Jazz

Mac Ceppos

Over Mac Ceppos

Genre

Jazz

While his name might sound like the latest side order from a fast food chain, Mac Ceppos actually has much more in common with people such as Sylvan Shulman, Zelly Smirnoff, Raoul Poliakin, and Tosha Samaroff. That is, Ceppos is a studio violinist who has worked on hundreds of recordings. Furthermore, if the grandest, most historic figures from this type of musical enterprise were brought out for a series of curtain calls, Ceppos would surely be singled out for a special bow, and not the kind with rosin on it. His musical legacy on the New York City music scene stretches back to the '20s, when he appeared in groups such as Al Letz's Orchestra and Bert Lown & His Biltmore Hotel Orchestra. In the '50s, a producer looking to hire New York's best studio musicians would find the Mac Ceppos Orchestra listed right alongside the Ray Charles Singers. Ceppos was a sweetener, both as a player and as a contractor and conductor, like the musical equivalent of honey or sugar cane. This talent also kept him busy in the '60s, as pop music rolled on and a jazz producer named Creed Taylor developed a style of buffing up swing with strings, and a label to release it on called CTI. As a jazz violinist, Ceppos was basically unable to keep up with the likes of Joe Venuti, so he developed his own concept: coming more out of the instrument's background in the classical orchestra. Ceppos is still a solid presence in jazz nonetheless, having performed on the average of one recording in that genre per year for a half-a-century, beginning in 1926. He doubled on cello, and occasionally vocalized. Ceppos' activity in the recording studios in the greater world of popular music defies any kind of reasonable documentation, and there is absolutely no telling how many listeners heard him play over the years, although the number must be enormous. First of all, there is Ceppos appearing on Tin Pan Alley, dance band and pop records throughout his career, including recordings by Frank Sinatra, Frankie Laine, Perry Como, and many others. Then there is a whole range of lesser known but perhaps even more widely heard musical activity, including his membership in Merle Pitt & His Five Shades of Blue Orchestra. Organized in 1939 as one of the house bands at New York City radio station WNEW, this group played in a swing style and provided a wide range of incidental music which was used throughout the broadcast day. Pitt and Ceppos fronted the band on violins, backed by Sammy Frey on accordion, Phil Kraus on vibraphone, pianist Frank Froeba, and a bassist named Dick Kissinger, who also provided some of the group's arrangements. The interesting-sounding combo made electrical transcriptions which were distributed to dozens of radio stations nationally. The resulting audience was no doubt larger even than the crowd in the '60s who would snap up CTI albums because they were perceived to be good music for making out to, otherwise known as "gliding" ('80s expression) or in new millennium lingo, "hooking up." Ceppos stepped back his activity after the late '60s, perhaps worn out by the latter association, but anyone who has fondled a deluxe, ultra-glossy original CTI album from that era would agree that he went out in style. Ceppos and studio fellow-fiddle-folk can be heard to good effect on guitarist Wes Montgomery's famous A Day in the Life album. ~ Eugene Chadbourne