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Victor Feldman
Feldman in San Francisco, 1976
Background information
Birth name	Victor Stanley Feldman
Born	(1934-04-07)7 April 1934 Edgware, London, England
Died	12 May 1987(1987-05-12) (aged 53) Woodland Hills, California, United States
Genres	Jazz
Occupation(s)	Musician
Instruments	Vibraphone, drums, percussion, piano
Associated acts	Miles Davis, Lighthouse All-Stars, Steely Dan

Victor Stanley Feldman (7 April 1934 – 12 May 1987) was an English jazz musician who played mainly piano, vibraphone and percussion.

He began performing professionally during childhood, eventually earning acclaim in the UK jazz scene as an adult. Feldman immigrated to the United States in the mid-1950s, where he continued working in jazz and also as a session musician with a variety of pop and rock performers.

Early life

Feldman was born in Edgware on 7 April 1934.^[1] He caused a sensation as a musical prodigy when he was "discovered", aged seven. His family were all musical and his father founded the Feldman Swing Club in London in 1942 to showcase his talented sons.^[2] Feldman performed from a young age: "from 1941 to 1947 he played drums in a trio with his brothers; when he was nine he took up piano and when he was 14 started playing vibraphone".^[1] He featured in the films King Arthur Was a Gentleman (1942) and Theatre Royal (1943). In 1944 he was featured at a concert with Glenn Miller's AAAF band, as "Kid Krupa" (in reference to drummer Gene Krupa).^[3] He appeared in the 1942 comedy filmKing Arthur is a Gentleman with fellow drummer Freddie Crump. He also "took a prominent role in the musical Piccadilly Hayride" (1946–48).^[1]

Later life and career

His drums teacher Carlo Krahmer encouraged Feldman to play the vibraphone which he did first in the Ralph Sharon Sextet and later in the Roy Fox band.^{[citation needed]} Feldman played with Vic Lewis and Ted Heath.^[1] Feldman played with Sharon from late 1949 to 1951, including for performances in Switzerland.^[1] There were further overseas trips with Ronnie Scott (to Paris in 1952), and Harry Parry (to India).^[1] He also played with Parry in the UK from October 1953 to January 1954.^[1] From 1954, when he recorded with Jimmy Deuchar, and played again with Scott, "he was working mainly as a pianist and vibraphonist; his early vibraphone playing showed the influence of Milt Jackson".^[1]

He was a notable percussionist, but it was as a pianist and vibraphone player that he became best known.^[4]

Before leaving the UK to work in the US, Feldman recorded with Ronnie Scott's orchestra and quintet from 1954 to 1955, which also featured other important British jazz musicians such as Phil Seamen and Hank Shaw. It was Scott who recommended that Feldman emigrate to the US,^{[citation needed]} which he did in 1955.^[5] Once there, his first steady work was with the Woody Herman Herd.^[5] He had frequent return trips to the UK over the following years.^[5] His 8-week visit in 1956–57 included studio recording sessions and club appearances.^[5] After Herman he joined Buddy DeFranco for a short time.^[1] In 1958, he had his own working band on the west coast, which included the innovative bassist Scott LaFaro. His 1958 album The Arrival of Victor Feldman includes LaFaro and Stan Levey on drums. He recorded with many jazz artists, including Benny Goodman, George Shearing, Cannonball Adderley and Miles Davis, most notably on Davis' 1963 album Seven Steps to Heaven, the title tune being his own composition. Davis invited Feldman to join his group full-time, but Feldman declined, preferring the stability of studio work to the career of a touring musician.^[6] The 5-CD Shelly Manne Black Hawk set, originally released on LP in September 1959, is a good representation of Feldman's unmistakable driving "comping" behind the soloists, helping to define the session as a valuable hard bop genre element.

In 1957 Feldman settled in Los Angeles permanently and then specialised in lucrative session work for the US film and recording industry. He also branched out to work with a variety of musicians outside of jazz, recording with artists such as Frank Zappa in 1967, Steely Dan and Joni Mitchell in the 1970s and Tom Waits and Joe Walsh in the 1980s. It is Feldman's percussion work on Steely Dan's song "Do It Again" that gives the song its Latin groove.

Feldman's vibraphone soloing is featured extensively on the Grammy Award-winning The Music from Peter Gunn, with AllMusic writing, "There's some particularly impressive work by drummer Shelly Manne and vibes player Victor Feldman, whose cool, understated playing seems to deliberately recall that of Milt Jackson."^[7]

Feldman died at his home in Los Angeles, aged 53, following an asthma attack.^[5] In 2009, he was inducted in the Musicians Hall of Fame and Museum in Nashville.^[8]

Discography

As leader

Main source:^[9]

As sideman

With Pepper Adams

• 
  California Cookin' (Interplay, 1983 [1991])

With Cannonball Adderley

• 
  Cannonball Adderley and the Poll Winners (Riverside, 1960)


• 
  The Cannonball Adderley Quintet at the Lighthouse (Riverside, 1960)


• 
  Live in Europe (Pablo, 1984) (Fantasy, 1994)


• 
  Paris 1960 (Fantasy, 1997)


• 
  The Cannonball Adderley Quintet Plus (Riverside, 1961)

With Nat Adderley

• 
  A Little New York Midtown Music (Galaxy, 1978)

With Curtis Amy

• 
  Way Down (Pacific Jazz, 1962)

With James Clay

• 
  A Double Dose of Soul (Riverside, 1960)

With Bob Cooper

• 
  Coop! The Music of Bob Cooper (Contemporary, 1958)

With Miles Davis

• 
  Seven Steps to Heaven (Columbia, 1963)


• 
  Quiet Nights (Columbia, 1963)

With The Doobie Brothers

• 
  Livin' on the Fault Line (Warner Bros., 1977)

With The Free Movement

• 
  I've Found Someone of My Own (Columbia, 1972)

With Woody Herman

• 
  At the Monterey Jazz Festival (Atlantic, 1959)

With Paul Horn

• 
  Impressions of Cleopatra (Columbia, 1963)

With Milt Jackson

• 
  Memphis Jackson (Impulse!), 1969)

With J. J. Johnson

• 
  A Touch of Satin (Columbia, 1962)


• 
  Concepts in Blue (Pablo, 1981)

With Plas Johnson

• 
  This Must Be the Plas (Capitol, 1959)

With Quincy Jones

• 
  The Hot Rock OST (Prophesy, 1972)


• 
  Roots (A&M, 1977)

With Sam Jones

• 
  The Chant (Riverside, 1961)

With Stan Kenton

• 
  Hair (Capitol, 1969)

With Barney Kessel

• 
  Let's Cook! (Contemporary, 1957 [1962])


• 
  Carmen (Contemporary, 1958)

With John Klemmer

• 
  Waterfalls (Impulse!, 1972)


• 
  Intensity (Impulse!, 1973)

With Henry Mancini

• 
  The Music from Peter Gunn (RCA, 1959)

With Shelly Manne

• 
  Shelly Manne & His Men Play Peter Gunn (Contemporary, 1959)


• 
  Son of Gunn!! (Contemporary, 1959)


• 
  At the Black Hawk 1 (Contemporary, 1959)


• 
  At the Black Hawk 2 (Contemporary, 1959)


• 
  At the Black Hawk 3 (Contemporary, 1959)


• 
  At the Black Hawk 4 (Contemporary, 1959)


• 
  At the Black Hawk 5 (Contemporary, 1959 [1991])


• 
  My Son the Jazz Drummer! (Contemporary, 1962)


• 
  Daktari (Atlantic, 1967)

With Carmen McRae

• 
  Can't Hide Love (Blue Note, 1976)

With Blue Mitchell

• 
  Stablemates (Candid, 1977)

With Oliver Nelson

• 
  Zig Zag (MGM, 1970)

With Art Pepper and Zoot Sims

• 
  Art 'n' Zoot (Pablo, 1981 [1995])

With Sonny Rollins

• 
  Sonny Rollins and the Contemporary Leaders (Contemporary, 1958)

With Lalo Schifrin

• 
  Gone with the Wave (Colpix, 1964)


• 
  The Cincinnati Kid (MGM, 1965)

With Bud Shank

• 
  Girl in Love (World Pacific, 1966)


• 
  Bud Shank Plays Music from Today's Movies (World Pacific, 1967)


• 
  Magical Mystery (World Pacific, 1967)

With Boz Scaggs

• 
  Down Two Then Left (Columbia, 1977)

With Steely Dan

• 
  Can't Buy a Thrill (ABC Records, 1972)


• 
  Countdown to Ecstasy (ABC Records, 1973)


• 
  Pretzel Logic (ABC Records, 1974)


• 
  Katy Lied (ABC Records, 1975)


• 
  The Royal Scam (ABC Records, 1976)


• 
  Aja (ABC Records, 1977)


• 
  Gaucho (MCA Records, 1980)

With Joni Mitchell

• 
  The Hissing of Summer Lawns (Asylum, 1975)

With James Taylor

• 
  Gorilla (Warner Bros., 1975)

With Gino Vannelli

• 
  Brother to Brother (A&M, 1978)

With Harold Vick

• 
  Commitment (Muse, 1967 [1974])

With Leroy Vinnegar

• 
  Leroy Walks! (Contemporary, 1958)


• 
  Leroy Walks Again!!! (Contemporary, 1963)

With Tom Waits

• 
  Heartattack and Vine (Asylum, 1980)


• 
  Swordfishtrombones (Island, 1983)

With Gerald Wilson

• 
  Feelin' Kinda Blues (Pacific Jazz, 1965)


• 
  On Stage (Pacific Jazz, 1965)


• 
  The Golden Sword (Pacific Jazz, 1966)

With Elton John

• 
  21 at 33 (MCA/Rocket, 1980)

With Frank Zappa

• 
  Lumpy Gravy (Capitol Records, 1968)

With Joe Walsh

• 
  There Goes the Neighborhood (Asylum Records, 1981)

References

Bibliography

External links

• Interview with Les Tomkins


• 
  Victor Feldman at AllMusic
  


• Victor Feldman discography