George Siravo

During his multi-decade stint as a Columbia Records staff arranger and conductor, George Siravo collaborated with a host of singers including Tony Bennett, Doris Day, and Rosemary Clooney, but he remains best remembered for his work with Frank Sinatra on a pair of now-classic LPs that shepherded the crooner's transformation away from ballads to the swinging, uptempo approach upon which the Ol' Blue Eyes' legend rests. Born October 2, 1916 in Staten Island, New York, Siravo cut his teeth playing alto saxophone, clarinet, and flute in Harry Reser's Cliquot Club Eskimos -- stints...