In the 1940s, along with orchestrator
Conrad Salinger, he was one of the
musicians most responsible for changing (and, many would say,
improving) the overall sound of the M-G-M Orchestra, partially through
the re-seating of some of the players. This is why the overall
orchestral sound of M-G-M's musicals from the mid 1940s onward is
different from the orchestral sound of those made from 1929 until about
1944.