribute to Komeda entitled Litania, and two albums with his New York Quartet. In 2014 his Polin Suite was performed at the POLIN Museum of the History of Polish Jews.
BASSIST JOSEPH MAUS (b.1988) played in the live band of his brother John, which he also road managed. He passed away on tour in Latvia.
GUITARIST/ PRODUCER SAM MEHRAN
(pictured above, b.1987) played in indie-dance punkers Test Icicles in 2004 with Rory Attwell and Dev Hynes. They released their James Ford-produced sole LP For Screening Purposes Only in 2005, and split the year after. Mehran went onto record as Outer Limits Recordings, Matrix Metals and Wingdings. He also worked with Ariel Pink on Puro Instinct’s 2016 album Autodrama.
SCREEN COMPOSER PATRICK WILLIAMS
(b.1939) arranged for jazz ensembles before moving into TV and movie work in 1968. For the former, he wrote memorable, big band-with-beats themes for shows like Columbo, The Mary Tyler Moore Show, Lou Grant, The Streets Of San Francisco and The Bob Newhart Show. In 1976 he wrote the jazz-symphonic piece An American Concerto CONSORT NANCY SINATRA (below, b.1917) was married to Frank from 1939 to 1951, the phase that marked his transformation from a singing waiter into the first pop-era heartthrob superstar. Frank married Ava Gardner days after their divorce: Nancy led a quiet life thereafter, raising their children Nancy, Frank Jr and Tina, and doing charitable work. Frank Sr continued to confide in her until his death in 1998.
ASBURY PARK singer/ songwriter GEORGE THEISS (b.c.1950) was dating Bruce Springsteen’s sister Ginny in 1964, when he asked him to join his band The Castiles as lead guitarist. In 1966, the two co-wrote and recorded their first songs, with Baby I finally getting a release on Springsteen’s 2016 compilation Chapter & Verse. Though tension caused the group’s split, the two remained on good terms. Theiss later played in Rusty Chain, Doo-Dah and Cahoots.
CHANSONNIER MARC OGERET (above, b.1932) began singing outside Paris’s cafes in the mid ’50s. Soon regularly appearing in cabaret, he released his first record in 1955, his albums including recordings of historic revolutionary songs, sea shanties, and Le Condamné À Mort, his interpretations of Jean Genet’s prison poems. He won the Grand Prix du Disques twice and in 1983 was made a Knight of The Ordres Des Arts Et Des Lettres.
JOURNALIST JERRY HOPKINS (b.1935) contributed to Rolling Stone from 1967. Best known for the 1980 Jim Morrison biography No One Here Gets Out Alive, co-written with Danny Sugerman, he also wrote books on Bowie, Hendrix and Yoko Ono, plus travel writing on his experiences in Asia and Hawaii. When writing Elvis’s biography in 1969, he later recalled potential interviewees asking, “Why do you want to write about him?”
ACTOR TAB HUNTER
(b.1931) was a screen teen idol in the late ’50s, appearing in movies with Natalie Wood. Inevitably, he also cut records, enjoying US and UK chart success with Young Love in 1957. When success slowed in the ’60s, he moved to Europe and had an affair with Rudolf Nureyev. In 1981 he appeared with Divine and Stiv Bators in John Waters’ movie Polyester. Clive Prior