GROFE, Ferde
b New York, 27 March 1892
d Santa Monica, California, 3 April 1972, aged eighty

He studied in New York, and received honorary doctorates from Illinois Wesleyan University and the Western State College of Colorado. He was a violinist in the Los Angeles Symphony Orchestra from 1909 to 1919 then pianist and arranger with Paul Whiteman's band from 1919 to 1933. In 1924 he orchestrated Gershwin's Rhapsody in Blue.

1931 (39)

Grand Canyon Suite, for orchestra

1937 (45)

Broadway at Night, for orchestra

Symphony in Steel (uses four pairs of shoes, two brooms, locomotive bell, pneumatic drill and compressed air tank)

1964 (72)

World's Fair Suite

Grofe also wrote: Tabloid, Death Valley Suite, Mississippi Suite, Mark Twain Suite, Hollywood Suite, Milk, Wheels, Three Shades of Blue, New England Suite, Metropolis, Aviation Suite.