Talk:Lennie Niehaus/Comments
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The stub for Lennie Niehaus deserves better enlargement than I can give it, but pending the involvement of someone closer to the source, it should be kept alive. I first knew of him in the late 50s as 1st alto sax with the great Stan Kenton bands, but his influence on me was fixed with the virtuosic arrangements (compositions, really) for the Hollywood Saxophone Quartet, another "unknown" legend. As an alto sax player, he was probably second only to Paul Desmond, certainly on a level with Bud Shank, Art Pepper, and Phil Woods. But it was his writing that was particularly distinguished.
Niehaus, unlike nearly all film composers, does not have his own web site, and is relatively reclusive (in 25 years of studio work in LA, I only met him once).
He is a highly non-self-promoting person, and it would be the supreme irony were he to be removed for this reason. His work as a film composer speaks for itself, but is probably overshadowed because his most mature work has coincided with Clint Eastwood's late work. He also deserves a more complete biography for his seminal work in the 1950s and early 60s.
Wikipedia must take care not to "punish" those who don't think it important, or who disdain an online presence altogether.
--Josephbyrd 01:46, 17 March 2007 (UTC)
