Fred Katz (cellist)
From The Art and Popular Culture Encyclopedia
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Fred Katz continued to work in the studio system, collaborating briefly for the now cult film producer Roger Corman. In under 18 months, Fred wrote original scores for The Little Shop of Horrors, Bucket of Blood and The Wasp Woman, although cynics have often suggested that ‘with the similarity of musical cues within the various films, it could be assumed that Corman had used the same score for each’. |
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Fred Katz (February 25, 1919 – September 7, 2013) is an American composer, songwriter, conductor, cellist, and professor, perhaps best-known as the composer and lyricist of "Satan Wears a Satin Gown".
Katz was classically trained at the cello and piano and began his career in a number of classical and swing orchestras. In the early 1950s, Katz accompanied singers such as Lena Horne, Tony Bennett and Frankie Laine. From 1955 through 1958, he was a member of the Chico Hamilton Quintet. He also recorded several solo albums such as Folk Songs for Far Out Folk[1] labels including Pacific Jazz, Warner Bros., and Decca Records.
In the late 1950s and 1960s, Katz scored a number of films for Roger Corman, including A Bucket of Blood, The Wasp Woman, Creature from the Haunted Sea and The Little Shop of Horrors. He also composed a number of pieces of classical music. Katz went on to become a professor of cultural anthropology at the University of San Fernando, specializing in ethnic music.
His cello can also be heard on Ken Nordine's Word Jazz projects, on Dorothy Ashby's The Rubaiyat of Dorothy Ashby, and Billy Bean's Makin' It.
