Master Class with Sammy Nestico
Moderated by Gordon Goodwin
Saturday, November 22, 2014 – 11am

In the years between 1970 and 1984, Sammy was the composer/arranger for the Count Basie orchestra. He directed the recording of ten albums of original music, four of which won Grammy awards. During the same period he was also engaged by Capitol Records as arranger/orchestrator, co-writing the equivalent of 63 albums for that organization.
Sammy has collaborated with Steve Allen, Stan Freberg, Bobby Troupe and Johnny Mercer in the songwriting field, and he has orchestrated for such major film studios as 20th Century Fox, Universal, Paramount, Warner Brothers, MGM and Columbia. He has also arranged and/or conducted albums for recording artists Phil Collins, Barbra Streisand, Natalie Cole, Frank Sinatra, Bing Crosby, Sarah Vaughan, Toni Tennille, Patti Austin, Nancy Wilson, Pia Zadora, Paul Anka, Pat Boone, Ronnie Milsap, Daniel Rodriguez and others.
His television credits are numerous. As arranger, Sammy has written for specials by Julie Andrews, George Burns, Gene Kelly, Merv Griffin, Mary Tyler Moore, Goldie Hawn, The Grammy Awards, The Tonight Show, Perry Como, Toni Tennille, Liza Minelli, Bob Hope and many more. As Orchestrator he has worked on Mission Impossible, The Tony Randall Show, Medical Center, The Mary Tyler Moore Show, Hawaii Five-O, The Bob Newhart Show, Gomer Pyle, The Streets of San Fransisco, Mannix, Mayberry RFD, MOD Squad, The Bionic Woman, Cannon, Emergency, Columbo, Charlie’s Angels, The Lou Grant Show, M.A.S.H. and fifty others. Sammy has also written commercials for Anheuser Busch, Zenith, the Ford Motor Company, Mattel Toys, Pittsburgh Paints, the National Guard, Dodge, Remington Bank Americard and more. The United States Air Force Band, Washington, D.C. sponsors a yearly award program entitled The Sammy Nestico Arranging Award.