Tommy Dorsey Totally Explained

Everything about Tommy Dorsey totally explained

Tommy Dorsey (November 19 1905 – November 26 1956) was an American jazz trombonist, trumpeter, and bandleader in the Big Band era. He was the younger brother of Jimmy Dorsey. His lyrical trombone style became one of the signature sounds of his band and of the Swing Era.

Early life

Thomas Francis Dorsey, Jr. was born in Shenandoah, Pennsylvania, and started out only 16 years later in Allentown, Pennsylvania, with big band leader Russ Morgan in the famous pick-up band of the 1920s "The Scranton Sirens".
Tommy and his brother Jimmy worked in several bands, including those of Rudy Vallee, Vincent Lopez, and especially Paul Whiteman, before forming the original Dorsey Brothers Orchestra in 1934. Ongoing acrimony between the brothers, however, led to Tommy Dorsey's walking out to form his own band in 1935, just as the Orchestra was having a hit with "Every Little Moment."

His own band

Tommy Dorsey's first band formed out of the remnant of the Joe Haymes band, and his smooth, lyrical trombone style – whether on ballads or on no-holds-barred swingers – became one of the signature sounds of both his band and the Swing Era. The new band hit from almost the moment it signed with RCA Victor with "On Treasure Island", the first of four hits for the new band that year. That led to a run of 137 Billboard chart hits, including his theme song, "I'm Getting Sentimental Over You" (which showcases his phenomenal range and masterful mute use, reaching up to the high C #), "Marie", "The Big Apple", "Music, Maestro, Please", "I'll Never Smile Again", "This Love of Mine", "On the Sunny Side of the Street", "T.D.'s Boogie Woogie", "Well, Git 'It", "Opus One", "Manhattan Serenade", and "There Are Such Things" – among many others.
   The band featured a number of the best instrumentalists in jazz at the time, including trumpeters Bunny Berigan, Ziggy Elman, George Seaberg, Carl "Doc" Severinsen, and Charlie Shavers, pianist Jess Stacy, trumpeter/arranger/composer Sy Oliver (who wrote "Well, Git 'It" and "Opus One"), clarinetists Buddy DeFranco, Johnny Mince and Peanuts Hucko drummers Buddy Rich, Louis Bellson, Gene Krupa and Dave Tough and singers Jo Stafford, Dick Haymes and Frank Sinatra. Sinatra achieved his first great success as a vocalist in the Dorsey band and claimed he learned breath control from watching Dorsey play trombone. Dorsey said his trombone style was heavily influenced by that of Jack Teagarden. Another member of the Dorsey band probably spent considerable time observing and listening to Sy Oliver's striking arrangements: trombonist Nelson Riddle, whose later partnership as Sinatra's major arranger and conductor is considered to have revolutionised post-World War II popular music.
   Dorsey might have broken up his own band permanently following World War II, as many big bands did due to the shift in music economics following the war, and he did disband the orchestra at the end of 1946. But a top-ten selling album (All-Time Hits) made it possible for Dorsey to re-organise a big band in early 1947. The biographical film of 1947, "The Fabulous Dorseys" describes sketchy details of how the brothers got their start from-the-bottom-up into the jazz era of one-nighters, the early days of radio in its infancy stages, and the onward march when both brothers ended up with Paul Whiteman before 1935 when The Dorsey Brothers' Orchestra split into two.
   The Dorsey brothers themselves later reconciled – Jimmy Dorsey had had to break up his own highly successful big band in 1953, and brother Tommy invited him to join up as a feature attraction – but before long Tommy renamed the band the Dorsey Brothers Orchestra. The brothers took the unit on tour and onto their own television show, Stage Show, from 1954 to 1956, on which they introduced Elvis Presley to national television audiences, among others.

Death and aftermath

In 1956, Tommy Dorsey died at age 51 in his Greenwich, Connecticut home, choking in his sleep after a heavy meal following which he'd taken sleeping pills. Jimmy Dorsey (out of whose band Tommy had walked two decades earlier) led his brother's band until his own death of throat cancer the following year. At that point, trombonist Warren Covington assumed leadership of the band with, presumably, Jane Dorsey's blessing (she owned the rights to her late husband's band and name) and it produced, ironically enough, the biggest selling hit record ever released under the Dorsey name. Billed as the Tommy Dorsey Orchestra Starring Warren Covington, they topped the charts in 1958 with Tea For Two Cha-Cha. Covington led the Dorsey band through 1970 (he also led and recorded with his own organisation), after which Jane Dorsey renamed it, simply, The Tommy Dorsey Orchestra

, which is conducted today by Buddy Morrow, featuring vocalist Rob Zappulla

. Jane Dorsey died of natural causes around the age of 79 in 2003.

Married life

Dorsey's married life was varied and at times headline making. His first wife was 16 year old Mildred Kraft with whom he eloped while he was 17 in 1922. They had two children, Patricia and Tom (nicknamed "Skipper"), but divorced in 1943. He then wed movie actress Pat Dane in 1943 and they were divorced in 1947, but not before he gained headlines for striking actor Jon Hall when Hall embraced his wife Pat. Finally Dorsey married Jane Earl New (b. 23 October 1923 in Dublin, Laurens County, Georgia; d. 24 August 2003 in Bay Harbor Island, Miami-Dade County, Florida) on 27 March 1948 in Atlanta, Fulton County, Georgia, and had two children, Catherine Susan and Steve. She remained his wife until his death. She had been a dancer at the world-renowned Copacabana.
Tommy and Jane Dorsey are interred together in Kensico Cemetery in Valhalla, New York. Sinatra released a tribute album to Dorsey in 1961 entitled I Remember Tommy with arrangements by another Dorsey alumnus, Sy Oliver.

Discography

Stop, Look and Listen
1939, Vol No. 3
Homefront: 1941–1945
The Early Jazz Sides: 1931–1937
All-Time Greats Dorsey/Sinatra Hits, Vol 1–4
The V-Disc Recordings
It's D'Lovely 1947–1950
The Complete Tommy Dorsey, Vol. 2 (1936)
Stardust
Greatest Hits
Sentimental
Opus One
1937–1938
The Fabulous Dorsey
Greatest Hits (RCA)
Tommy Dorsey, Vol. 1
1938, Vol. 2
At the Fat Man's
All-Time Greatest Dorsey/Sinatra Hits, Vol. 3
All-Time Greatest Dorsey/Sinatra Hits, Vol. 2
The Complete Standard Transcriptions
Having a Wonderful Time
The Complete Tommy Dorsey, Vol 1 (1935)

Filmography

Tommy Dorsey appeared in several films. While not known for his acting skills, his band leader talents stood him well in films. Dorsey and members of his band appeared in the following films:

1940s

Las Vegas Nights (1941)

Ship Ahoy (1942)

Presenting Lily Mars (1943)

Girl Crazy (1943)

Du Barry Was a Lady (1943)

Thrill of a Romance (1945)

The Great Morgan (1946)

The Fabulous Dorseys (1947)

A Song Is Born (1948) Musical remake of Ball of Fire

1950s

Disc Jockey (1951)Further Information

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