November 19 - Tommy Dorsey (The Musical Birthday Series, 7th Annual Cycle)

Previous posts for November 19th are found here: Tommy Dorsey (2019), Mikhail Ippolitov-Ivanov (2020), Pierre Leclair (2021), Tommy Dorsey (2022), Mikhail Ippolitov-Ivanov (2023), and Tommy Dorsey (2024)

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Tommy Dorsey (19 November 1905 – 26 November 1956) was an important jazz trombonist and big band leader.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

"Do I Have To Separate You Two?"

Acrimony between the brothers led to Tommy Dorsey walking out to form his own band in 1935. – Wikipedia

Though they thought that a family band,

Would be firm, not erected on sand,

They found that it wobbled

Whenever they squabbled,

And didn't turn out as they planned.

 

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November 19 - Tommy Dorsey (The Musical Birthday Series, 6th Annual Cycle)

Previous posts for November 19th are found here: Tommy Dorsey (2019), Mikhail Ippolitov-Ivanov (2020), Pierre Leclair (2021), Tommy Dorsey (2022) and Mikhail Ippolitov-Ivanov (2023)

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Tommy Dorsey (19 November 1905 – 26 November 1956) was an important jazz trombonist and big band leader.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Lowe Notes

“I’ll Never Smile Again” never was cheery,

It’s sad, sentimental, and maudlin, and teary,

And yet when Sinatra and Dorsey recorded it

All of the record shops called up and ordered it.

With the help of Sinatra’s and Dorsey’s techniques

It stayed at the top of the charts for twelve weeks.

Envoi

Though Sinatra and Dorsey could bask in the glow,

Of success, there is something I’m curious to know:

Did the woman behind it, composer Ruth Lowe,

Head off to her bank with her share of the dough?

 

 

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March 1 - Frédéric Chopin; Glenn Miller (The Music Birthday Series, 5th Annual Cycle)

Previous posts for March 1st are here: Dimitri Mitropoulos (2019), Frédéric Chopin (2020), Frédéric Chopin; Harry Belafonte (2021), Frédéric Chopin; Harry Belafonte; Dinah Shore (2022)

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Frédéric Chopin (1 March 1810 – 17 October 1849) remains one of the most popular of nineteenth century composers.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Cultivating Your Audience

The genres that Chopin embraced

Were adapted to elegant taste;

He soon was a craze

At Parisian soirées

Among the palatially placed.

 

 ♫♪♫♪♫♪♫♪♫♪♫♪♫♪♫♪♫♪♫♪♫♪♫♪♫♪♫♪♫♪♫♪♫♪♫♪♫

 

Glenn Miller (1 March 1904 – 15 December 1944) was an American leader, composer, arranger, trombone player, and recording artist before and during World War II.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

You Can't Please Everyone

Although Miller was popular, many jazz critics had misgivings. They believed that the band's endless rehearsals—and, according to critic Amy Lee in Metronome magazine, "letter-perfect playing"—removed feeling from their performances. – Wikipedia

Glenn Miller saw to fit to demand

Perfection when leading his band,

But his critics inveighed

The this regimen made

Their playing predictably bland.

 

 

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November 19 - Tommy Dorsey (The Musical Birthday Series, 4th Annual Cycle)

Previous posts for November 19th are found here: Tommy Dorsey (2019), Mikhail Ippolitov-Ivanov (2020), and Pierre Leclair (2021)

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Tommy Dorsey (19 November 1905 – 26 November 1956) was an important jazz trombonist and big band leader.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Commercial Considerations

“The Sentimental Gentleman of Swing”

    Was Dorsey’s sobriquet.

As assonance it has a pleasant ring,

   And marketers would say

As long as his recordings sell (ka-ching!)

   We’ll brand him in this way.

 

 

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September 22 - Arthur Pryor (The Musical Birthday Series, 3rd Annual Cycle)

Previous posts for September 22nd are here: Debby Boone (2019) and Andrea Bocelli; Anton Filtz (2020)

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Arthur Pryor (22 September 1869 – 18 June 1942) was an internationally known American trombone virtuoso, bandleader, and long-time member of the Sousa band

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Pryority

 

Once while in Germany, all the trombonists of the German Army bands were ordered to hear him play. They were so amazed at his playing that they insisted on taking his trombone apart, refusing to believe that it was natural. Finally one German said: "No one can play so well. It is a Yankee trick." -- Wikipedia

It’s rare indeed to be well known

For mastering the slide trombone;

But Pryor, with the Sousa band,

Stood up, and played, and took command,

And gave the world a masterclass

On virtuoso lower brass.

The Germans, when they heard his licks,

Concluded it was Yankee tricks,

And took his whole trombone apart

To learn what set his tone apart.

What he achieved with lips and slides

Can still be heard on record sides,

And players to this day aspire

To play trombone like Arthur Pryor.

 

 

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