Tommy Dorsey

小簡介
Tommy Dorsey湯米·道爾西1905年11月19日出生于賓西法尼亞州Shenandoah。本人是一名出色的長號手。早期和他的兄長Jimmy Dorsey在Scranton地區(qū)活動。后來參加了當(dāng)時極負盛名的Paul Whiteman和Jean Goldkette跳舞樂隊。1934年組建了道爾西兄弟樂隊（The Dorsey Brothers Orchestra），然后他又取代了一支訓(xùn)練有素的Haymes樂隊，事業(yè)便日漸上升，無可阻攔。首先，他雇用了著名編曲Axel Stordahl和一些高素質(zhì)的樂手和歌手，在30年代不斷地壯大著他的隊伍。還利用提供空白支票的方法，從其它樂隊中掘出他心目中有才的藝人。除了多位樂手外，還包括后來在流行音樂界大紅大紫的多名歌手，如：法蘭克·辛那屈（Frank Sinatra）、狄克·海姆斯（Dick Haymes）、祖·斯塔福（Jo Stafford），再加上當(dāng)紅編曲Sy Oliver。其結(jié)果是形成一支有著嚴格演練的多能的爵士樂隊。在同類型的數(shù)百支樂隊中，他們在許多方面都能表現(xiàn)得更好。
　　
　　湯米 · 道爾西被譽為“搖擺樂的多情士（The Sentimental Gentleman Of Swing）”。其實他既不多情也稱不上是一位紳士。曾作過道爾西樂隊中歌手的Bob Crosby說：“他純粹是個冷酷無情的人”。他為追求樂曲演奏的完美而粗暴待人，他的快樂時常建立在別人的痛苦之中。有一次，他給名作曲者Johnny Mercer送去了一塊仿制的生日蛋糕，里面塞了一大堆Mercer不大成功的舊樂譜。
　　
　　但他也有可贊譽的一面。他樂隊中一位成員對他的描繪是：‘清醒時可怕，喝醉后還挺可愛的，和吉米·道爾西正好相反’。作為一個長號手，在技術(shù)上你找不出他任何毛病。他在高音部分的吹奏柔如絲，在當(dāng)時是革命性的。這在他的一些招牌曲和《印度之歌》中都有表現(xiàn)。但他的爵士思路有限，即使和20年代的Miff Mole、Jack Teagarden等人相比都顯遜色，然而他仍然是當(dāng)時的一位傳奇人物。他雖然沒有某個突出的特點，但卻面面俱到。
Though he might have been ranked second at any given moment to Benny Goodman, Artie Shaw, Glenn Miller, or Harry James, Tommy Dorsey was overall the most popular bandleader of the swing era that lasted from 1935 to 1945. His remarkably melodic trombone playing was the signature sound of his orchestra, but he successfully straddled the hot and sweet styles of swing with a mix of ballads and novelty songs. He provided showcases to vocalists like Frank Sinatra, Dick Haymes, and Jo Stafford, and he employed inventive arrangers such as Sy Oliver and Bill Finegan. He was the biggest-selling artist in the history of RCA Victor Records, one of the major labels, until the arrival of Elvis Presley, who was first given national exposure on the 1950s television show he hosted with his brother Jimmy. Dorsey was 21 months younger than Jimmy and thus the second son of Thomas Francis Dorsey, Sr., a music teacher and band director, and Theresa Langton Dorsey. Both brothers received musical instruction from their father. Tommy focused on the trombone, though he also played trumpet, especially early in his career. The brothers played in local groups, then formed their own band, Dorseys Novelty Six, in 1920. By 1922, when they played an engagement at a Baltimore amusement park and made their radio debut, they were calling the group Dorseys Wild Canaries. During the early and mid-20s, they played in a series of bands including the Scranton Sirens, the California Ramblers, and orchestras led by Jean Goldkette and Paul Whiteman, sometimes apart, but usually together. Eventually, they settled in New York and worked as session musicians. In 1927, they began recording as the Dorsey Brothers Orchestra for OKeh Records, using pickup bands, and they first reached the charts with Coquette in June 1928. In the spring of 1929, they scored a Top Ten hit with Lets Do It (Lets Fall in Love), which featured Bing Crosby on vocals. The Dorseys finally organized a full-time band and signed to Decca Records in 1934. Hiring Bing Crosbys younger brother Bob Crosby as their vocalist, they scored a Top Ten hit with I Believe in Miracles in the late winter of 1935, quickly followed by Tiny Little Fingerprints (vocal by Kay Weber) and Night Wind (vocal by Bob Crosby). They then enjoyed successive number one hits with Lullaby of Broadway (vocal by Bob Crosby) and Chasing Shadows (vocal by Bob Eberly, Bob Crosbys replacement). The Dorsey Brothers Orchestra was poised to become the biggest band in the country in the spring of 1935 and might have been remembered for launching the swing era, but at the end of May the brothers, whose relationship was always volatile, disagreed, and Tommy left the band (which nevertheless scored another Top Ten hit with Every Little Movement that summer). Jimmy Dorsey continued to lead the band, which eventually was billed as Jimmy Dorsey and His Orchestra and went on to considerable success. But while the Dorseys stumbled, Benny Goodman achieved national success and was dubbed the King of Swing. Tommy Dorsey took over the remnants of the Joe Haymes band in founding his own orchestra in the fall of 1935. Signing to RCA Victor Records, he scored an immediate success with On Treasure Island (vocal by Edythe Wright), which topped the charts in December 1935, one of four Dorsey records to peak in the Top Ten before the end of the year. Dorsey was back at number one in January 1936 with The Music Goes Round and Round (vocal by Edythe Wright) and topped the charts again in February with Alone (vocal by Cliff Weston). You (vocal by Edythe Wright) gave him his third number one in 1936, to which can be added eight other Top Ten hits during the year. Dorsey was even more successful in 1937, a year in which he scored 18 Top Ten hits, among them the chart-toppers Marie (vocal by Jack Leonard), Satan Takes a Holiday (an instrumental), The Big Apple, Once in a While, and The Dipsy Doodle (vocal by Edythe Wright). Dorsey earned his own radio series, which ran for nearly three years. His 15 Top Ten hits in 1938 included the number one Music, Maestro, Please (vocal by Edythe Wright), and he had another 11 Top Ten hits in 1939, among them Our Love (vocal by Jack Leonard), which hit number one. Notwithstanding his commercial success, Dorsey made important changes in his band in late 1939, particularly in his vocalists. Jack Leonard left the band in November, and Dorsey hired Frank Sinatra away from Harry James. Longtime female singer Edythe Wright also departed, replaced by Connie Haines, and the vocal quartet the Pied Pipers, featuring Jo Stafford, also joined Dorsey. The success only continued with the new members. Dorsey scored ten Top Ten hits in 1940, among them the chart-toppers Indian Summer and All the Things You Are (both with vocals by Leonard) as well as Ill Never Smile Again (with vocals by Sinatra and the Pied Pipers). For the year, he ranked second behind Glenn Miller as the top recording artist. He dropped to third place behind Miller and his brother Jimmy in 1941, a year in which he scored another ten Top Ten hits, eight of them featuring Sinatra, including the number one hit Dolores from the film Las Vegas Nights, released in March, in which the band appeared. 1942 was a challenging year for Dorsey. The U.S. had entered World War II in December 1941, which put pressure on the big bands particularly in terms of changing personnel and travel difficulties. On August 1, 1942, the American Federation of Musicians called a strike that prevented musicians from entering recording studios. Frank Sinatra left the band in September to launch a solo career, and the Pied Pipers were gone by the end of the year. Nevertheless, Dorsey carried on, putting the band into a second motion picture, Ship Ahoy, which opened in June, and scoring four Top Ten hits, which, with his other chart entries, was enough to rank him fifth among the years top recording artists. He earned the same ranking in the transitional year of 1943, despite being shut out of the recording studios, managing another four Top Ten hits, among them There Are Such Things and In the Blue of the Evening, chart-toppers Sinatra recorded with the band before his departure. Meanwhile, Dorsey turned to film roles to keep active, appearing in three movies released during 1943: Presenting Lily Mars, DuBarry Was a Lady, and Girl Crazy. By 1944, RCA Victor had exhausted its stockpile of unissued Dorsey recordings and had to resort to reissues, managing Top Ten hits with the 1938 instrumental Boogie Woogie and the 1940 recording Ill Be Seeing You with Sinatra on vocals. Dorsey remained in Hollywood, appearing in Broadway Rhythm, which opened in April. The settlement of the musicians union strike in the fall allowed him to return to the recording studio, and he scored six Top Ten hits in 1945 as a result, also placing an album, Getting Sentimental, in the newly instituted album charts. In May, he appeared in the film Thrill of a Romance. Dorsey scored another Top Ten album with Show Boat, containing songs from the Broadway musical, in February 1946. The big bands were in decline, and like some of his peers, Dorsey broke up his band in December 1946. But his All-Time Hits was in the Top Ten of the album charts in February 1947, and in March How Are Things in Glocca Morra? (vocal by Stuart Foster) entered the singles charts to become a Top Ten hit. Dorsey reorganized his band, and in May he played himself in a largely fictionalized film biography, The Fabulous Dorseys. Clambake Seven, an album of music by Dorseys small group, reached the Top Ten in October 1948, the same month he appeared in the film A Song Is Born, and the following month he was back in the Top Ten of the singles charts with Until (vocal by Harry Prime). In the spring of 1949, he had a double-sided Top Ten hit with The Hucklebuck (vocal by Charlie Shavers)/Again (vocal by Marcy Lutes). The compilation album And the Band Sings Too was in the Top Ten in September, and Dorsey returned to the Top Ten of the album charts with Tommy Dorsey Plays Cole Porter in April 1950. His final film appearance came in Disc Jockey in September 1951. Dorsey switched to Decca Records and continued to perform with his band in the early 50s. In May 1953, Jimmy Dorsey broke up his band and joined his brothers orchestra as a featured attraction; before long, the band was again being billed as the Dorsey Brothers Orchestra. While playing a residency at the Statler Hilton Hotel in New York, the brothers launched a television series, Stage Show, as a summer replacement program in the summer of 1954. It returned on an occasional basis during the 1954-1955 season and ran regularly once a week during the 1955-1956 season. Elvis Presley appeared on the show for six consecutive weeks starting in January 1956, his first nationally broadcast appearances. Sedated by sleeping pills following a heavy meal, Dorsey accidentally choked to death at the age of 51. His brother led his band briefly afterward, but Jimmy Dorsey died in 1957. Nevertheless, the Tommy Dorsey Orchestra continued to record and perform, and under the direction of Warren Covington it scored a final million-selling Top Ten hit in November 1958 with Tea for Two Cha Cha. Billed as the sentimental gentleman of swing, Tommy Dorsey successfully combined the hot and sweet aspects of swing music while leading a band that consistently ranked among the top two or three orchestras in the U.S. from the mid-30s to the mid-40s, the entire swing era. His band was peopled with major jazz instrumentalists (including Bunny Berigan, Ziggy Elman, Pee Wee Erwin, Max Kaminsky, Buddy Rich, Charlie Shavers, and Dave Tough), arrangers (including Sy Oliver and Paul Weston), and singers (including Frank Sinatra and Jo Stafford) who went on to define popular music in the late 40s and early 50s. He was also an accomplished trombone player whose distinctive sound dominated his band and recordings. The bulk of those recordings were made for RCA Victor, though some later work was done for Decca and Columbia, and of course there are numerous airchecks, making for a large discography.