A producer, arranger and conductor from the “golden age” of rock ’n’ roll passed away in Nashville this week.

Chuck Sagle, whose career touched such talents as Carole King, Neil Sedaka, Tony Orlando and Bobby Darin, died at age 87 on Monday, April 13 from complications following a stroke. He worked in four of the nation’s key music centers — Chicago, New York, Los Angeles and Nashville — and for such top record labels as Mercury, Epic, Reprise, Motown and ABC-Dot.
He excelled at trumpet and keyboards as a high-school student and entered the University of Illinois at age 16. He served in the Navy during World War II, entertaining the troops in the Pacific as a musician and bandleader.

Sagle graduated from college in 1950 and took a job in the A&R Department of Mercury Records, first in Chicago, then in New York. While with the company, he produced such “doo-wop” groups as The Dell-Vikings, The Danleers and The Diamonds (the 1957 No. 1 hit “Little Darlin’”). He also worked as a conductor for pop balladeer Joni James and r&b star Clyde McPhatter.

In 1958-59, he was the musical director for Don Kirshner’s Aldon Music. While there, he worked with Bobby Darin, Jack Keller and Barry Mann, among others. He arranged and conducted for Neil Sedaka (1959’s “Oh Carol” etc.) and discovered 17-year-old Carole King.

He next worked in A&R at Epic Records in New York. He signed King to the label and arranged and/or produced records for her, Roy Hamilton, Jack Jones, Link Wray, Sal Mineo, Ersel Hickey, Lenny Welch and Tony Orlando.

He also arranged and conducted on The Ed Sullivan Show and The Tonight Show. Sagle recorded his first solo LP, Ping Pong Percussion, in 1961.

Moving to Los Angeles in 1962, he joined Reprise Records as musical director. There, he arranged and/or produced records for the label’s Sammy Davis Jr., Dean Martin, Rosemary Clooney, Ethel Merman, Frank Sinatra, Soupy Sales, The Hi-Lo’s and Les Baxter. He also recorded two more solo LPs, 1962’s Splendor in the Brass and Contrasts.

He produced jazz great Chico Hamilton in 1963 and later did arrangements for pop legend Gene Pitney and r&b queen LaVern Baker.

In 1968, he arranged and conducted “Valley of the Dolls” for the close-harmony quartet The Arbors.

He was an arranger in 1971-72 for the stellar r&b vocal group The Manhattans, notably on their LPs With These Hands and A Million to One and the top-10 r&b hit “One Life to Live.” During the same period, he served a brief stint as an arranger for Motown Records.

Sagle moved to Nashville in 1972. He arranged music for ABC-Dot (Brian Collins, etc.) and for Starday-King Records and other labels. His first love was big-band music, and he returned to that in Music City by doing arrangements for The Establishment orchestra and Jack Daniel’s Silver Cornet Band. He returned to college around 1984 to study computer programming. Sagle worked in this field for the next decade, but also taught a class on Jewish music at the West End Synagogue and composed a musical for its choir. He retired in 1994.

Charles H.”Chuck” Sagle is survived by his wife Sarah Stein, by sons Jacob and Christopher and by two grandchildren.

Services were held on Thursday, April 16, and he is buried in Middle Tennessee Veterans Cemetery. In lieu of flowers, donations can be made to Sherith Israel Congregation, 3600 West End Ave., Nashville 37205 or to Disabled Veterans of America.

Doug Gilmore

Doug Gilmore — who made his mark as a songwriter, TV producer and artist manager — passed away in Nashville on April 3 at the age of 78.

He was associated with such singer-songwriters as Mickey Newbury, Roger Miller, Delaney Bramlett, Leon Russell and Sonny Curtis. Gilmore co-wrote such country hits as “She Even Woke Me Up to Say Goodbye” (Jerry Lee Lewis) and “What Am I Gonna Do About You” (Reba McEntire).

Douglas Carl Gilmore was born in Wichita, Kan., in 1936. He played football at Vanderbilt University and was on the team that won the Gator Bowl in 1955. He graduated in 1958.
After college, he signed a management deal with Roger Miller. When Miller moved to the West Coast in 1963, Gilmore accompanied him. As a songwriter, Doug Gilmore began collaborating with Miller’s drummer and Crickets veteran J.I. Allison.

In 1968, Gilmore collaborated with Mickey Newbury on “She Even Woke Me Up to Say Goodbye.” Jerry Lee Lewis had a big country hit with the song the following year, and it has been recorded by dozens of others, including Kenny Rogers, Ronnie Milsap, Don Gibson, Hank Snow, Del Shannon, Charlie Louvin, Lonnie Mack, Brook Benton, Ed Bruce, Jack Greene and Swamp Dogg.

Meanwhile, in California, Gilmore produced music for The Sonny & Cher Comedy Hour (CBS, 1971-77), as well as for the solo TV shows of both Sonny (ABC, 1974) and Cher (CBS, 1975-76).

In 1973-74, NBC aired Dean Martin Presents Music Country as a weekly series. Doug Gilmore produced 19 one-hour episodes of this, which featured country artists performing their hits on location in scenic spots around the nation. Charlie Rich, Tanya Tucker, Jerry Reed, Mac Davis, Johnny Cash, Marty Robbins, Loretta Lynn, George Jones, Johnny Rodriguez, Tammy Wynette, Conway Twitty, Tom T. Hall and Lynn Anderson were among those he showcased.

As a music director and producer, Gilmore also worked with John Denver during the 1970s. He reportedly also collaborated with noted soundtrack and musical-comedy composer Meredith Willson and with songwriters including Bobby Russell, Grant Boatwright, Billy Burnette, Bobby Lee Springfield, Larry Henley, Billy Ray Reynolds and Randy Sharp.

In 1987, Reba McEntire had a No. 1 hit with “What Am I Gonna Do About You,” which Gilmore co-wrote with Jim Allison and Bob Simon. He co-wrote several songs with John Brannen for the latter’s debut Mercury Records LP, 1988’s Mystery Street. Mickey Gilley had a 1986 top-10 hit with his co-written “Doo Wah Days.”

Dude Mowrey (1991) and Daron Norwood (1994) both charted with Gilmore’s co-written “Cowboys Don’t Cry.” Ray Stevens charted with his “Where the Sun Don’t Shine” in 1982. Other Gilmore songs were recorded by Johnny Paycheck, The Crickets, Tom Jones, Fleetwood Mac, Waylon Jennings and Lee Hazelwood, among others. He has a total of 192 titles registered with BMI.

In later years, Gilmore and his co-writer Gary Vincent produced various blues festivals in Clarksdale, Miss. He also worked with actor Morgan Freeman on a 2008 blues documentary broadcast.

Doug Gilmore is survived by Winifred Holcomb, brother James, aunt Juanita, daughter Kellye and by sons Charlie Holcomb, Calvin Houghland and Mason Houghland, as well as his cousins.

The family will receive friends at Harpeth Hills Funeral Home on Tuesday, April 14. Visitation begins at 2:30 p.m. with a celebration of his life beginning at 4:00 p.m. The building is at 9090 Highway 100, Nashville, TN 37221.

In lieu of flowers, donations in Doug Gilmore’s name may be made to New Leash on Life, 507 Jim Draper Blvd., Lebanon, TN 37087.

Jane Fabian

Jane Fabian, a key figure in the classical dance world in Nashville for more than 40 years, passed away on April 6 at age 74.

A Nashville native, Fabian was a founder of Nashville Ballet, was President of its Board in 1981-85 and then served as the Company Manager and Administrator of the School of Nashville Ballet. From 1993 to 2001, she was Managing Director of Nashville Ballet.

When she retired from the organization’s administrative leadership, she was appointed a lifetime member of its board of directors. Fabian was also quite active in the alumni association of Leadership Nashville.

Born in 1940, she attended Parmer School, Harpeth Hall and Hollins University before earning her degree from Vanderbilt in 1963. She began ballet training with Albertine Maxwell in Nashville in 1944. She later studied at the School of American Ballet in New York City.

She performed with the Nashville dance troupe Les Ballets Intime, then taught at both The Dancer’s Studio and the School of Nashville Ballet between 1976 and 1991.

In addition to her work with Nashville Ballet, Jane Miller Fabian served on the boards of the McNeilly Day Home, the Junior League, the YWCA, the Association for Nonprofit Organizations and the Tennessee Association of Dance. She was also on the Advisory Committee of the Governor’s School for the Arts.

She was a 1994 graduate of Leadership Nashville. In her leisure, the charmingly unpretentious Fabian was a big fan of The Atlanta Braves and of country music.

She is survived by sons Michael M. Fabian of Roswell, GA and Robert N. Fabian Jr. of Reno, NV. Her Nashville memorial service will be at St. George’s Episcopal Church, 4715 Harding Rd. at 11:30 a.m. on Tuesday, April 21.

In lieu of flowers, gifts in Jane Fabian’s honor may be made to Nashville Ballet.

Tut Taylor. Photo: Chris Murphy

Dobro master Tut Taylor has died in North Carolina at age 91.

The former Nashvillian recorded with John Hartford, Leon Russell, Brother Oswald, Norman Blake, Porter Wagoner and others. He made solo albums for Rounder, World Pacific, Takoma and United Artists. His CD with Jerry Douglas, The Great Dobro Sessions, won a 1995 Grammy Award as Best Bluegrass Album.

Taylor was known as a “musician’s musician.” Legendary in bluegrass circles, he also played mandolin, guitar and banjo.

He was born in Georgia in 1923. Inspired by hearing “Bashful” Brother Oswald in Roy Acuff’s Smokey Mountain Boys band, Taylor began playing Dobro at age 14. Early in his career, he performed in The Folkswingers alongside Glen Campbell and members of The Dillards and The Dixie Gentlemen bands. He moved to Nashville in the late 1960s.

In 1970, Taylor co-founded the GTR instrument shop in Music City. This institution became the still-thriving Gruhn Guitars.

Taylor co-founded the long-running Nashville bluegrass nightclub The Old Time Pickin’ Parlor in 1971. He also ran Tut Taylor’s General Store in Nashville beginning around 1979. He produced records by Mark O’Connor, Jerry Douglas, Norman Blake, Brother Oswald and others.

Tut Taylor died Thursday morning, April 8, at the Wilkes Regional Medical Center in North Carolina. He is survived by four sons, three daughters, 16 grandchildren and 18 great-grandchildren. His visitation is today, April 9, from 7-9 p.m. at Miller Funeral Service in Wilkesboro, N.C.