BIG band music, SWING music, HISTORY, and MUSIC history
Abstract
The article discusses the legacy of the big band leader Tommy Dorsey. The author chronicles the history and career of Dorsey as a driven band leader with a contentious relationship with his brother Jimmy. The author also reviews a performance of Dorsey's music by band leader Buddy Morrow. The book "Tommy Dorsey: Livin' in a Great Big Way," by Peter Levinson is also discussed.
This article criticizes the inadequacy of the book Tommy Dorsey: Livin' in a Great Big Way by Peter J. Levinson and the music release The Sentimental Gentleman of Swing: Centennial Collection in recording the legacy of musician Tommy Dorset. Levinson, is not a musician but a publicist with a slapdash prose style. While his anecdote-laden book, based in large part on interviews with Dorsey's surviving friends and colleagues, provides a vivid and generally reliable account of the trombonist's famously tempestuous life, it has little of value to say about his music and is full of small but irritating factual errors. By the same token, The Sentimental Gentleman of Swing is an interesting but ultimately inadequate retrospective.
Virginia Quarterly Review. Autumn99, Vol. 75 Issue 4, p605-621. 17p.
Subjects
SINGERS
Abstract
Chronicles Frank Sinatra's musical career which spanned seven decades. Family life; Role of band leader Tommy Dorsey in Sinatra's career; Choice of songs; Political activities; Acting career.
St. James Encyclopedia of Popular Culture. 2013, v. 2, p152-152.
Abstract
Dorsey, Tommy A trombone player known for his warm, silken tone on ballads as well as upbeat improvisations, Tommy Dorsey, 'the Sentimental Gentleman of Swing,' led one of the most [...]
This article features the legacy of U.S. music legend Tommy Dorsey. The volatile big-band maestro with an explosive temperament not only led one of the most potent groups of the swing era, but was also responsible for launching the career of Frank Sinatra, who sang with Dorsey's orchestra from 1940 through 1942. The biography, Tommy Dorsey: Livin' in a Great Big Way, by Peter Levinson encompasses Dorsey's career as sideman, leader and broadcast figure. Levinson notes that while Dorsey figures prominently in jazz history, he bristled at the rise of bebop.
The article features the Masterfonics sound recording studio which is owned by Tommy Dorsey and Jonathan Russell in Nashville, Tennessee. Accordingly, both owners are very active when it comes to managing their business, asserting that personal service is of utmost importance. In addition, the studio has already made recordings with various singers including LeAnn Rimes, Kylie Minogue and Carl Terrell Mitchell/Twista.
New York Times. 2/22/2010, Vol. 159 Issue 54959, p3. 0p.
Subjects
SONG lyrics
Abstract
Once upon a time in America, a skinny blue-eyed crooner from Hoboken, N.J., sang the following words: ''Now in a cottage built of lilacs and laughter/I know the meaning of the words 'ever after'/And I'll always see polka dots and moonbeams/When I kiss the pug-nosed dream.'' That was 70 years ago, and the singer was Frank Sinatra, performing with Tommy Dorsey. The words to their hit, ''Polka Dots and Moonbeams,'' were written by Johnny Burke with music by Jimmy Van Heusen. Burke, who died in 1964 at the age of 55, also provided the lyrics to ''Pennies From Heaven,'' ''Swinging on a Star'' and ''Misty.'' [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]
Saturday Evening Post. 8/24/1946, Vol. 219 Issue 8, p20-51. 7p.
Subjects
MALE singers, OCCUPATIONAL achievement, and LABOR contracts
Abstract
Discusses the occupational success of singer Frank Sinatra and the turnover of his contract from General Amusement to the Music Corp. of America. Decision of Sinatra to organize a quartet in pursuance of his dream as a musician; Singing technique acquired by the performer from band leader Tommy Dorsey; Strategies employed by the Music Corp. of America to persuade General Amusement to turn over the contract of Sinatra.
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