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120632bk TomDorsey2 24/2/03 4:50 pm Page 8 The Naxos Historical labels aim to make available the greatest recordings of the history of recorded music, in the best and truest sound that contemporary technology can provide. To achieve this aim, Naxos has engaged a number of respected restorers who have the dedication, skill and experience to produce restorations that have set new standards in the field of historical recordings. Also available in the Naxos Jazz Legends series ... 8.120580 8.120585 8.120605* 8.120625* 8.120648* 8.120658* * Not available in the USA 8 8.120632 120632bk TomDorsey2 24/2/03 4:50 pm Page 2 10 March,1938: Tommy Dorsey, trombone; Pee 29 November,1938: Tommy Dorsey, trombone; TOMMY DORSEY Vol.2 Wee Erwin, Lee Castaldo, Andy Ferretti, Charlie Spivak, Max Kaminsky, Yank Lawson, Original Recordings 1936-1940 trumpets; Les Jenkins, Earle Hagen, trombones; trumpets; Dave Jacobs, Buddy Morrow, Elmer ‘Swing High’ Johnny Mintz, clarinet, alto-sax; Fred Stulce, Smithers, trombones; Skeets Herfurt, Babe Renowned now as then for the ‘liquid legato’ of venues and small-group recording sessions with, Skeets Herfurt, alto-sax; Bud Freeman, tenor- Russin, tenor-sax; Howard Smith, piano; his trombone playing, Tommy Dorsey was among others, Bix Beiderbecke, Ted Lewis, Red sax; Howard Smith, piano; Carmen Mastren, Carmen Mastren, guitar; Gene Traxler, string- foremost among the Swing Era big-band leaders. Nichols, Dave Rubinoff, Nat Shilkret, Frankie guitar; Gene Traxler, string-bass; Maurice bass; Maurice Purtill, drums Among the most prolific and best selling Trumbauer, Rudy Vallee, Joe Venuti and (during Purtill, drums 16 February & 15th March,1939: Tommy Dorsey, recording artists of the 20th century, he was also 1927-1928) Paul Whiteman. From 1932, with 11 April & 25th July,1938: Tommy Dorsey, trombone; Andy Ferretti, Yank Lawson, Pee one of the most enduring, and successfully Jimmy, he made musical arrangements and trombone; Pee Wee Erwin, Lee Castaldo, Andy Wee Erwin, trumpets; Dave Jacobs, Ward resurrected himself and his style with regular organised studio ensembles and by 1934, on the Ferretti, trumpets; Les Jenkins, Earle Hagen, Silloway, Elmer Smithers, trombones; Johnny appearances on US TV in the mid-1950s. Eve of the Swing Era, their own orchestra (which trombones; Johnny Mintz, clarinet, alto-sax; Mintz, clarinet, alto-sax; Fred Stulce, Dean Thomas Francis Dorsey, younger brother of from 1928 had recorded for the Columbia label Fred Stulce, Hymie Schertzer, alto-sax; Skeets Kincaide, alto-sax; Skeets Herfurt, Babe Russin, Jimmy (1904-1957), was born in Shenandoah, and its subsidiaries and had often played for Herfurt, tenor-sax; Dean Kincaide, tenor-sax; tenor-sax; Howard Smith, piano; Carmen Philadelphia, on 19 November 1905. The boys Bing Crosby) had become a full-time affair with Howard Smith, piano; Carmen Mastren, guitar; Mastren, guitar; Gene Traxler, string-bass; played both trumpet and cornet in a family drummer Ray McKinley, Glenn Miller and Gene Traxler, string-bass; Maurice Purtill, Dave Tough, drums; quartet comprising their coal miner-turned- Tommy himself among its players. drums Tommy Dorsey bandmaster father, Tommy Snr. and sister Mary 24 August,1939: , trombone; During a Glen Island Casino gig in 1935 the two and formed their first orchestra ‘Dorsey’s 29 September,1938: ‘CLAMBAKE SEVEN’ Andy Ferretti, Yank Lawson, Jimmy Blake, had their famous quarrel: they split and went Novelty Six – The Jazz Band Of Them All’ which Tommy Dorsey, trombone; Yank Lawson, trumpets; Dave Jacobs, Ward Silloway, Elmer their separate ways to lead highly successful later evolved into ‘Dorsey’s Wild Canaries’. They trumpet; Johnny Mintz, clarinet, alto-sax; Smithers, trombones; Johnny Mintz, clarinet, outfits each in his own right. Tommy took over then disbanded and joined the Scranton Sirens, Skeets Herfurt, tenor-sax; Howard Smith, alto-sax; Fred Stulce, Hymie Schertzer, alto-sax; the resident band of his old friend Joe Haymes at (one of the first American jazz groups to piano; Carmen Mastren, guitar; Gene Traxler, Dean Kincaide, Babe Russin, tenor-sax; Howard New York’s McAlpin Hotel and, enlisting a team broadcast) and in 1925 worked with the Eddie string-bass; Maurice Purtill, drums Smith, piano; Carmen Mastren, guitar; Gene of arrangers headed by Paul Weston (aka Elkins Band and played and recorded with the 31 October,1938: Tommy Dorsey, trombone; Traxler, string-bass; Cliff Leeman, drums Wetstein, b.1912), carved out a highly individual, California Ramblers. smooth-sounding jazz style which highlighted his Sam Shapiro, Lee Castaldo, Yank Lawson, 16 October,1940: Tommy Dorsey, trombone; From 1924 Tommy and Jimmy were associated – own subtle but prominent trombone-playing – in trumpets; Les Jenkins, Buddy Morrow, Elmer Ziggy Elman, Ray Linn, Charlie Peterson, touring and arranging – with the French-American respect of which he earned the appellation ‘The Smithers, trombones; Dean Kincaide, Babe trumpets; Les Jenkins, George Arus, Lowell pianist-bandleader Jean Goldkette (1899-1962), Sentimental Gentleman of Swing’. Among the Russin, tenor-sax; Howard Smith, piano; Martin, trombones; Johnny Mintz, clarinet, alto- the new owner of the Greystone Ballroom in many first-rate sidemen who passed through his Carmen Mastren, guitar; Gene Traxler, string- sax; Fred Stulce, Hymie Schertzer, alto-sax; Detroit whose noted society band recorded for ranks were trumpeters Bunny Berigan, Ziggy bass; Maurice Purtill, drums Don Lodice, Heinie Beau, tenor-sax; Joe Victor. From 1925 onwards, Tommy worked Elman, Pee Wee Erwin, Charlie Shavers, Charlie Bushkin, piano; Clark Yocum, guitar; Sid regularly as a freelance sideman both in live Spivak and Yank Lawson, tenor saxophonist Bud Weiss, string-bass; Buddy Rich, drums 2 8.120632 8.120632 7 120632bk TomDorsey2 24/2/03 4:50 pm Page 6 Personnel Freeman, clarinettist Buddy De Franco and scored two US No.1s in 1935 and by 1936, after drummers Buddy Rich and Dave Tough. scoring two more, was ideally placed to exploit 15 April, 1936: Tommy Dorsey, trombone; Max 10 March, 1937: Tommy Dorsey, trombone; both the latest in standards and film-songs and Among Tommy’s first big hits were the US No.1s to swing new life into such jazz and Tin Pan Alley Kaminsky, Sam Skolnick, Joe Bauer, trumpets; Pee Wee Erwin, Joe Bauer, Andy Ferretti, “The Music Goes ’Round and ’Round” (1935) back-catalogue items as Bob Carleton’s Ja Da Ben Pickering, Walter Mercurio, trombones; Joe trumpets; Les Jenkins, Red Bone, trombones; and “Alone” (1936) and by 1937 he had clocked (1918) and Earl Lebieg’s Sleep (1923). Dixon, clarinet, alto-sax; Fred Stulce, alto-sax; Johnny Mintz, clarinet, alto-sax; Fred Stulce, up his first million-selling No.1 with Marie (a Bud Freeman, Bob Bunch, clarinet, alto-sax; Mike Doty; alto-sax; Bud Freeman, tenor-sax; revival of the 1928 ballad by Irving Berlin). As Dorsey’s landmarks during 1937 included a Dick Jones, piano; William Schaffer, guitar; Dick Jones, piano; Carmen Mastren, guitar; America’s most popular up-and-coming swing- further five US No.1s and Who? (a No.5 revival Gene Traxler, string-bass; Dave Tough, drums Gene Traxler, string-bass; Dave Tough, drums band leader he looked set fair to eclipse of the hit from the 1925 Broadway show Sunny) 9 June, 1936: Tommy Dorsey, trombone; Max 15 April, 1937: ‘CLAMBAKE SEVEN’ Tommy Goodman in disc sales, although the feud and Twilight In Turkey (with this fine Dean Kaminsky, Sam Skolnick, Joe Bauer, trumpets; Dorsey, trombone; Pee Wee Erwin, trumpets; between the two organisations, at least Kincaide orchestration of an original piano solo Ben Pickering, Walter Mercurio, trombones; Joe Johnny Mintz, clarinet, alto-sax; Bud Freeman, superficially real and unrelenting, was largely by bandleader Raymond Scott, featured in the Dixon, clarinet, alto-sax; Clyde Rounds, alto- tenor-sax; Howard Smith, piano; Carmen stage-managed and newspaper-generated as a Oscar-nominated 20th Century Fox film Ali Baba sax; Bud Freeman, Bob Bunch, clarinet, tenor- Mastren, guitar; Gene Traxler, string-bass; marketing ploy to increase sales for both Goes To Town, he scored a No.18), while the sax; Dick Jones, piano; Carmen Mastren, Dave Tough, drums orchestras. As they shared the same booking 1938 list included, apart from one No.1 and two agents and recorded for the same company their guitar; Gene Traxler, string-bass; Dave Tough, 20 July,1937: Tommy Dorsey, trombone; Pee No.2s, the No.3 hit ‘Boogie Woogie’ (probably healthy rivalry was ripe for grand-scale commer- drums Wee Erwin, Joe Bauer, Andy Ferretti, trumpets; the most frequently-aired of all Dorsey cial exploitation and indeed, in terms of figures, ‘instrumentals’ and, by 1941, his second Gold 18 October, 1936: Tommy Dorsey, trombone; Les Jenkins, Walter Mercurio, trombones; Dorsey appears to have had the edge over his Max Kaminsky, Steve Lipkins, Joe Bauer, Johnny Mintz, clarinet, alto-sax; Fred Stulce, Disc), a No.7 with Says My Heart (a Burton rival, for between 1935 and late 1939, whereas Lane-Frank Loesser standard first heard in the trumpets; Len Jenkins, Walter Mercurio, Skeets Herfurt, alto-sax; Bud Freeman, tenor- out of Goodman’s fifty Top 10 hits entered in the trombones; Joe Dixon, clarinet, alto-sax; Clyde sax; Howard Smith, piano; Carmen Mastren, 1938 Paramount musical comedy Cocoanut US popular charts nine were No.1s and five were Grove) and a No.8 in this cover-version by the Rounds, alto-sax; Bud Freeman, Bob Bunch, guitar; Gene Traxler, string-bass; Dave Tough, No.2s, Tommy made 60 entries in the Top 10, clarinet, tenor-sax; Dick Jones, piano; Carmen drums Clambake Seven and Edythe Wright of Harry including thirteen No.1s and four No.2s. Warren and Johnny Mercer’s You Must Have Mastren, guitar; Gene Traxler, string-bass; 14 October,1937: Tommy Dorsey, trombone; Dave Tough, drums While never the hottest nor perhaps even the Been a Beautiful Baby (from the Warner musical Pee Wee Erwin, Lee Castaldo, Andy Ferretti, sweetest of the larger swing-bands, Tommy comedy Hard To Get).