Salvador ‘Tutti’ Camarata was something of a 20th century musical Renaissance Man. During his long life, he was a trumpeter, composer, arranger, producer, and technologically pioneering recording studio owner across many genres of music. His achievements included involvement with some of the most successful bands of the Big Band era, seminal work for Disney in the 1950s and 1960s, arranging for legendary jazz vocalists, involvement at the highest levels of classical music in the US and the UK, and owning recording studios that worked with many of the biggest names in the rock era.

Born in Glen Ridge, N.J. on May 11, 1913, he studied at Juilliard and Columbia before graduating into work during the height of the Big Band era with Charlie Barnet, seeing his earliest major success by arranging Tangerine and Green Eyes for Jimmy Dorsey while playing lead trumpet. It was Dorsey who allegedly gave him the nickname ‘Tutti.’(1) Post-Dorsey, he spent time with Glen Gray and Benny Goodman before joining the US Army during WWII. During the war, he showed the technological and leadership abilities that would mark his career by being a flight instructor for the US Army Air Force.(2) Following his military service, he spent time in England, and co-founded London Records with Sir Edward Lewis, head of Decca in the UK, largely to market classical music in the US.(3) London became a major classical label, also highly successful in working with other genres, perhaps most famously with the Rolling Stones during their earlier years.

Having returned to the U.S., as the 1950s dawned he had begun working in television, continuing to expand his overall range of experience using his formidable skills as a composer, arranger, and overall organizer. He soon came to the attention of Walt Disney, who felt that Camarata’s skill set was ideal to run a studio designed to record soundtracks and albums for Disney movies and TV shows. This turned into a highly successful venture, leading Camarata to suggest that Walt Disney own his own studio to control costs; when Disney declined, Camarata took this as a sign to build one himself.(4) Purchasing land on Sunset Boulevard in Hollywood, Camarata opened Sunset Sound in 1960 and was soon recording music for Disney classics such as 101 Dalmations and Mary Poppins among others. Later involvement with Annette Funicello vividly illustrates the creativity and technical wizardry that Camarata displayed; in his words as recounted in his LA Times obituary: “Annette felt she couldn’t sing,” Camarata recalled some years ago. “So I developed a way of recording her voice, creating an echo. The first time she heard it, she was surprised and happy. She began to gain more confidence as a vocalist.”(5) Word soon spread about this new studio’s facilities and highly capable operator, and it became a central pillar of the LA rock recording scene. Sunset remains open today, run by Tutti’s son Paul.

Camarata also recorded two rather unique records that further demonstrated the depth and breadth of his interests and abilities. 1957’s Tutti’s Trumpets featured Pete Candoli, Conrad Gozzo, and four other trumpet stars, recorded in a variety of settings. This is considered an important work in arranging and orchestration for trumpet. He later did something similar with great trombonists. These records are highly unique and beloved among brass aficionados.(6) Continuing to stay busy with his studio as well as classical music for decades, in the 1990s Camarata recorded what he referred to as his most important work, The Power and the Glory, orchestrating hymns from the Church of the Latter Day Saints for a huge orchestra and choir. This work remains popular today.

Camarata’s repertoire of skills led him to some of the biggest vocal stars in American music, and one of these most successful pairings was with Louis Armstrong. Having worked in jazz and classical as well as radio and TV by the early 1950s and clearly having a keen eye and ear for what worked in musical entertainment, he was a very good match for Pops. Having first worked together under Jimmy Dorsey in 1936, they joined forces for a 1953 session for Decca that produced, among other gems, ‘Zat You Santa Claus? and Cool Yule. Paired with the Commanders and with Camarata arranging the music and leading the session, two classic new holiday sides were created. Armstrong had the ability to take even the most gimmicky of songs and turn them into unforgettable masterpieces. ‘Zat You, Santa Claus?’s end result was humorous, infectious, and infinitely satisfying. Steve Allen’s Cool Yule was first recorded at this session. Between Allen’s catchy tune, Armstrong’s joyfully exuberant performance, and Camarata’s bouncy arrangement, it should come as no surprise that Cool Yule has gone on to become a modern holiday favorite. Tutti revered Louis, and the two formed a bond that would later lead to the 1968 album Disney Songs the Satchmo Way, which featured Armstrong’s last trumpet recordings and was something that Walt Disney himself had wanted to see made.(7)

Working with everyone from Billie Holiday and Bing Crosby to Jascha Heifetz and Annette Funicello to the Beach Boys, expert in classical, jazz, soundtracks, rock, and even opera and religious music, Camarata was a singular figure in 20th century music. Not one to be confined to a genre or a medium, he deftly moved among them with a highly evolved expert sense of what worked when it came to music as entertainment. Passing away in Burbank, CA on April 13, 2005 at age 91, Camarata led an exceptionally full life in music, leaving behind a deeply creative legacy featuring significant historic involvement in Disney music, pioneering big band arranging during its heyday, and foundational involvement in rock and popular music recording, as well as important contributions to classical and religious music as well. He was known as a kind and humble man, whose name is perhaps not as well known as some of his contemporaries, but his massive impact on mid-century Western music is difficult to overstate.(8)

We are very proud to make these joyous holiday entries from his vast catalog available for bands the world over to play for audiences which are as sure to love them today as those beginning in the 1950s did.

• 1-https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2005-apr-18-me-camarata18-story.html
• 2-https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2005-apr-18-me-camarata18-story.html
• 3-https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salvador_Camarata
• 4-https://www.sunsetsound.com/demo-demo/
• 5-https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2005-apr-18-me-camarata18-story.html
• 6-https://www.jazzwax.com/2020/01/tuttis-trumpets-and-trombones.html
• 7-https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Disney_Songs_the_Satchmo_Way
• 8-https://en-academic.com/dic.nsf/enwiki/857399