Obit: Milt Okun (1923-2016)

Subject: Milt Okun Book Signing
From: John on the Sunset Coast
Date: 04 Jun 11 - 10:46 AM

Milt Okun, the music publisher, arranger, and guiding hand behind PP&M, Chad Mitchell trio John Denver and many other folkies of the '60s has written his autobiography with Richard Sparks, "Along The Cherry Lane."

Okun will be signing the book on Saturday, June 11, at 6pm, at Bergamot Station in Santa Monica, CA. If you are in the area, you might care to go. I know I won't be there. Living in the NoEast area of LA, I try never to go to the Westside...too much traffic.

Subject: RE: Milt Okun Book Signing 11 June Santa Monica CA
From: Desert Dancer
Date: 05 Jun 11 - 03:07 AM

Wikipedia entry - containing an impressive list of producer credits.

PR page about the book, here.

~ Becky in Long Beach
(in Tucson next weekend, of course)

Subject: RE: Obit: Milt Okun (1923-2016)
From: Joe Offer
Date: 19 Nov 16 - 09:40 PM

Milt Okun, best known as a "folk scare" record producer, died at age 89 on Nobember 15. Here's his obituary from billboard.com

Legendary producer Milton "Milt" Okun, who produced for John Denver and Peter, Paul and Mary and founded the highly successful Cherry Lane Music Publishing Company, has died. He was 92. Okun has been called one of the most important music producers of all time.

Once a child prodigy pianist, Okun suffered nephritis in his early teens. At a time before antibiotics, he was bedridden for two years and on recovery found that his gift of virtuosic playing was gone. After studying music and conducting at Oberlin, he became a music teacher in the New York public school system at the advice of conductor Dean Dixon until his love of folk music brought him to back to the music business as a singer, arranger and conductor with Harry Belafonte and the Harry Belafonte Singers.

"I have a producer who looks like an accountant and an accountant who looks like a producer," Denver described Okun.

In the early 1960s, Okun began his career as a music producer, working with folk acts such as Denver, Peter Paul and Mary, The Brothers Four, The Chad Mitchell Trio, Odetta, Laura Nyro and Tom Paxton, blending classical arrangements with folk and pop stylings. Over the span of his career, Okun earned more than 75 gold and platinum records and 16 Grammy nominations for his work.

Okun also had a successful career as a music publisher, founding Cherry Lane with his wife Rosemary in 1960 and building it into one of the world's largest independent publishing companies. In 2011, he released his memoir Along the Cherry Lane.

Okun is survived by Rosemary, his wife of 58 years, and their children, daughter Jennifer Okun Sparks with husband Richard Sparks and their daughter Elizabeth, and son Andrew Okun with wife Julia Blanchard and their children, William and Emily Okun.

Subject: RE: Obit: Milt Okun (1923-2016)
From: Felipa
Date: 20 Nov 16 - 05:43 AM

Tom Paxton, interviewed in 2015:
"My idol was Pete Seeger, even before I moved to the Village. He still is. My mentor was Milt Okun, who became my music publisher for fifty years. He was the musical director for the Chad Mitchell Trio, Peter, Paul & Mary, John Denver, and too many more to name. As an arranger and producer, he was a very important fellow and one of the sweetest, nicest people you could meet. Most importantly, he was a sucker for my jokes. He's still with us, in his 90s, living in Beverly Hills."
http://artsfuse.org/129098/fuse-music-interview-inside-veteran-folk-singer-tom-paxton/

I recognised the name Milt Okun, probably saw it several times on LP album cover credits.

Subject: RE: Obit: Milt Okun (1923-2016)
From: Waddon Pete
Date: 20 Nov 16 - 07:42 AM

A great guy who will be sorely missed. He was a music lover in the real sense, seeing no difference between the many disciplines. My condolences to all those who know and love him.
I have added his name to the "In Memoriam" thread.

RIP

Peter

Subject: RE: Obit: Milt Okun (1923-2016)
From: Jason Xion Wang
Date: 20 Nov 16 - 09:42 AM

He was a folksinger too... I have an old LP which included this song: Milt Okun - Hush Little Baby. It was a compilation album produced by Milt.

R.I.P.

Subject: RE: Obit: Milt Okun (1923-2016)
From: Thomas Stern
Date: 20 Nov 16 - 04:04 PM

as a folksinger, he was on the following albums:

Every Inch A Sailor (Stinson SLP65)
I Sing Of Canada (Stinson SLP71)
Adirondack Folk Songs And Ballads (Stinson SLP82)
America's Best Loved Folk Songs (Baton BL 1203/Warwick 2011) 1961
BILLY FAIER & MILT OKUN Elektra folk song kit LP BOX EKL-KIT 1959
ELEKTRA EKL-5001 HOW TO PLAY FOLK GUITAR
Merry Ditties (Riverside RLP 12-603) 1955
Traditional American Love Songs (Riverside RLP 12-634)
Okun/Ellen Stekert 1956
Hootenanny with the Skifflers
THE SKIFFLERS
(LEE CHARLES aka Leon Bibb, LIBBY KNIGHT, MILT OKUN, HALLY WOOD)
EPIC(Columbia)    LN/LC 3391    GOIN' DOWN TO TOWN (1957)
HARMONY(Columbia) HL    7307    HOOTENANNY
PERFECT(Epic)      PL   12015    FOLK SONGS


anyone know of any others ????
Thanks.
Thomas.

Subject: RE: Obit: Milt Okun (1923-2016)
From: GUEST,Gerry
Date: 20 Nov 16 - 06:01 PM

There is also an album, Milt Okun and the Seafarer's Chorus, Salty Seafaring Shanties, Elektra 7182, re-released some years later on Legacy. Okun's name is given as Okum on the album cover, but we came to agree that it was really Okun in a series of posts from 25-26 September 2016 in the thread, http://mudcat.org/thread.cfm?threadid=72779 Lyr Add: Hanging Johnny (from Great Lakes sailors)

Subject: RE: Obit: Milt Okun (1923-2016)
From: Thomas Stern
Date: 20 Nov 16 - 07:20 PM

The Seafarer's Chorus album credits
"THE SEAFARERS CHORUS
Conducted by MILT OKUN
featuring EUGENE BRICE "

Is there any indication of who is in the chorus ? Did Okun
sing, or just "conduct" ??

Thanks!
Thomas.

Subject: RE: Obit: Milt Okun (1923-2016)
From: GUEST,Larry the Radio Guy
Date: 20 Nov 16 - 09:22 PM

A very significant name from my past, being a great fan of The Chad Mitchell Trio. Also grew to love The Skifflers album....where Milt Okun did a lot of the vocals. Always liked his arrangements. R.I.P.

Subject: RE: Obit: Milt Okun (1923-2016)
From: GUEST,Ken Brock
Date: 20 Nov 16 - 09:52 PM

There are songs from Milt Okum on the 3 lp compilation box "Something to Sing About", which also has some recordings by Tom Paxton and John Denver that are not avaiable elsewhere.

Subject: RE: Obit: Milt Okun (1923-2016)
From: Rapparee
Date: 20 Nov 16 - 10:14 PM

RIP to a great man!

Subject: RE: Obit: Milt Okun (1923-2016)
From: GUEST,Gerry
Date: 21 Nov 16 - 01:30 AM

At https://www.discogs.com/Seafarers-Chorus-The-Conducted-By-Milt-Okun-Featuring-Eugene-Brice-We-Sing-Of-The-Sea/release/3954828 it says, "The Seafarers include: Elijah Hodges, Roy Thompson, Joseph Crawford, Ned Wright, Sherman Steed and Joli Gonsalves." Okun is credited there as conductor and arranger.

There is more information at http://www.harbel.one/seafarers/eks7182.htm where the soloist is listed for each track on the album, and there are legible reproductions of the front and back covers of the album.

It would appear that Okun didn't sing on this album.

Subject: RE: Obit: Milt Okun (1923-2016)
From: Stevebury
Date: 21 Nov 16 - 05:50 PM

Also –
Washington Post obituary at:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/entertainment/music/milt-okun-music-impresario-who-spanned-pop-folk-and-opera-dies-at-92/2016/11/16/b7ee6e7e-ac05-11e6-8b45-f8e493f06fcd_story.html

New York Times obituary at:
http://www.nytimes.com/2016/11/21/arts/music/milt-okun-dead-cherry-lane-publishing.html

Subject: RE: Obit: Milt Okun (1923-2016)
From: GUEST
Date: 22 Nov 16 - 08:29 AM

RIP, Milt.

Subject: Recordings of Milt Okun singing?
From: babypix
Date: 15 Dec 16 - 11:25 AM

Gentle Colleagues,

I am wondering if there are any extant copies of Milt Okun performing traditional songs-- he made 6 albums, possibly on Riverside or Monitor. Does anyone have them, or ever heard of them? Apparently, my go-to source, GEMM, is no more, and Google search only turns up recordings which Okun arranged for other people (and there were MANY!)

Ideas?

Kindest thanks in advance.

Deb

Subject: RE: Obit: Milt Okun (1923-2016)
From: Joe Offer
Date: 15 Dec 16 - 03:53 PM

Hi, Deb - so far, we've found only one. Up above, Jason posted a link to Milt Okun - Hush Little Baby

Did Okun sing in the Seafarers' Chorus (click)? Nobody knows.


Here's a Milt Okun-Roger Miller duet:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QUF--7UdQ_Q

I found four tracks Milt Okun did with Ellen Stekert on a CD titled Riverside Folklore Series, Vol. 3: Singing the New Traditions:

• The Cambric Shirt
• Must I Go Bound
• The Brazos River
• Trouble

Subject: RE: Obit: Milt Okun (1923-2016)
From: keberoxu
Date: 16 Dec 16 - 01:18 PM

Peter, Paul and Mary's first album introduced me to Pete Seeger's If I Had a Hammer. Of course, it was in truth Milt Okun's arrangement of Pete Seeger's If I Had a Hammer. The melody was altered, with an octave jump on "a - a - all over" completely ironed out, much simpler to sing, althought the rhythm was much the same as before.

It was so startling, years later, to hear the Weavers reunion when they sang Pete Seeger's original melody -- "that's NOT how it goes..."