Terry Trotter

Terry William Trotter was born in Los Angeles, California, on October 5, 1940, the younger of two children of Ralph K. Trotter and Phyllis Bader. He grew up in Glendale. His mother was an accomplished classical pianist, though not a professional, and his sister Linda, three years older, also studied piano. At four Terry started imitating her and was soon taking lessons himself.

By early adolescence his interest in music had nearly disappeared. His mother found a new teacher whose style was inspired by Teddy Wilson and jazz, and the change worked. Trotter later said he fell in love with jazz first and then, after a couple of years, with classical music as well.

Trotter's education was largely private study and apprenticeship on the bandstand. Alongside years of classical training, he learned from the musicians around him. At 13 he met Bobby Hutcherson and Herbie Lewis at a high school dance gig and began playing with them in Hutcherson's garage in Pasadena. At 15 or 16 he met Charles Lloyd, then a student at USC, who coached him on whom to listen to and critiqued his playing. His first concert with Lloyd, at USC, included Scott LaFaro, Billy Higgins and Don Cherry.

The classical pianist Leonid Hambro advised him that the classical world only rewarded the top one or two percent, while jazz would let him do more and still play classical music. Trotter said that advice settled his choice.

Jazz beginnings. In the late 1950s and early 1960s Trotter worked a year and a half at the Lighthouse with Art Pepper, toured with Les Brown and his Band of Renown, and played with Chet Baker and Joe Pass. He recorded with Lenny McBrowne and the 4 Souls in 1960. In 1961 the San Francisco Examiner singled him out among the brilliant young players of a new combo. After a tour with Lena Horne, Victor Feldman recommended him to Miles Davis, who invited him to San Francisco to try the piano chair. Trotter declined because he did not want the travel and the drug culture of jazz life at the time.

Studio years. He then spent about 20 years as a Los Angeles studio musician. Credits include Frank Sinatra (Ol' Blue Eyes Is Back, later Duets II), Tony Bennett, Paul Anka, Howard Keel, Kenny Rogers, Rod McKuen and Cybill Shepherd, plus television work with Glen Campbell and Cher and the music departments of The Carol Burnett Show and The Jonathan Winters Show. He toured for years with Steve Lawrence and Eydie Gorme and played on Ella Fitzgerald's Ella Abraca Jobim (1981).

Larry Carlton. Trotter sat in with guitarist Larry Carlton at Mulberry Street and became his keyboardist for about a decade and beyond, recording Strikes Twice, Sleepwalk, Friends, Alone/But Never Alone, Discovery, Last Nite, On Solid Ground and Christmas at My House. He said Carlton let him be himself in a contemporary setting.

Bandleader. From the late 1980s Trotter led his own groups and released It's About Time on MAMA in 1993. He became Natalie Cole's pianist around 1993 on Clare Fischer's recommendation and played on Holly and Ivy, Stardust, Snowfall on the Sahara and Ask a Woman Who Knows.

Varese Sarabande. With producer Bruce Kimmel he recorded nine albums, chiefly the Sondheim in Jazz series with Tom Warrington and Joe LaBarbera, plus guests Lanny Morgan, John Pisano and Lorraine Feather: Passion, Sweeney Todd, Company, A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum, Follies and A Little Night Music, along with The Michel Legrand Album, Sketches on Star Wars and The Fantasticks in Jazz.

Television theme. Trotter composed the theme music for Everybody Loves Raymond (CBS, 1996 to 2005).

Later work. He recorded a solo piano project for AIX Records in 2006, released on Blu-ray, cut The Trio Live at Charlie O's with Peter Erskine and Chuck Berghofer, and kept performing in Los Angeles venues into the late 2010s.

Trotter lived for many years in the San Fernando Valley and later in Las Vegas, Nevada. His life partner of many years was Erica Farber. His children and grandchildren named in his obituary include Tracey Trotter; Allisen Trotter and her husband Rocky Streck, and their son Chase; Melissa Esposito and her husband Michael, and their children Savannah and Jake; and his son Jamieson Trotter, a pianist and arranger, with his wife Roxanna and their son Ronan. His sister, Linda Trotter Heger, sang opera on European stages for 21 years and later chaired the voice faculty at Western Michigan University. His family remembered his humility, kindness and wicked sense of humour.

Trotter was candid that he chose the studio over the road because he disliked the nightclub and drug culture of early 1960s jazz. He loved working with great musicians but admitted that much studio music was not rewarding and that the pressure to be perfect was constant. Later he deliberately loosened up, taking Clare Fischer's remark that he was too perfect as a challenge: he decided to let the perfection go in order to be more musical. On Sondheim he said the songs were hard to transmogrify into jazz but had the harmony and melody to handle it, if a player sorted carefully through the material.

Trotter's legacy is twofold. To the public he is the composer of one of the best known sitcom themes of its era and the pianist behind dozens of major pop and jazz recordings. To musicians he was a model of versatility, an accompanist singers trusted and a teacher who trained countless pianists. Producer Bruce Kimmel called him an artistic soulmate with the poetic sensitivity of Bill Evans, and said Passion in Jazz was the best sounding of more than 180 CDs he had produced. Former students, among them pianist Tom Lerner and teacher Barry Michael Wehrli, publicly credited him as a mentor after his death.

No major individual awards are documented in the sources consulted. His recognition came through critical praise, such as Los Angeles Times reviews comparing his raw talent to Herbie Hancock, and through the endorsement of Stephen Sondheim, who approved and admired the Sondheim in Jazz albums.

As leader or co-leader: It's About Time (MAMA, 1993); Passion in Jazz (Varese Sarabande, 1994); Sweeney Todd in Jazz (1995); Company in Jazz (1995); The Michel Legrand Album (1996); Sketches on Star Wars (1997); A Little Night Music (1997); Follies (1998); The Fantasticks in Jazz (2000); The Trio Live at Charlie O's with Peter Erskine and Chuck Berghofer (2009); a solo piano album for AIX Records recorded in 2006.

As sideman (selected): Frank Sinatra, Ol' Blue Eyes Is Back and Duets II; Ella Fitzgerald, Ella Abraca Jobim; Natalie Cole, Holly and Ivy, Stardust, Snowfall on the Sahara; Celine Dion, These Are Special Times; Larry Carlton, Strikes Twice, Sleepwalk, Discovery and others; Charlie Shoemake and Bill Holman, Collaboration; Ken Burns' Baseball soundtrack.

Television: composer of the Everybody Loves Raymond theme; music department credits on The Carol Burnett Show, The Jonathan Winters Show, Great Performances and Six by Sondheim.

Terry Trotter died peacefully in Las Vegas, Nevada, at 12:14 PM on August 4, 2026, at the age of 85, after care from home health and hospice teams including Nathan Adelson Hospice. The cause of death was not made public. His obituary, published August 12, 2026, said the music paused for just a moment as he graduated to the big band in the sky. A celebration of life later drew many leading Los Angeles jazz musicians, composers and arrangers.