Jerry Nowak
Biography
Gerald C. (Jerry) Nowak (16 April 1936, Detroit, Mich. - 14 Dec 2015, Flemington, N.J.) was an American composer, educator and arranger.
A 1958 graduate of Trenton (New Jersey) Central High School, he studied at Trenton State College, earning bachelor’s and master’s degrees. He studied composition and orchestration with Lucien Cailliet, clarinet with Charles Russo, and voice and choral conducting with Herbert Pate and Finley Williamson.
In 1969, Nowak joined the faculty of Bucks County Community College in Newton, Pennsylvania, where he served as professor of music until his retirement in 2005. He appeared as a guest conductor, clinician, and adjudicator and lectured at numerous colleges in the United States, Canada, and Australia. He also conducted recording sessions in New York City, Philadelphia, Washington, D.C., and London.
Since 1971, Nowak had over 900 compositions and arrangements published for instrumental and vocal ensembles. He has received six consecutive annual ASCAP awards (1988-1993). He was a member of the Philadelphia Saxophone Quartet and worked as a woodwind doubler in the Philadelphia and New York areas before retiring from active performing in 1985.
Works for Winds
- Alexander's Ragtime Band (as arranger) (2013)
- American Patriotic Medley, An (as arranger) (2013)
- Battle Cry of Freedom (as arranger)
- Best of July Styne, The (as arranger) (1959)
- Big Band Polka (as arranger) (1978)
- Bravada
- Bridge Over Troubled Water (as arranger) (1972)
- Calypso Song
- Chicago (as arranger) (1922/2008)
- A Christmas Portrait (as arranger) (1984)
- The Christmas Song (as arranger) (1945/1974/1982)
- El Camino
- Fantasia on "Black Is the Color of My True Love's Hair (as arranger) (2011)
- Festival of American Spirituals (as arranger) (2012)
- Indiana (as arranger) (1917/2011)
- March of the Freemen
- Mr. Sandman (as arranger) (1954/1981)
- Rock 'n' Roll Explosion! (as arranger) (1985)
- Selections from "Star Trek (The Motion Picture)" (as arranger)
- Selections from "They're Playing Our Song" (as arranger) (1978/1979)
- Sevilla (as transcriber) (1886/1974/1997)
- Sinatra in Concert (as arranger) (1981)
- Songs of the American West (as arranger) (1981)
- Spring Song (1986)
- Under the Sea (as arranger) (1990)
- The White Ensign (1987)
Resources
- Heritage Encyclopedia of Band Music. "Jerry Nowak." Accessed 15 June 2015.
- "In Memoriam."The Instrumentalist, 70(7), p. 8.