GUILFORD, Conn. (WTNH) — Donn Trenner, jazz pianist and musical director to some of the biggest names in Hollywood, takes us along on a walk down memory lane.
Trenner, who is 88 years young, lives in Guilford, and who grew up in Hamden and New Haven, went on to be Steve Allen’s band leader and worked with all the greats including, Bob Hope, Ann Margret, Shirley MacLaine, Rachel Welch, Dizzie Gullespie and on and on and on.
So, what stands out most as Trenner looks back on his life as a musical director and writer?
“I guess the joy of whatever you’ve worked on and the people you’ve worked with happens, when it happens it’s joyful, there’s nothing more wonderful, then hearing an arrangement that you’ve written and taking it into an orchestra and then performing it and really feeling like it was good.”
Trenner has so many stories, he has put them all together in a book called “Leave It To Me…My Life In Music.”
You can meet him yourself at R.J. Julia Booksellers in Madison on January 20th. He also directs the Hartford Jazz Orchestra at The Arch Street Tavern in Hartford every Monday night and continues to write and score music.
