Born
in St. Louis Tommy was born in 1925,Tommy Wolf began playing
piano at age three. A few years later, he took accordion lessons,
outstripping his teacher by the time he was ten. Following high
school graduation, he started college in Columbia, Missouri,
only to be drafted in to the Army. A sensitive young man torn
from the security of his family at the age of 18, he fought
in the Battle of the Bulge and was deeply marked by the experience.
His wife Mary who had known him since kindergarden, recalls
that he was a "basket case" when he returned from Military service.In
1948,at the age of 23 Wolf attended St. Louis Institute of music
and appeared on a daily television show with his trio and female
vocalist. The same year, he married Mary, who was employed as
a secretary. The couple shared a split level house with Wolf's
parents and several years later had a daughter Jan. One evening
when Wolf was playing piano at the Jefferson Hotel antique dealers
Jay and Fred Landesman and there wives Fran and Paula dropped
in for drinks,requested a series of esoteric show tunes and
were delighted by Wolf's interpretations. Frustrated by the
lack of hip hang out in St. Louis, the Landesman's rented a
store front on Olive Street,stripped the interior to it's brick
walls, painted them black, decorated the room with chandeliers
and antiques,and hired Wolf as house pianist. Their club The
Crystal Palace, quickly became the watering hole of choice for
local artists and sophisticates. One fateful Saturday night
in 1951, Fran slipped a poem into Wolf's pocket as he was leaving
the bar. He was so impressed it's freshness and wit that he
felt compelled to set it to music before he went to sleep. The
resulting song "This Little Love Of Ours" began a collaboration
that continued for more than a decade. Wolf sang and played
their compositions, which he dubbed "American Lieder" at the
Crystal Palace, and performers passing through St. Louis, notably
jazz singers Jackie Cain and Roy Kral, added these "show tunes
in search of a show"to their repertoires. In 1956, Wolf went
to Chicago to record "Wolf At Your Door," an album of 11 songs
for Fraternity Records. (This material was reissued on the CD
by Fresh Sound in 1990.) "Spring Can Really Hang You Up The
Most ",released by Fraternity the following year, contained
13 more songs, Wolf backed by bassist Monty Budwing and drummer
Shelly Manne. The Crystal Palace flourished, occasionally showcasing
young singers and comedians. Overworked, Wolf relocated to The
Other Room, a small bar owned by Fran's brother, Sam Deitsch.
While on vacation in Southern California, he, Mary and Jen fell
in love with the beach and, on impulse, rented an apartment
in Playa del Ray.They returned to St. Louis and stunned everyone
by packing up their belongings and heading west. Under then-prevailing
rules, Wolf had to establish California residency for six months
before he could join the musicians union and accept union jobs.
He supplemented his money $35 Army checks by playing hush-hush
gigs passed on to him by fellow pianists Jimmy Rowels and Russ
Freeman. (One of these was backing Lenny Bruce at a strip joint)
During this period,Jay Landesman was preparing the book for
a musical, "The Nervous Set",with Fran writing the lyrics.Wolf
collaborated with Fran by mail and returned to St. Louis to
rehearse the show, which opened in March in 1959 at the new,
Larger Crystal Palace, a cabaret theatre located on Gaslight
Square. Critics and audiences embraced "The Nervous Set",a satirical
comedy based on Jay's experiences as editor of the iconoclastic
literary quarterly "Neurotica", and within a few weeks,the show
was opened for Broadway.The New York production,weakened by
ill-advised recasting and an altered ending,opened on May 12
1950 and ran 28 performances. Wolf appeared on stage with his
jazz quartet (including guitarist Kenny Burrell),an innovation
at the time. Although The Nervous Set flopped, it's original
cast album attracted a cult following; one reviewer compared
the Wolf-Landesman musical, based on Nelson Algren's earthy
novel,"A Walk On The Wild Side", faltered after troubled genesis
at the Crystal Palace, and a third "Molly Darling," a turn of
the century piece about suffragettes and the automobile industry,
was produced by the St. Louis Municipal Opera. In the early
'60's,the Landesman's moved to London, where Fran continues
to write poems and lyrics and Jay runs a publishing house.Wolf
remained in LA. where, recommended by drummer Jackie Mills,
he was hired as a rehearsal pianist at 20th Century Fox pianist
at 20th Century Fox. His first assignment was teaching Jimmy
Van Heusen Sammy Cahn the "Lets Make Love" score to Yves Montand
and Marylin Monroe. He soon became the most sought after and
highest paid rehearsal pianist in town, working on the Andy
Williams and Reed Skelton television shows, and numerous musical
specials, most memorably the award winning Fred Astaire "Evenings."
With
Mills and Astaire, he founded Choreo (later Ava) Records,functioning
as producer and A&R man on albums by, among others, Irene Kral,
Carol Lawrence, Charlse Cochran and Ruth Price that included
Wolf compositions. Plagued by distribution problems, the label
expired after limping along for several years. With the mid-'60's
arival of the rock era, Wolf decided that his style of music
was outdated and switched on to lyric writing,collaborating
with Astaire on "Life Is Beautiful" and Victor Feldman on "A
Face Like Yours." With Bassist composer Alf Clausen, he wrote
"When Jeremiah Sang The Blues" an oratorio for orchestra and
chorus that was performed at several California colleges, and
another piece, Joan Baby, a a musical allegory that interwove
the life of Joan of Arc with a contempoary story of a young
woman who, disguised as a man, plays quarterback on a football
team. He continued to work on television shows and, following
a series of exhausting rehearsal sessions with Donnie and Marie
Osmond in Utah, was diagnosed with an inflammation of the pericardium.He
died a year later on January 9, 1979. Mary Wolf Davidson remembers
him as a man of unshakeable integrity, a stubborn workaholic
who compulsively pushes himself without regard for his health.
'we survived a lot of hungary years," she recalls, but the music
made it all worthwhile. It fed my mind and soul. "
Born
in St. Louis Tommy was born in 1925,Tommy Wolf began playing
piano at age three. A few years later, he took accordion lessons,
outstripping his teacher by the time he was ten. Following high
school graduation, he started college in Columbia, Missouri,
only to be drafted in to the Army. A sensitive young man torn
from the security of his family at the age of 18, he fought
in the Battle of the Bulge and was deeply marked by the experience.
His wife Mary who had known him since kindergarden, recalls
that he was a "basket case" when he returned from Military service.In
1948,at the age of 23 Wolf attended St. Louis Institute of music
and appeared on a daily television show with his trio and female
vocalist. The same year, he married Mary, who was employed as
a secretary. The couple shared a split level house with Wolf's
parents and several years later had a daughter Jan. One evening
when Wolf was playing piano at the Jefferson Hotel antique dealers
Jay and Fred Landesman and there wives Fran and Paula dropped
in for drinks,requested a series of esoteric show tunes and
were delighted by Wolf's interpretations. Frustrated by the
lack of hip hang out in St. Louis, the Landesman's rented a
store front on Olive Street,stripped the interior to it's brick
walls, painted them black, decorated the room with chandeliers
and antiques,and hired Wolf as house pianist. Their club The
Crystal Palace, quickly became the watering hole of choice for
local artists and sophisticates. One fateful Saturday night
in 1951, Fran slipped a poem into Wolf's pocket as he was leaving
the bar. He was so impressed it's freshness and wit that he
felt compelled to set it to music before he went to sleep. The
resulting song "This Little Love Of Ours" began a collaboration
that continued for more than a decade. Wolf sang and played
their compositions, which he dubbed "American Lieder" at the
Crystal Palace, and performers passing through St. Louis, notably
jazz singers Jackie Cain and Roy Kral, added these "show tunes
in search of a show"to their repertoires. In 1956, Wolf went
to Chicago to record "Wolf At Your Door," an album of 11 songs
for Fraternity Records. (This material was reissued on the CD
by Fresh Sound in 1990.) "Spring Can Really Hang You Up The
Most ",released by Fraternity the following year, contained
13 more songs, Wolf backed by bassist Monty Budwing and drummer
Shelly Manne. The Crystal Palace flourished, occasionally showcasing
young singers and comedians. Overworked, Wolf relocated to The
Other Room, a small bar owned by Fran's brother, Sam Deitsch.
While on vacation in Southern California, he, Mary and Jen fell
in love with the beach and, on impulse, rented an apartment
in Playa del Ray.They returned to St. Louis and stunned everyone
by packing up their belongings and heading west. Under then-prevailing
rules, Wolf had to establish California residency for six months
before he could join the musicians union and accept union jobs.
He supplemented his money $35 Army checks by playing hush-hush
gigs passed on to him by fellow pianists Jimmy Rowels and Russ
Freeman. (One of these was backing Lenny Bruce at a strip joint)
During this period,Jay Landesman was preparing the book for
a musical, "The Nervous Set",with Fran writing the lyrics.Wolf
collaborated with Fran by mail and returned to St. Louis to
rehearse the show, which opened in March in 1959 at the new,
Larger Crystal Palace, a cabaret theatre located on Gaslight
Square. Critics and audiences embraced "The Nervous Set",a satirical
comedy based on Jay's experiences as editor of the iconoclastic
literary quarterly "Neurotica", and within a few weeks,the show
was opened for Broadway.The New York production,weakened by
ill-advised recasting and an altered ending,opened on May 12
1950 and ran 28 performances. Wolf appeared on stage with his
jazz quartet (including guitarist Kenny Burrell),an innovation
at the time. Although The Nervous Set flopped, it's original
cast album attracted a cult following; one reviewer compared
the Wolf-Landesman musical, based on Nelson Algren's earthy
novel,"A Walk On The Wild Side", faltered after troubled genesis
at the Crystal Palace, and a third "Molly Darling," a turn of
the century piece about suffragettes and the automobile industry,
was produced by the St. Louis Municipal Opera. In the early
'60's,the Landesman's moved to London, where Fran continues
to write poems and lyrics and Jay runs a publishing house.Wolf
remained in LA. where, recommended by drummer Jackie Mills,
he was hired as a rehearsal pianist at 20th Century Fox pianist
at 20th Century Fox. His first assignment was teaching Jimmy
Van Heusen Sammy Cahn the "Lets Make Love" score to Yves Montand
and Marylin Monroe. He soon became the most sought after and
highest paid rehearsal pianist in town, working on the Andy
Williams and Reed Skelton television shows, and numerous musical
specials, most memorably the award winning Fred Astaire "Evenings."
With
Mills and Astaire, he founded Choreo (later Ava) Records,functioning
as producer and A&R man on albums by, among others, Irene Kral,
Carol Lawrence, Charlse Cochran and Ruth Price that included
Wolf compositions. Plagued by distribution problems, the label
expired after limping along for several years. With the mid-'60's
arival of the rock era, Wolf decided that his style of music
was outdated and switched on to lyric writing,collaborating
with Astaire on "Life Is Beautiful" and Victor Feldman on "A
Face Like Yours." With Bassist composer Alf Clausen, he wrote
"When Jeremiah Sang The Blues" an oratorio for orchestra and
chorus that was performed at several California colleges, and
another piece, Joan Baby, a a musical allegory that interwove
the life of Joan of Arc with a contempoary story of a young
woman who, disguised as a man, plays quarterback on a football
team. He continued to work on television shows and, following
a series of exhausting rehearsal sessions with Donnie and Marie
Osmond in Utah, was diagnosed with an inflammation of the pericardium.He
died a year later on January 9, 1979. Mary Wolf Davidson remembers
him as a man of unshakeable integrity, a stubborn workaholic
who compulsively pushes himself without regard for his health.
'we survived a lot of hungary years," she recalls, but the music
made it all worthwhile. It fed my mind and soul. "