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Despite his long association with Tennessee Ernie Ford and his formidable library of choral arrangements of Christian hymns, Jack Fascinato is one of the "names to look for" in Space Age Pop. His album, Music from a Surplus Store is one of those records that die-hards spend years searching through thrifts and garage sales to find. Fascinato was raised in Hannibal, Missouri and spent some time teaching music at Hannibal High School before serving in the military during World War Two. He moved to Chicago, played piano with his own trio in local clubs and on radio, and in 1947, became musical director of the "Kukla, Fran, and Ollie" children's television show. The show's creator, puppeteer Burr Tillstrom, gave Fascinato great creative freedom on the show, and numerous episodes were full-scale musical productions. "St. George and the Dragon" included a complete score performed live by Arthur Fiedler and the Boston Pops, and for several years, their take-off on the Gilbert and Sullivan operetta, "The Mikado," was an annual event. (He later arranged a jazz version that's been called "the worst Gilbert & Sullivan recording ever." To some of us, that's a big thumbs-up endorsement.) He moved to Los Angeles with the show and began pursuing other work on the side. Around 1952, he was hired to arrange and conduct a recording session with Capitol's rising cross-over country star, Tennessee Ernie Ford. Perhaps Ford just liked working with another country boy, but the partnership clicked from the start, and over the next 15 years, Fascinato went on to work on over 20 albums of popular and gospel music with Ford, including the huge hit single, "Sixteen Tons." Like Tillstrom, Ford let Fascinato play a leading role, at times even relying on him to select the material and sequencing.
Fascinato spent most of the rest of his musical career writing music for radio and television commercials. By the mid-1970s, he estimated he'd written over 200 jingles.
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