by MONICA GULLON photos by SAM URDANK

 

IT'S EASY TO SPOT Mitch Glickman '84 amid the boisterous musicians thronging the rehearsal hall on a recent broiling Los Angeles summer morning. He's the relaxed-looking guy at the center of the friendly storm.

Later this afternoon, this group, the American Jazz Philharmonic (AJP), will perform Glickman's "Kaleidoscope March" at the Cerritos Family Arts Festival. Though he's been with the orchestra for years--and newly promoted to associate music director--this is Glickman's AJP premiere composition. That in itself would be cause enough for some jitters. Add in that contract negotiations have prevented the AJP from rehearsing for the last 18 months, and the musicians are only now seeing the piece for the first time, and you'd expect the lanky composer to be a basket case. But he's not. Dressed in slacks and a polo, Glickman is cool as can be. Huddled with his longtime mentor, the orchestra director and film and TV composer Jack Elliott, he just smiles and waves at the late arrivals finding their seats in the packed rehearsal space. "This is a 'red-light' orchestra," Glickman explains from the sidelines as Elliott warms up the orchestra. "They may sound ragged in rehearsal, but when the record light goes on or the curtain goes up, they really pull together."

The AJP (which actually sound pretty terrific as they practice) is very close to Glickman's heart. Perhaps because no matter what other projects he's working on--scoring the TNN film Proudheart, producing albums, or arranging music for Leon Redbone, Bud Shank, and Barry Manilow--it always seems like home.