Marty Paich (January 23, 1925 - August 12, 1995) was an American pianist, composer, arranger, conductor, record producer, and music director. Best known for his work in West Coast jazz, he also became one of the most versatile arrangers in American popular music, moving with ease between small-group jazz, vocal records, film scores, television music, and studio orchestration.
Born Martin Louis Paich in Oakland, California, Paich began studying music as a child and was already performing professionally by the age of 16. He developed early as both a pianist and an arranger, working with bandleader Gary Nottingham and collaborating with Pete Rugolo. During World War II, Paich served in the Army Air Corps, where he led and arranged for a service band. After the war, he continued his formal education, studying at UCLA and the Los Angeles Conservatory of Music. His teachers included the composer Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco, and he earned a master's degree in composition in 1951.
Paich became an important figure in the Los Angeles jazz community during the 1950s. He played and arranged for musicians including Shorty Rogers, Shelly Manne, Chet Baker, Ray Brown, Buddy Rich, Stan Kenton, and Dave Pell. His arrangements were noted for their precision, color, and ability to give a compact ensemble the weight and variety of a larger orchestra. This quality became especially apparent in his recordings as a leader, including *The Picasso of Big-Band Jazz* and *I Get a Boot Out of You*.
His most celebrated partnership of the period was with singer Mel Torme. Paich arranged and conducted a series of recordings with Torme and assembled the ten-piece group known as the Marty Paich Dek-Tette. Their work reached a high point with *Mel Torme with the Marty Paich Dek-Tette*, a landmark of West Coast vocal jazz that combined sophisticated writing with a relaxed, swinging delivery. Paich also arranged *Art Pepper + Eleven: Modern Jazz Classics* (1959), one of alto saxophonist Art Pepper's defining albums.
Around 1960, Paich increasingly concentrated on arranging and conducting rather than recording as a bandleader. His clients included Ella Fitzgerald, Peggy Lee, Ray Charles, Frank Sinatra, Lena Horne, Sammy Davis Jr., Dean Martin, Barbra Streisand, Astrud Gilberto, Mahalia Jackson, Andy Williams, and Jack Jones. His work helped connect jazz arranging techniques with the polished sound of mainstream pop and traditional vocal music.
Paich also established a substantial career in film and television. He contributed music to animated and live-action productions, including *Lady and the Tramp*, *Hey There, It's Yogi Bear!*, and *The Man Called Flintstone*. He served as musical director for television programs such as *The Glen Campbell Goodtime Hour*, *The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour*, and *The Sonny and Cher Show*. His work on the television series *Ironside* earned him an Emmy Award.
Although his activity became less consistent after the early 1970s, Paich continued to arrange, conduct, and compose for recordings and screen projects. He worked with artists such as George Benson, Carly Simon, Elton John, Kenny Loggins, Sarah Vaughan, and Michael Jackson, and contributed orchestral work to recordings by his son David Paich, a founding member of Toto. In the late 1980s, he reunited with Mel Torme for new recordings and performances by a revived Dek-Tette.
Marty Paich died in Santa Ynez, California, on August 12, 1995. His legacy rests on the breadth of his career: he was a significant West Coast jazz arranger, an influential collaborator with singers, and a skilled composer and conductor whose work linked jazz, pop, television, and film music.