Jack Nitzsche

An important behind-the-scenes figure in popular music for 40 years, composer/songwriter/producer/arranger/studio musician Jack Nitzsche served a crucial function in 1960s rock & roll, bringing a trained musician's know-how to bear on the work of more instinctive rockers in a way that complemented and deepened their work. The Rolling Stones and Neil Young in particular benefited from his talents. Nitzsche was also a capable writer who penned a couple of major hits and developed a career as a film composer that included nearly three dozen movie scores.



Nitzsche grew up in Howard City, MI, which he left at 18 in 1955 to attend Westlake College of Music in Hollywood, CA; he remained based in the Los Angeles area for the rest of his career. After college in 1957 he found work as a music copyist. He was hired at Specialty Records by Sonny Bono, with whom he would work extensively over the next several years. He also worked at Capitol Records and Original Sound Records. At Original Sound, he wrote "Bongo Bongo Bongo," an instrumental that was recorded by Preston Epps as a follow-up to his hit "Bongo Rock." It made the national charts during the summer of 1960.

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