Phil Kraus

Phil Kraus was by far among the busiest & most prolific NEW YORK studio room percussionists from the postwar period, appearing on periods headlined by Percy Beliefs, Hugo Winterhalter, André Kostelanetz, and just about any other large of easy hearing and lounge music. Kraus was created in NY in 1918, and started playing xylophone at age group eight. He continuing adding various other percussion musical instruments to his repertoire throughout his teenage years, eventually earning a full scholarship or grant towards the Juilliard College of Music. In 1939, Kraus was employed to try out vibes using the personnel band at the brand new York radio place WNEW, moonlighting with a few of his bandmates within a nightclub work known as the “Five Tones of Blue”; he enlisted within the U.S. Military in 1941, concurrently showing up in Irving Berlin’s musical This is actually the Military. After World Battle II finished, Kraus came back to NY, in the years to follow departing the city only one time (to tour behind Frank Sinatra in 1970). He performed in the studio room rings for such early tv strikes as Your Present of Displays, The Jackie Gleason Present, as well as the Ed Sullivan Present, and a frenetic plan of album periods, most often for the payrolls from the rival Order and Time brands, with his peak performed on as much as three classes per day, 7 days per week. Through the ’50s he also headlined many LPs for the Golden Crest label, included in this The Percussive Phil Kraus and Discord; in 1955, he also collaborated with Harry Breuer, Terry Snyder, and a small number of other best percussionists for the landmark Rate the Parting Visitor (Hi-Fi Bull inside a Chime Store), among the 1st all-percussion recordings released in stereo. Through the pursuing decade, Kraus documented some albums with fellow percussion ace Bob Rosengarden, including Like — Bongos!, Hollywood Audio Stage, Percussion: Playful & Fairly, and Hot Collection for Sound; furthermore, he done a large number of film soundtracks and actually a large number of Muzak classes. Kraus also published and released five books on percussion technique, especially the three-volume Contemporary Mallet Technique. He retired from program function in 1978 and relocated to Houston, agreeing to provide as the staff director from the Houston Symphony, a posture he kept until becoming a member of the Houston Pops in 1981. Kraus continued to be using the Pops until its 1994 dissolution, and continuing playing vibes in little regional jazz combos into his eighties. Kraus passed on on January 13, 2012, in Houston, Tx.