Victor Clarence Schoen (March 26, 1916 – January 5, 2000) was an American bandleader, arranger, and composer whose career spanned from the 1930s until his death in 2000. He furnished music for some of the most successful persons in show business including Benny Goodman, Glenn Miller, Count Basie, Tommy Dorsey, Harry James, Les Brown, Woody Herman, Gene Krupa, George Shearing, Jimmie Lunceford, Ray McKinley, Benny Carter, Louis Prima, Russ Morgan, Guy Lombardo, Carmen Cavallaro, Carmen Miranda, Gordon Jenkins, Joe Venuti, Victor Young, Arthur Fiedler and the Boston Pops, and his own The Vic Schoen Orchestra.
Schoen arranged and recorded with well-known artists such as The Andrews Sisters, Bing Crosby, Bob Hope, Danny Kaye, Rosemary Clooney, Irving Berlin, Marion Hutton, Betty Hutton, Perry Como, Dick Haymes, Ella Fitzgerald, Al Jolson, Maurice Chevalier, Enzo Stuarti, Lauritz Melchior, Mary Martin, Bob Crosby, The Weavers, Burl Ives, Eddie Fisher, Mildred Bailey, Peggy Lee, Patti Page, the McGuire Sisters, the Sherman Brothers, and Kay Starr.
Schoen wrote TV specials for Jack Carson Show, The Dave King Show, Ethel Merman, The Big Record with Patti Page, The Dinah Shore Show, Shirley MacLaine, Shirley Temple, Andy Williams, and Pat Boone. He is probably best remembered as the musical director and arranger for the Andrews Sisters.
Early life and education Vic Schoen was born in Brooklyn, New York, to Jewish parents. He is one of the very few composer-arrangers who was self-taught. Early in his life, he learned to play trumpet and would bring music into his high school classes, which annoyed his teachers. Upon noticing that Schoen was not paying attention in class and writing music, his chemistry teacher stopped by his desk and said, "Someone needs this chair more than you do." He eventually dropped out of high school and started playing in nightclubs in New York City and in the bands of Leon Belasco, Gene Kardos, and Billy Swanson. He also learned how to write big band arrangements at this time by "trial and error". During this time Schoen met George Gershwin at a party in New York City in the mid-1930s. Career Schoen also wrote many of Count Basie's earlier arrangements in the mid-1930s. He commented on the time when Basie paid him for some of his arrangements: "He owed me some money one night after a gig. I had written several arrangements for him and he paid me one hundred dollars in single dollar bills. I walked out of that Harlem club with the biggest wad of cash in my pocket. I had never been so scared in my life."
Schoen was also extremely impressed with the sound of the Basie band, "There was quite a large difference in the way that the white bands played versus the black bands. When I would show up to Basie's rehearsals to hear my arrangements sometimes I didn't even realize they were playing one of my charts. The unique way they played and phrased was so different than what I was used to hearing."
The Andrews Sisters
Schoen met The Andrews Sisters while playing trumpet in Leon Belasco's society orchestra in 1936. The sisters made only one 78 side with Belasco, early in 1937, which was not well received. The girls were packing their bags to go back home to Minneapolis when Schoen, who was then with Billy Swanson's orchestra, invited them to sing on a radio program in New York City. Decca Records A&R vice president Dave Kapp heard the broadcast and invited the sisters to his office. After a short audition he signed them to a contract. They made their first recording for Decca in October 1937 with Schoen arranging for their musical backup. Schoen described the earlier arrangements he wrote for the Andrews Sisters as having a quasi Dixieland feel.
Schoen was backstage at a Yiddish Theatre in New York looking through a large crate of sheet music. He found the song Bei Mir Bist Du Schoen written by Sholom Secunda with Yiddish lyrics by Jacob Jacobs. Schoen was attracted to the song because he liked that his "name was part of the title". After adding his own English lyrics, Schoen arranged the song for the Andrews Sisters and soon they had their first number one hit earning them a Gold Record, the first ever to a female vocal group. Bei Mir Bist Du Schoen, a novelty tune, was originally recorded as a B-side. After the success of the record's release, the Andrews Sisters were asked to sign autographs outside a record store in New York. When Schoen arrived to join in, he noticed lyricist Sammy Cahn next to them also signing his name on the newly released record. Schoen was puzzled and asked a Decca Records producer why Cahn was present. The response was, "We figured that if we put his name down as the lyricist then we'd sell a few more copies."
After the enormous success of the Andrews Sisters, many songwriters sought out Schoen. Don Raye and Hughie Prince were able to convince Schoen to arrange Beat Me Daddy, Eight to the Bar and after the success of that, they followed with a new song Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy. Schoen remembered that the first draft of "Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy" was "a total mess. The harmonies were bad, the song had wrong notes in it. So I re-wrote part of it to make it work." Since Schoen played the trumpet in his orchestra he arranged the song so he could play the iconic opening trumpet solo that heralds off the arrangement. After Schoen became more involved as the conductor, he appeared as a trumpeter less frequently. Bobby Hackett was later hired as the lead trumpet player.
When Schoen was auditioning new band members in the late 1930s for his backup band to the Andrews Sisters, he needed a new drummer. Someone had highly recommended a young man who was new in New York City by the name of "Buddy". Schoen gave the kid a chance at a rehearsal to see if he could play his arrangements. The rehearsal quickly became a disaster after it was obvious that the new drummer could not read music. Schoen was nice enough to meet with the young man afterwards to teach him how to read music. This meeting became very tense and the drummer "ran out of the room." Schoen later commented that "Buddy Rich was terrified about learning to read music." Throughout his lifelong career as a drummer, Buddy Rich never learned to read music.
Schoen once commented that none of the famous big band singers with whom he worked could read music. "They were more known as entertainers than singers. Not one of them could read a note of music." When he worked with the Andrews Sisters, he would sit and play "arranger's piano" next to them. Schoen played the chords on the piano, and the trio matched the chords in three-part harmony. One of the Andrews Sisters' favorite singers to collaborate with was Bing Crosby, with whom they released 47 singles. Patty suggested to Bing that they all should learn how to read music. Bing replied, "What are you crazy? You wanna ruin our careers?"
In the later years, Schoen wanted to add one more trombone and a harp to the band. The record producers at the time objected, as they did not want the sound to change. He had commented that, "Many producers were afraid of change. If something was successful, why change it? Why modify it?" He eventually convinced the producers, and was able to add a few more instruments to his orchestra, which in his opinion improved the sound. Apple Blossom Time starts out with a harp solo. By the early 1940s, the arrangements matured, along with the voices and phrasing of the Andrews Sisters.
Although the Andrews Sisters would occasionally record with established bands and, particularly in their later years at Decca, with Gordon Jenkins, Schoen became the arranger and conductor with whom they most often worked. He formed his own orchestra in 1938 and backed them on stage and on screen, as well as in the studio, for the next decade. Schoen, whose self-taught approach to arranging possibly made him compatible with the Andrews Sisters—only LaVerne could read music—became their closest creative partner, and was an essential part of the trio's sound during their biggest years. Even on songs that he reportedly didn't appreciate, such as Beer Barrel Polka, his arrangements were successful, while on numbers like Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy, which captured his interest, Schoen was downright inspired, even ascending to brilliance. His record of success with the Andrews Sisters quickly established Schoen as a much sought-after arranger and conductor, and the 1940s were extremely busy years for him. His band flourished until the early 1950s. William Studwell, author of the Big Band Reader, said, "For years, the Vic Schoen Orchestra played music that at least approached the beauty and variety of a rainbow, but historically, the ensemble is about as elusive as that phenomenon in the sky."
Schoen scored an animated film for Walt Disney: Little Toot (1948) which used the Andrews Sisters to narrate-sing the storylines.
The concept behind The Andrews Sisters arrangements was a simple formula that Schoen used many times. Whenever the trio was singing in harmony Schoen did not have the big band interfere by playing harmony in the background (e.g. saxes, or trombones). Instead he would arrange for the band to play unison lines. If the Andrews Sisters were singing in unison, then the background musicians would play harmony. Using harmony in the trio as well as the big band caused a lack of clarity in the music. Although there were exceptions to the rule, this basic concept gave his arrangements a coherence, lucidity, and "punch" that was subsequently copied by many big band vocal groups in later years.
In most melodies, there are moments of space. Schoen cleverly used these areas in the song to add a quick fill in the big band between the phrases that the Andrews Sisters sang—never simultaneously with the melody (he felt it would interfere). Schoen also never wrote below the lowest G in the double bass (even though the instrument could play a full fifth of an interval below). To his ears, the double bass in that register "sounded too muddy, tubby, ... unclear." Schoen would also write out all of his bass parts and never put chords over them. He used repeated notes in the bass (which was popular in the 1930s) instead of the constant walking bass, which came later in 1940s big band music.
After the Andrews Sisters settled in California they owned a house in Brentwood. Their parents had moved out to California to live with them. The father built a side room onto the house which stored all of their awards, memorabilia, and Schoen's arrangements. In the 1960s, a fire burned down the house. All of the Andrews Sisters arrangements have been lost (except for transcriptions that were made from recordings). (Incidentally a similar thing happened to the Les Brown Band in the 1960s. When the band was not touring, all of the music was kept at the band manager's house. The band manager was going through a bitter divorce at the time and his wife called the garbage company to come and take all of the "garbage out of the basement". Schoen contributed many arrangements to Les Brown's library and those are lost to this day.)
The partnership between Schoen and the Andrews Sisters lasted for twenty years. He scored and conducted most of their recordings, including such hits as the aforementioned Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy and Bei Mir Bist Du Schoen, as well as Rum and Coca Cola, Apple Blossom Time, I Can Dream Can't I, and I Wanna Be Loved. He also served as their musical director on several films, most notably Buck Pirates, and on television specials and concerts, including the group's concert at the London Palladium. Schoen and the Andrews Sisters met Queen Elizabeth after this concert.
1940s