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Tommy Dorsey and His Orchestra

From HitStory, the pop encyclopedia of School of Rock · Artist

Tommy Dorsey and His Orchestra was the big band that the trombonist Tommy Dorsey founded in 1935, after leaving the joint orchestra with his brother Jimmy. It soon did well: after the move to RCA Victor four hits followed in 1935, with On Treasure Island as the first. The orchestra was known for ballads at a danceable tempo, played around the leader's soft trombone.

Music and breakthrough

When critics felt in 1939 that the jazz feeling was missing, Dorsey lured the arranger Sy Oliver away from Jimmie Lunceford's orchestra. Oliver wrote Opus One and Well, Git It, among others. The band also had the small group Clambake Seven, which played Dixieland during performances. The orchestra let young singers break through, among them Jack Leonard, Jo Stafford with the Pied Pipers and above all Frank Sinatra, who from 1940 to 1942 made eighty recordings with the band, including This Love of Mine. The instrumentalists were of a high standard: the drummer Buddy Rich, the trumpeter Bunny Berigan and later Charlie Shavers played in it. Arrangers such as Axel Stordahl, Paul Weston and Nelson Riddle also came from this circle.

Influence

Dorsey disbanded the orchestra at the end of 1946, but re-formed it in 1947. After his death in 1956 the band carried on under various leaders: Warren Covington had a hit in 1958 with Tea for Two Cha-Cha, and Sam Donahue and Buddy Morrow followed later. That is why so many later albums still bear the name of the orchestra.

Listening

Listening tip. Listen to Opus One and notice how Sy Oliver's arrangements make the instrument groups, such as trumpets and trombones, answer one another, to the rhythm of a swinging dance band.

Discography

Studio albums

Categories: Artists