Born 3 March 1925, Bronx, New York Died 28 March 2000, Long Island, New York

Irving Joseph spent most of his career in the anonymity of the orchestra pit, but space age pop fans know him for a choice piece of crime jazz titled, Murder, Inc. on Bob Shad's Time label. Murder, Inc. sounds a little like outtakes from the Tijuana strip-joint "source music" in Mancini's great score to Orson Welles' "Touch of Evil." In fact, there's enough of a rocking sax combo feel to Murder, Inc. that Shad reissued it a few years later as Surf Party--My Pad…