~D~
James "Jimmy" Dorsey (February 29, 1904 – June
12, 1957) was a prominent American jazz clarinetist,
saxophonist, trumpeter, composer, and big band leader. He
was known as "JD". He composed the jazz and pop
standards "I'm Glad There is You (In This World of Ordinary
People)" and "It's the Dreamer in Me".
History
Jimmy Dorsey was born in Shenandoah, Pennsylvania, the
son of a music teacher and older brother of Tommy Dorsey
who also became a prominent musician. He played trumpet
in his youth, appearing on stage in a Vaudeville act as early
as 1913. He switched to alto saxophone in 1915, and then
learned to double on clarinet. Jimmy Dorsey played on a
clarinet outfitted with the Albert system of fingering, as
opposed to the more common Boehm system used by most
of his contemporaries including Benny Goodman and Artie
Shaw.
With his brother Tommy playing trombone, he formed
Dorsey’s Novelty Six, one of the first jazz bands to
broadcast. In 1924 he joined the California Ramblers (who
were based in New York City). He did much free lance radio
and recording work throughout the 1920s. The brothers also
appeared as session musicians on many jazz recordings. He
joined Ted Lewis's band in 1930, with whom he toured
Europe.
After returning to the United States, he worked briefly with
Rudy Vallee and several other bandleaders, in addition to
the Dorsey Brothers Orchestra with Tommy. He appeared
on at least seventy-five radio broadcasts (many with his brother), as a member of Nathaniel Shilkret's orchestra on
programs such as the 1932 program, "The Music That Satisfies," also known as the Chesterfield Quarter Hour. Tommy
broke off to form his own band in 1935 after a musical dispute with Jimmy. The Dorsey Brothers Orchestra became the
Jimmy Dorsey Orchestra, and included musicians such as Bobby Byrne, Ray McKinley, and Skeets Herfurt along with
vocalists Bob Eberly and Kay Weber.
In 1939 Jimmy hired Helen O'Connell as his female singer. She and Eberly possessed a "boy and girl next door" charm
and their pairing produced several of the band's biggest hits. Many of the Eberly-O'Connell recordings were arranged in
an unusual 3-section "a-b-c" format. The three-part format was reportedly developed at the insistence of a record
producer who wanted to feature both singers and the full band in a single 3-minute 78 rpm recording. Eberly sang the first
minute, usually as a slow romantic ballad, the next minute featured the full band backing Jimmy's saxophone, and the last
minute was sung by O'Connell in a more up-tempo style, sometimes with lyrics in Spanish.
Jerry Lewis' first wife Patti Palmer (birth name Esther Calonico) was a singer with his orchestra for less than a year,
starting about 1944.
Jimmy continued leading his own band until the early 1950s. In 1953 he joined Tommy's Orchestra, renamed "Tommy
Dorsey and his Orch. featuring Jimmy Dorsey". On December 26, 1953, the brothers and their orchestra appeared on
Jackie Gleason's CBS television program. The success of that television appearance led Gleason to produce a weekly
~D~
variety program, Stage Show, hosted by the brothers on CBS from 1954 to 1956. Elvis Presley appeared on several of the
telecasts. These were Presley's first appearances on national TV.
Jimmy took over leadership of the orchestra after Tommy's death. Jimmy survived his brother by only a few months and
died of throat cancer, aged 53, in New York City. Broadcasts of Jimmy Dorsey and The Fabulous Dorsey Orchestra on
NBC Bandstand survive from December 25, and December 31, 1956. At least two other extant broadcasts from the month
of December 1956 are available as well. It is hoped that recordings of the band from their winter 1957 tour will surface
eventually, as they would provide the last aural evidence of Dorsey's work. It is thought that Dorsey's last appearance was
in Joplin, Missouri, on March 12, 1957.
Shortly before his death, he was awarded a gold record for "So Rare," which was recorded on November 11, 1956. Dick
Stabile did not have the alto solo on "So Rare," it was Dorsey. In fact, Tommy Dorsey was so incensed by Jimmy's
uncharacteristic solo that he believed that it would count against the Dorsey name. That track also has the distinction of
reaching the number-two spot in Billboard Magazine's popularity rankings, becoming the highest-rated song by a big band
during the first decade of the rock-and-roll era.
Jimmy Dorsey is considered one of the most important and influential alto saxophone players of the Big Band and Swing
era, and also after that. Charlie Parker mentioned him as a personal favorite.
Career
During his early days as a musician, Jimmy Dorsey performed with various other ensembles and artists including the
Scranton Sirens, The California Ramblers, Red Nichols, Jean Goldkette, Ben Pollack, and Paul Whiteman. He and his
younger brother Tommy formed several bands known as “The Dorsey Brothers Orchestra” during the late 1920s and early
1930s which suddenly ended in May, 1935, when Tommy stormed off the bandstand after an onstage argument. For
several months, Jimmy continued leading the band, keeping the Dorsey Brothers name, hoping that his younger brother
would return, but he did not. In September, 1935, the Dorsey Brothers band legally became the "Jimmy Dorsey
Orchestra", after Jimmy found out that Tommy Dorsey now had his own band, and had signed a recording contract with
RCA Victor. Jimmy Dorsey remained with Decca Records as the two brothers were now competing with each other
musically.
Jimmy Dorsey's first hit record was "You Let Me Down" in 1935. His early band was considered to be more jazz-oriented
than his brother's, and recordings of some instrumental swing classics soon followed: Dorsey Stomp, Tap Dancer's
Nightmare, Parade of the Milk Bottle Caps, John Silver, and Dusk in Upper Sandusky. The band was featured on Bing
Crosby's Kraft Music Hall radio show, and did quite well commercially, although being overshadowed by Benny Goodman,
(also a clarinetist), whose big band had grabbed center stage in the mid thirties. Dorsey's main vocalist was Bob Eberly,
considered to be the best in the music business, and in 1939, Helen O'Connell joined the band, and the idea to have them
do duets together proved to be highly successful. Almost every record released during 1939-1943 were hits, but
especially records made with a Latin American flavor like “Amapola”, "Maria Elena", and “Green Eyes”, which topped the
charts in 1941. Certainly vocalists Helen O’Connell and Bob Eberly, were two very important factors in Jimmy Dorsey’s
rise in popularity. They continued singing with his band for future records and motion picture appearances. Despite
personnel changes, Jimmy remained one of the top big band leaders after World War II and into the 1950s, always
updating the sound of his band, but the big band business was beginning to decline.
In 1953, he and his brother reunited to form a (new) “Dorsey Brothers Orchestra.” Tommy was the leader of the group,
making Jimmy the co-leader and featured soloist. In 1954, Jackie Gleason chose their band to star in a weekly television
show that centered on their band. The show, called “Stage Show,” was a huge hit, and gave other big band leaders hope
in a business that was steadily declining.
Tommy’s death in 1956 and Jimmy’s own health problems resulted in the end of his television and musical career in 1957.
~D~
Compositions by Jimmy Dorsey
Jimmy Dorsey composed "Mood Hollywood", "Shim Sham Shimmy", "So Many Times", which reached no. 20 in 1939 on
Billboard, staying on the charts for one week, also recorded by Glenn Miller and his Orchestra and Jack Teagarden and
his Orchestra, "Beebe", "Oodles of Noodles", "John Silver", which reached no. 13 on Billboard in 1938, staying on the
charts for 2 weeks, "Parade of the Milk Bottle Caps", "Dusk in Upper Sandusky" with Larry Clinton, "Shoot the Meatballs
to Me Dominick Boy" with Toots Camarata, "A Man and his Drums", "Mutiny in the Brass Section", "Praying the Blues",
"Contrasts", his theme song, "Major and Minor Stomp", "Tailspin", the classic jazz standard "I'm Glad There is You (In
This World of Ordinary People)", "Clarinet Polka", "I Love You in Technicolor", "The Champ", "All The Things You Ain't",
"JD's Boogie Woogie", "Jumpin' Jehosaphat", "I'll Do Anything For You", "Dorsey Stomp", "Grand Central Getaway" with
Dizzy Gillespie, "Sunset Strip" with Sonny Burke, "Town Hall Tonight", "Outer Drive" with Herb Ellis, the jazz standard "It's
the Dreamer in Me", recorded by Duke Ellington, Benny Goodman, Paul Whiteman, Count Basie, Bing Crosby, and Harry
James, and other songs during the Big Band Era. According to the tsort.info database (http://tsort.info/music/wjc1ce.htm),
the Harry James recording of "It's the Dreamer in Me" reached no. 9 in 1938 on Billboard, staying on the charts for 3
weeks.
Jimmy Dorsey co-wrote the jazz and pop standard "I'm Glad There is You (In This World of Ordinary People)" with Paul
Madeira, who is also known as Paul Madeira Mertz, in 1941 and released the song on Decca as Decca 18799 with Dee
Parker on vocals. Typical of the time, Jimmy's name was used to garner interest in the song, even though he did not write
it. To his credit, Dorsey forwarded all royalties he received for the song to Madeira. "I'm Glad There is You" is a song that
has been covered by Frank Sinatra, Carmen McRae, Ella Fitzgerald, Lena Horne, Adam Jackson, Mel Tormé, Tony
Bennett, Grover Washington, Jr., Jamie Cullum, Lillie Kae, Chet Baker, Sarah Vaughan, Mildred Bailey, Ray Anthony,
Shirley Bassey, Jack Jones, Smokey Robinson, Johnny Mathis, Connie Francis, Natalie Cole, Julie London, Jackie
Gleason, Cannonball Adderley, Rosemary Clooney, The Temptations, Toni Tennille, Chris Montez, Boots Randolph,
Nancy LaMott, Wesla Whitfield, Matt Monro, The Four Freshmen, Sammy Davis, Jr., Dorothy Dandridge, Hazel Scott, Art
Garfunkel, Stan Kenton, Oscar Peterson, Barney Kessel, Kenny Burrell, Rahsaan Roland Kirk, Stan Getz, Peggy Lee,
Gloria Lynne, Vic Damone, Freddy Cole, and Beyonce Knowles.
Number-One Hits
Jimmy Dorsey had eleven number one hits with his orchestra in the 1930s and the 1940s: "Is It True What They Say
About Dixie?", "Change Partners", "The Breeze and I", "Amapola", "My Sister and I", "Maria Elena", "Green Eyes", "Blue
Champagne", "Tangerine", "Besame Mucho", and "Pennies from Heaven" with Bing Crosby. In 1935, he had two more
number ones as part of the Dorsey Brothers Orchestra: "Lullaby of Broadway" and "Chasing Shadows". His biggest hit
was "Amapola", which was number one for ten weeks in 1941 on the Billboard pop singles chart. On August 17, 1936,
Bing Crosby recorded "Pennies from Heaven" with the Jimmy Dorsey Orchestra, a recording that went number one for ten
weeks and became one of the top records of 1936. And finally, there was a late hit in 1957, "So Rare", which went to the
#2 position, and was on the record charts for 26 weeks.
Honors
In 1996, the U.S. Postal Service issued a Jimmy Dorsey and Tommy Dorsey commemorative postage stamp.
In 2008, the Recording Academy added the recording of "Brazil (Aquarela Do Brasil)", Decca 18460B, by Jimmy Dorsey &
His Orchestra from 1942 to the Grammy Hall of Fame. ~ by Wikpedia