Remembering Ed Lojeski

REMEMBERING ED LOJESKI

L to R: Ed Lojeski, Mac Huff, Emily Crocker John Jacobson, John Leavitt, (front) Roger Emerson

Like many others, I first got to know Ed Lojeski through his choral arrangements. I started teaching in the 1970s and I quickly learned that my middle schoolers always sounded their best with a Lojeski arrangement. Beautiful chord voicings, great part-writing and piano accompaniments that sounded fantastic even when I played them! Those 8^th grade girls simply swooned over Anne Murray’s “You Needed Me,” “The Theme from Ice Castles,” the Carpenters. (Some of these classic pop arrangements exist only in choir department libraries – if you have them, keep them!) Then later, the iconic arrangements from The Phantom of the Opera and Les Misérables came along.

So, it was a bit daunting when I went to work for Hal Leonard in 1989, to call Mr. Lojeski and tell him I was his new editor. He was pleasant, and then informed me that I was “number ten.” What? He explained that I was his tenth choral editor, that he had outlasted ten previous editors, but he was sure that we would get along just fine! (No pressure there!) As it turns out, I retired in 2017, so technically he did outlast me, but we worked together for 29 years (and he exaggerated a bit about the “number 10”).

I have since learned that in the early 1970s, Ed had been directing high school choir in SoCal and writing pop arrangements for a company called West Coast Publications. They were going out of business and Keith Mardak, at the time VP and General Manager at Hal Leonard, was able to get in the warehouse to check out the inventory. Keith met Ed on this trip and told him they were interested in him becoming an exclusive arranger for Hal Leonard. They flew him to Milwaukee for meetings and took him to Winona MN, the original headquarters of Hal Leonard, where he met two of the original owners of Hal Leonard, Harold Edstrom and Roger Busdicker. They were all very impressed with Ed’s talent, so they acquired much of the West Coast inventory and Ed began writing exclusively for Hal Leonard, where he continued until his passing.

Herman Knoll, retired senior VP from Hal Leonard writes: “When I came to Hal Leonard in the Fall of 1978 one of my first jobs as a production editor was to prepare an Ed Lojeski manuscript for publication. It was an easy task because Ed, being the pro that he was, sent the manuscript to us in a perfect form. This was my introduction to Ed Lojeski, the professional who wrote so many great selections for choirs of all levels to perform.”

Herman is right, every note, every dynamic, every chord, every lyric in an Ed Lojeski manuscript was perfectly placed. He never made the change to computer notation, but the editor’s job was an easy one and millions of singers enjoyed the results.

The story of the denim jeans cover comes from one of Ed’s visits to the Milwaukee office, wearing a denim suit (it was the 70s, after all). Jeans were very much the thing among the youth at the time, so the art director designed a jeans back pocket cover which was used well into the 1990s, when it was changed to a photographic image of jeans. I don’t think the cover has been used in a while, except on older title reprints, but I do know that it was quite recognizable among choral directors and students and a very trusted brand.

In addition to his choral work for Hal Leonard, Ed worked in the larger music business and knew a wide variety of industry folk. He proudly wore the TCB necklace (Taking Care of Business in a Flash) that he received from Elvis, and you can see Ed for about 3 seconds in Viva Las Vegas. He arranged and was music director for a variety of artists, including The Lettermen. He was a church music director much beloved by his parishoners.

In 2006, Hal Leonard published his Missa Americana, a major work combining the traditional Latin mass with American musical styles, including blues and jazz. Ed conducted several high-profile performances of the work, including at the Pearl Harbor memorial site and others. But for me, the most meaningful was when he played it in my living room before there was even a manuscript. He had it all worked out in his head, before he set pencil to paper.

Part of my job at Hal Leonard was to match arrangers with tunes. This was not always easy, since HL arrangers are the best in the business, all doing great work. I mentioned previously Ed’s arrangements of The Phantom of the Opera and Les Misérables, but some that it was my honor to “assign” included songs from the top Disney movies, such as “Be Our Guest,” “You’ll Be in My Heart,” “A Whole New World,” “How Far I’ll Go,” and more. Also, some great Broadway hits, from Hairspray and Jersey Boys and classic groups like the Beach Boys, Beatles…and on and on.

Ed also produced the studio recordings of his arrangements that were included on ShowTrax Cassettes, CDs and later digital downloads. He played keyboards on these recordings, so if you go to Hal Leonard Online and search Ed Lojeski you can hear his artistry on the recorded clips associated with each publication.

Ed was a major headliner in Hal Leonard Joy of Singing workshops when they were established in the mid-1980s. People were thrilled to meet him and sing his music as he directed.

I always enjoyed speaking with Ed on the phone. He never really made the transition to email or texting, so when I picked up the call and heard that hearty voice say, “Hi, Em!” I knew Ed was looking for a new song to arrange! Even after I retired, he would call from time to time, just to see how we were doing. He always asked about my mom and, “give my best to Dean” (Dean is my husband).

A dear person, a true gentleman. Ed, I will miss you. I know the angel choir is singing a little more sweetly today with you at the keyboard.

R.I.P

Emily Crocker

Hal Leonard VP of Choral (retired)

May 5, 2020