SWING ARRANGER
This week’s Greg Poppleton Phantom Dancer features a set of 1940s swing bands from the Spotlight Bands series, a set of 1940s Nat King Cole and a set of the Dorsey Brothers on air, Tommy and Jimmy Dorsey with a feature by their uptempo arranger, the influential musician and composer, Sy Oliver.
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OLIVER
Sy Oliver was a byword for swing in the 1940s. His musicianship skyrocketed the careers of big band leaders Jimmie Lunceford and Tommy Dorsey, both of whom you hear on this week’s Phantom Dancer. From wiki,
“Sy Oliver was born in Battle Creek, Michigan. His mother was a piano teacher and his father was a multi-instrumentalist who made a name for himself demonstrating saxophones at a time that instrument was little used outside of marching bands.
Oliver left home at 17 to play with Zack Whyte and his Chocolate Beau Brummels and later with Alphonse Trent. He sang and played trumpet with these bands, becoming known for his “growling” horn playing. He also began arranging with them.
He continued singing for the next 17 years, making many recordings when he was with Jimmie Lunceford and with his own band. With Lunceford, from 1934 to 1937, he recorded more than two dozen vocals. From 1949 to 1951, he recorded more than a dozen with his own band. With Tommy Dorsey, he only recorded two vocals, both in 1941 with Jo Stafford, on his own compositions “Yes Indeed” and “Swingin’ on Nothin'”.
Oliver arranged and conducted many songs for Ella Fitzgerald from her Decca years. As a composer, one of his most famous songs was “T’ain’t What You Do (It’s the Way That You Do It)”, which he co-wrote with Trummy Young.
LUNCEFORD
In 1933, Oliver joined Jimmie Lunceford’s band as a trumpet player, arranger and songwriter. He contributed many hit arrangements for the band, including “My Blue Heaven” and “Ain’t She Sweet”, as well as his original composition “For Dancers Only” which in time became the band’s theme song. He was co-arranger with pianist Ed Wilson; Oliver primarily taking the up-tempo numbers, Wilcox the ballads. Oliver’s arrangements “were a dashing parade of innovation that rivaled Ellington’s for consistency and originality.”
DORSEY
In 1939, when band leader Tommy Dorsey decided he wanted a swing band, his first step was to hire Oliver as an arranger away from Lunceford for $5,000 more a year. Oliver then became one of the first African Americans with a prominent role in a white band when he joined Tommy Dorsey. (Fletcher Henderson, another African American composer/arranger, had joined the Benny Goodman orchestra as the arranger some years earlier.) He led the transition of the Dorsey band from Dixieland to modern big band. His joining was instrumental in Dorsey luring several major jazz players, including Buddy Rich to his band.
With Dorsey, Oliver continued sharing arranging duties with another arranger, Axel Stordahl, Oliver doing up tempo tunes, Stordahl ballads. As James Kaplan puts it, “Tommy Dorsey’s band got a rocket boost in 1939 when Dorsey stole Lunceford’s great arranger Sy Oliver.”
His arrangement of “On the Sunny Side of the Street” was a big hit for Dorsey in 1946, as were his compositions “Yes, Indeed!” (a gospel-jazz tune that was later recorded by Ray Charles), “Opus One” (originally titled as “Opus No. 1”, but changed to suit the lyric that was added later), “The Minor Is Muggin'”, and “Well, Git It”.
Here’s a 1947 Downbeat review of the Sy Oliver band that you’ll hear from a live 1946 broadcast on this week’s Phantom Dancer…
APRES DORSEY
Oliver left Dorsey after seven years, in 1946, and began working as a freelance arranger and as music director for Decca Records.
One of his more successful efforts as an arranger was the Frank Sinatra album I Remember Tommy, a combined tribute to their former boss.
June 26, 1950, Sy Oliver and his Orchestra recorded the first American version of C’est si bon (Henri Betti, André Hornez, Jerry Seelen) and La Vie en rose (Louiguy, Édith Piaf, Mack David) for Louis Armstrong.
In 1974 he began a nightly gig with a small band at the Rainbow Room in New York. He continued that gig until 1984, with occasion time off to make festival or other dates, including at the Roseland Ballroom in New York. He retired in 1984.
Oliver died in New York City at the age of 77.
Your Phantom Dancer Video of the Week this week is a 1936 Vitaphone short of Jimmie Lunceford and his Orchestra with trumpet and arrangements by Sy Oliver
Enjoy!
Make sure you come back to this blog, Greg Poppleton’s Radio Lounge, every Tuesday, for the newest Phantom Dancer play list and Video of the Week!
Thank you.
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Play List – The Phantom Dancer
107.3 2SER-FM Sydney, Live Stream, Digital Radio
Community Radio Network Show CRN #403 |
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107.3 2SER Tuesday 10 September 2019 |
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Set 1
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Swing on the 1940s Spotlight Bands Radio Series | |
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Blue Skies + You’re Too Beautiful
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Harry James Orchestra (voc) Buddy DeVito
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’Spotlight Bands’
AFRS Re-broadcast Aug 1946 |
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Futurama
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Gene Krupa Orchestra
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’Spotlight Bands’
AFRS Re-broadcast 1945 |
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Dark Eyes + Temptation (theme)
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Jimmy Joy Orchestra
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’Spotlight Bands’
Harlingen Tx Blue Network 6 Jan 1945 |
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Set 2
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Nat King Cole Trio Time on 1947 – 59 Radio | |
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Straighten Up And Fly Right (theme) + Sunday + Ad
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Nat King Cole Trio (voc) NKC
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’King Cole Trio Time’
KFI NBC LA 6 Mar 1948 |
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Little Joe From Chicago + Boogie A La King
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Nat King Cole Trio
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’King Cole Trio Time’
Radio Transcription 1959 |
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Tired
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Pearl Bailey (voc) Nat King Cole Trio
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’King Cole Trio Time’
WMAQ NBC Chicago 1 Mar 1947 |
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Set 3
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Those ‘Fabulous Dorseys’ on 1950s Radio and TV | |
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I’m Getting Sentimental Over You (theme) + Sentimental Baby
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Dorsey Brothers Orchestra (voc) Lynn Roberts
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’All-Star Parade of Bands’
Claridge Hotel WMC NBC Memphis 1953 |
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I’m Getting Sentimental Over You (theme) + Smiles
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Sy Oliver Orchestra
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’Endorsed By Dorsey’
WOR Mutual NY 3 Mar 1946 |
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When The Saints Go Marching In + I’m Getting Sentimental Over You (theme)
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Dorsey Brothers Orchestra (voc) Johnny Ray
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’Stage Show’
CBS TV NY 1 Jan 1955 |
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Set 4
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Modern 1950s Sounds: RnB, Bop and Cool | |
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Open + King Jacquet
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Illinois Jacquet
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’Sepia Swing Club’
WDIA Memphis 14 Dec 1951 |
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Cool Blues
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Charlie Parker
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Hi-Hat Club
WCOP Boston 1954 |
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I’ve Got Rhythm
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The Flexible Five
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’California Melodies’
KHJ Mutual Los Angeles 1950 |
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Set 5
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Broadcasting From The Savoy | |
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Round Midnight (theme) + 711
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Cootie Williams Orchestra
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’One Night Stand’
Savoy Ballroom NYC AFRS Re-broadcast 12 Feb 1945 |
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Body and Soul (theme) + Chant of the Groove
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Coleman Hawkins Orchestra
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Aircheck
Savoy Ballroom NYC 1940 |
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They Can’t Take That Away From Me
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Count Basie Orchestra (voc) Billie Holiday
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Aircheck
Savoy Ballroom NYC 30 Jun 1937 |
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Floogie Boo + St Louis Blues
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Cootie Williams Orchestra
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’One Night Stand’
Savoy Ballroom NYC AFRS Re-broadcast 12 Feb 1945 |
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Set 6
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Swing Bands on 1930s – 1940s Radio | |
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Chatterbox
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Charlie Barnet Orchestra
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Radio Transcription
Los Angeles Apr 1938 |
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Are You Kidding?
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Jimmie Lunceford Orchestra (voc) Band
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’Spotlight Bands’
Jefferson Barracks Missouri Blue Network 23 Nov 1945 |
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Benny’s Bugle
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Lee and Lester Young Orchestra
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Club Capri
KHJ Mutual LA 2 Dec 1941 |
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The Blizzard
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Louis Prima Orchestra
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’Spotlight Bands’
Mitchell Field NY Mutual Network 15 Jan 1945 |
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Set 7
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Pop Songs on 1930s Radio | |
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The You And Me That Used To Be
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George Hall Orchestra
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Radio Transcription
New York City 1937 |
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When Summer Is Gone (theme) + You’ve Got Me Crying Again
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Hal Kemp Orchestra
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’Lavena Program’
Radio Transcription New York City 1934 |
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Chlo-e
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Benny Goodman Orchestra
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’Camel Caravan’
KNX CBS LA 17 Aug 1937 |
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The Little Man Who Wasn’t There
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Johnny Messner Orchestra
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’Radio Transcription’
New York City 1939 |
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Set 8
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Modern Improvised Jazz on 1950s Radio | |
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The Cinch + I Don’t Want To Be Kissed
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Buddy Rich Quintet
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Birdland
WABC ABC NY 8 Nov 1958 |
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The 7-11 Jump
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Erroll Garner Trio
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Basin Street
WCBS CBS New York City May 1956 |
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All The Things You Are
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Dave Brubeck Quartet
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Basin Street
WCBS CBS New York City Feb 1956 |
Actor - Singer - Voiceover 