Thoughts of Murray Spivack

When I studied with Murray he was in his late 80’s. I was his last student of the day on fridays so it was my job to drive him to Farmers Market get some corned beef and cabbage then go to his apartment and dine with him. During our meals together we would talk about all the famous drummers he had taught, he talked about their skill levels temperament etc. Since I had a personal interest in sound engineering I would pick his brain about his audio career. Murray would talk about which mic Julie Andrews or Barbra Streisand preferred. How he balanced all the rounds in the parade scene of Hello Dolly. I even have some recoardings he made for me from his personal reel to reel of the board mixes from West Side Story. His apartment even had some Hollywood history. It contain his academy award from the original King Kong. And was party central for the likes of actors such as Fred Aster as well as the heads of the major studios.