Uan Rasey
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Uan Rasey (born August 21, 1921) is an American musician, best known for his studio work as a trumpet player. He was first trumpet of the MGM film studios orchestra from 1949 until the early 1970s, and has performed on the soundtracks of many motion pictures.
Biography
Uan Rasey was born in Glasgow, Montana. His father practiced law and his mother taught piano. After initial music studies on the violin, he became attracted to the trumpet from listening to early jazz greats such as Louis Armstrong, Cootie Williams, Roy Eldridge, and others whose playing he heard, sometimes weekly, via national radio broadcasts that reached the remote great plains of Eastern Montana. He began playing trumpet at the age of seven, when his family purchased a mail-order trumpet for him from the Montgomery Ward catalog. The trumpet came with an instruction booklet, which became his initial guide in learning to play. When he was ten, he contracted polio and spent nearly a year recuperating, but did not let the disease deter him from his passion for music and the trumpet. He continued his trumpet studies in his hometown of Glasgow, until his family moved to Los Angeles, California in 1937. He began his professional playing career in the road and show bands of Sonny Dunham, Bob Crosby, and other big bands of the swing era and worked on such nationally televised radio shows as "The George Burns Show", "The Paul Whiteman Show", "The Westinghouse Symphonic Hour", "The Bell Telephone Hour", "The Jack Benny Show", and "The Kraft Music Hall". He began working regularly in the film studios of Hollywood in 1947, and was a pioneer in bringing the raucous and sexy sounds of jazz and big band styles into the classical tradition of the film studio orchestra.
In 1949, he became first trumpet with the MGM film studio orchestra and played first on all the major MGM soundtracks from the Golden Age of Hollywood including An American in Paris, Singin' in the Rain, Gigi, West Side Story (at United Artists), My Fair Lady (at Warner Bros.), Two For The See Saw, and Bye Bye Birdie (at Columbia Pictures), and many others. Perhaps his most famous soundtrack performance was for the movie Chinatown (1974), which featured him in trumpet solos that brought the recognition and praise of the film studio community and the general public, something that was uncommon in soundtrack recording at the time.
He was expelled twice from the musician’s union for his outspoken support of the working musician, and remains active with these issues, today.
As of 2010, Rasey lives in Southern California today, where he teaches privately and continues to pursue his love and passion for music and the trumpet. He and his accomplishments were recognized in May 2009 by the International Trumpet Guild, a brotherhood of trumpeters when he was awarded the ITG Honorary Award, the ITG's most prestigious award.
Uan Rasey performed on nearly every MGM film score from the late 1940s until the early 1970s (along with film scores from many other motion picture studios—he did not work exclusively at MGM). He was highly skilled playing all genres of music, from classical to big band lead playing and nearly everything in-between. He possessed a strong work ethic, keeping his technical and reading abilities at a consistently high level, whether he was interpreting a big band shout chorus or a Wagner-like trumpet call. He was perhaps most admired for the resonant, singing sound of his playing.
Rasey's trumpet skills can also be heard on numerous long play recordings. He worked continuously at Capitol Records and other audio recording studios in the Southern California area from the late 1940s until the early 1990s. Among these is a notable recording from the late 1950s made by Tutti Camarata called “Tutti’s Trumpets.” Rasey is featured playing lead on all tracks, together with other well-known trumpet players, including Pete Condoli, Conrad Gozzo, Shorty Sherock, Mannie Klein and Joe Triscari.
As a teacher, Rasey has a reputation as one of the most exacting and inspiring trumpet teachers of his and subsequent generations.