Bob Florence; Eclectic Bandleader, Arranger Revered by Jazz Fans

Bob Florence, a Grammy Award-winning bandleader and music arranger whose elegant harmonic stylings brought him a devoted following in jazz circles, died May 15 of pneumonia at Barlow Respiratory Hospital in Los Angeles. He was 75 and lived in Thousand Oaks, Calif.

Mr. Florence had a low profile among the general public, but musicians vied to perform in his 18-piece Bob Florence Limited Edition, considered one of the most musically challenging bands in jazz.

His eclectic career took him from early training in classical piano to pounding out rock-and-roll rhythms for recording studios. He worked in Hollywood for years, leading bands and writing music for the TV variety shows of Dean Martin, Red Skelton and Andy Williams. From the 1970s until the early 1990s, he teamed with singers, most notably Vikki Carr and Julie Andrews, for a series of recordings and international tours.

But Mr. Florence's heart was always in jazz, and he began to devote himself increasingly to writing and conducting for the Limited Edition. Since 1979, he released 15 albums, each of them rapturously reviewed by critics who often likened his music to the sonic sophistication of Duke Ellington and Stan Kenton.

Mr. Florence was nominated for 15 Grammy Awards over the years and finally broke through in 2000, when his album "Serendipity 18" won a Grammy for best jazz performance by a large ensemble. He also won two Emmy Awards, in 1981 for singer Linda Lavin's "Linda in Wonderland" and in 1990 for "Julie Andrews in Concert."

In 1961, Mr. Florence wrote a rock-and-roll arrangement of Hoagy Carmichael's "Up a Lazy River," which won a Grammy Award for bandleader Si Zentner.

"Si never acknowledged that I wrote the arrangement," Mr. Florence wrote on his Web site. "I was very young and I got paid scale while Hoagy Carmichael made a lot of money."

Mr. Florence was born in Los Angeles on May 20, 1932. He was taking piano lessons before his fourth birthday. He gave his first piano recital at 7 and seemed headed toward a career in classical music when he was exposed to jazz at Los Angeles City College.

He began writing for a rehearsal band he had formed at the musicians' union and found his life's work as an arranger.

"When I was around 19," he wrote on his Web site, "my life just took a 'hard left' and the classical piano studies disappeared. Since I loved jazz, it was natural for me to head off in that direction."

After college, Mr. Florence played in groups led by Alvino Rey and Les Brown and began arranging for trumpeter Harry James and Zentner, with whom he collaborated on 11 albums. As a staff arranger for Liberty Records, he wrote daringly fresh arrangements for early incarnations of his Limited Edition and made his first recording in 1964.

In a 1965 blindfold test in Down Beat magazine, the normally taciturn Thelonious Monk praised Mr. Florence's arrangement of Monk's classic "Straight, No Chaser": "It sounded so good, it made me like the song better!"

Mr. Florence arranged albums for saxophonist Bud Shank and worked on an album of Beatles songs for Count Basie.

"This trial-and-error education led to the skills that Florence is known for today: satiny instrumental blends laced with musical wit and whimsy," Bill Kohlhaase wrote in the Los Angeles Times in 1999.

He wrote arrangements for Doc Severinsen's "Tonight Show" band, for bossa nova star Sergio Mendes and for singers as diverse as Sarah Vaughan, Jack Jones and Ann-Margret. He was Carr's music director from 1973 to 1977 and later led four international tours with Andrews.

His music was always challenging and often went in unexpected directions, but California's finest jazz musicians considered it a badge of honor to be chosen for Mr. Florence's band. In recent years, he led workshops at an arts center in Port Townsend, Wash. He continued to lead his Limited Edition in concerts until a few months ago.

"Wherever the music leads me," he said, "that's where I'm going to go."

Survivors include his wife, Evie Florence; four children; and eight grandchildren.