Belnick, Arnold (9th July 1922-6th February 2015)

He was a violinist active from the 1950s who became an extremely sought after session musician whose versatility allowed him to perform in the fields of both classical and popular music.

In 1959 he joined up with several other session musicians who played in Hollywood to perform under the direction of Ken Schrayer and in the 1960s they were given the name of Abnuceals Emuukha Electric Symphony Orchestra by Frank Zappa and accompanied him on his 1967 album Lumpy Gravy.

Arnold remained with the orchestra until 1974 and in January of that same year he was one of the musicians used to overdub a recording session of Elvis Presley. Also in 1974 he became a member of the Los Angeles Symphony Orchestra which performed until 1979.

Throughout his career he gained a lot of recognition and was called upon to work with countless artists active in popular music. Just a few of these include Air Supply, Patti Austin, David Axelrod, Pat Boone, Vikki Carr, Bobby Darin, George Duke, Duane Eddy, The Emotions, Julio Iglesias, Milt Jackson, Peggy Lee, Melissa Manchester, The Manhattan Transfer, Dean Martin, Randy Newman, Harry Nilsson, Buck Owens, Kenny Rogers, Doc Severinsen, Teena Marie and Mel Torme.

The recordings he featured on in this genre are too numerous to mention but a select few are Pet Sounds by The Beach Boys, Genius and Soul: The 50^th Anniversary Collection by Ray Charles, Unforgettable: With Love by Natalie Cole, Ain’t That Good News by Sam Cooke, Move Over Darling by Doris Day, I’m Glad You’re Here With Me Tonight by Neil Diamond, Raise! by Earth, Wind & Fire, Bill Haley & Friends: Vol.3 by Bill Haley, Sounds and Stuff Like That!! by Quincy Jones, Touch by Gladys Knight, Say It With Silence by Hubert Laws, That’s What Friends Are For by Johnny Mathis and Deniece Williams, Pisces, Aquarius, Capricorn & Jones Ltd. By The Monkees, Wichita Train Whistle Sings by Michael Nesmith, Four Platters and One Lovely Dish by The Platters, Complete Capitol Singles Collection by Frank Sinatra, Back to Mono (1958-1969) by Phil Spector, Send in the Clowns: The Very Best Of.. by Sarah Vaughan and Aquarela Do Brazil by Dionne Warwick .

On the classical side of things he performed on recordings such as Heifetz Collection: Vol. 35, Greig: Music for Violin and Piano, Music of Grazyna Bacewicz: Violin Sonatas and SergeiProkofiev: Music for Violin and Piano.

He performed the violin solo in the 1996 movie James and the Giant Peach and worked on many other soundtracks such as Bill & Ted’s Bogus Journey, Caddyshack, The Color Purple, Conspiracy Theory, Desire Under the Elms, The Enforcer, Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, Love at First Bite, Red Dawn, Sudden Impact and Throw Momma From the Train.

He was the owner of the Jupiter Stradivarius violin which had previously been owned by the 18^thcentury virtuoso violinist and composer Giovanni Battista Viotti.

He died in Granada Hills, California, in February 2015 when he was 92 years old.

Johnny Mathis & Deniece Williams recordings
Emotion (Barry Gibb/Robin Gibb)
S CBS 6164B (UK 45)
Too Much, Too Little, Too Late (Nat Kipner/John Vallins)
S CBS 6164 (UK 45)

Sources:

Belnick, Arnold (9th July 1922-6th February 2015)

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