Kenneth Ascher

With Paul Williams, he wrote the song "Rainbow Connection" for The Muppet Movie. Both Williams and Ascher received Oscar nominations for the 1979 Academy Awards for Best Original Song ("Rainbow Connection") and Best Original Score (The Muppet Movie Soundtrack). The song was also nominated for the Golden Globes for "Best Original Song" that same year.

Kenny Ascher
Kenny Ascher
Background information
Birth name	Kenneth Lee Ascher
Born	(1944-10-26) October 26, 1944 (age 79) Washington, D.C.
Genres	Big band, jazz, rock, film
Occupation(s)	Jazz pianist, composer, arranger, studio musician
Instrument(s)	piano

In 1966, Ascher joined the Woody Herman Orchestra as arranger and pianist. Herman hired Ascher — on the advice of Frank Foster — to replace the departing Nat Pierce. Ascher has been a member of ASCAP since 1968.

Ascher's work through the years has included keyboard parts and string arrangements on John Lennon's albums Mind Games, Walls and Bridges and Rock 'n' Roll and Yoko Ono's A Story, music for several songs from Barbra Streisand's remake of A Star Is Born (where he also served as music coordinator), and arrangements for portions of Meat Loaf's Bat Out of Hell (produced by Todd Rundgren). Ascher's own rendition of "Rainbow Connection" was featured in the closing credits of The Break-Up (starring Vince Vaughn and Jennifer Aniston). Ascher is the pianist with the Birdland Big Band, which performs Fridays from 5:15 to 7 at Birdland in New York City. The Birdland Big Band performs "Rainbow Connection", arranged by Lew Anderson.

As leader

As arranger

As sideman or band member, on keyboards

Awards

• 1976 — Golden Globe for Best Original Score, A Star is Born, 34th Golden Globe Awards, Kenny Ascher & Paul Williams

Nominations

• 1978 — Anthony Asquith Award nomination for Film Music, A Star is Born, British Academy of Film and Television Arts, Kenny Ascher
• 1979 — Golden Globe nomination for Best Original Song, Rainbow Connection, 37th Golden Globe Awards, Kenny Ascher & Paul Williams
• 1979 — Academy Award nomination for Best Original Song Score and Its Adaptation or Adaptation Score, The Muppet Movie, 52nd Academy Awards, Kenny Ascher & Paul Williams
• 1979 — Academy Award nomination for Best Original Song, The Muppet Movie, 52nd Academy Awards, Kenny Ascher & Paul Williams

• Feb 1973 — Ascher played piano with Marvin Stamm at Sam's Jazz Upstairs (1220 2nd Avenue at 64th St., New York City): Bob Dougherty (bass) and Ronnie Zito on drums. Stamm said, "In 21 years of playing music, this is the best group of musicians I've ever been with." Reflecting on that statement, John Stuart Wilson (1913–2002), longtime jazz critic for The New York Times, said, "That might have sounded like a fatuous statement leaders often make in introducing their musicians to a jazz club audience. In this case, however, it was completely believable because Mr. Stamm's quartet is the most exciting group that has turned-up in New York for a long time."
• May 1973 — Kenny Ascher Trio, Sundays, Jimmy Weston's, 131 E 54th St., New York City
• Jan 13, 2009 — Mike Berkowitz and The New Gene Krupa Orchestra, Iridium
• Dec 2000 — Michael Feinstein with a small swing band led by Kenny Ascher, the Regency, New York City
• July 2001 — Jay Leonhart with Kenny Ascher and Michael Leonhart, July 13–21, Oak Room of the Algonquin Hotel

Ascher has composed (or co-composed) jingles for:

Many of Ascher's jingle compositions were (i) produced by Sunday Productions (Hilary Jay Lipsitz, born 1933, president), (ii) published by Ahoskie Music, Inc. (Hilary Jay Lipsitz, president), and (iii) licensed by ASCAP.

Ascher holds three diplomas from Columbia University:

• 1966 — Bachelor of Arts (music composition), Columbia College, Columbia University
• 1968 — Master of Arts (music composition), Graduate School of Arts & Sciences, Columbia University
• 1971 — Doctor of Musical Arts (music composition), School of the Arts, Columbia University

While at Columbia, Ascher studied composition with Otto Luening, Jack Beeson, and Vladimir Ussachevsky and piano with William Albert Beller (1900–1986). Ascher graduated from William F. Dykes High School in Atlanta, as valedictorian, and entered Columbia College, Columbia University on a math scholarship. In 1966, while in college, the Kenny Ascher Quintet performed live in WKCR's Stone Soup at midnight.