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This article is about trombonist and band leader Tommy Dorsey. For the pianist and jazz and gospel composer, see Thomas A. Dorsey.

Tommy Dorsey
Tommy Dorsey, in a publicity shot for "The Big Apple"
Background information
Birth name	Tommy Dorsey
Born	November 19, 1905(1905-11-19)
Origin	Shenandoah, Pennsylvania, USA
Died	November 26, 1956 (aged 51)
Genre(s)	Big band music Swing Sweet bands
Occupation(s)	Bandleader
Instrument(s)	Trombone Trumpet
Associated acts	California Ramblers Jimmy Dorsey Jean Goldkette Paul Whiteman

Tommy Dorsey (November 19, 1905 – November 26, 1956) was an American jazz trombonist, trumpeter, and bandleader in the Big Band era. He was the younger brother of Jimmy Dorsey.

Thomas Francis Dorsey, Jr. was born in Shenandoah, Pennsylvania, and started out only 16 years later in Allentown, Pennsylvania, with big band album Russ Morgan in the famous pick-up band of the 1920s "The Scranton Sirens".

Tommy and his brother Jimmy worked in several bands (including those of Rudy Vallee, Vincent Lopez, and especially Paul Whiteman) before forming the original Dorsey Brothers Orchestra in 1934. Ongoing acrimony between the brothers, however, led to Tommy Dorsey's walking out to form his own band in 1935, just as the Orchestra was having a hit with "Every Little Movement."

Tommy Dorsey's first band formed out of the remnant of the Joe Haymes band, and his smooth, lyrical trombone style--whether on ballads or on no-holds-barred swingers--became one of the signature sounds of both his band and the Swing Era. The new band hit from almost the moment it signed with RCA Victor with "On Treasure Island," the first of four hits for the new band that year. That led to a run of 137 Billboard chart hits, including his theme song, "I'm Getting Sentimental Over You" (which showcases his phenomenal range and masterful mute use, reaching up to the high C #), "Marie", "The Big Apple", "Music, Maestro, Please", "I'll Never Smile Again", "This Love of Mine", "On the Sunny Side of the Street", "T.D.'s Boogie Woogie", "Well, Git 'It", "Opus One", "Manhattan Serenade", and "There Are Such Things"--among many others.

The band featured a number of the best instrumentalists in jazz at the time, including (the list is far more extensive than what we list here) trumpeters Bunny Berigan, Ziggy Elman, George Seaberg, Carl "Doc" Severinsen, and Charlie Shavers, trumpeter/arranger/composer Sy Oliver (who wrote "Well, Git 'It" and "Opus One"), clarinetists Buddy DeFranco, Johnny Mince and Peanuts Hucko drummers Buddy Rich, Louis Bellson, Gene Krupa and Dave Tough and singers Jo Stafford, Dick Haymes and Frank Sinatra. Sinatra achieved his first great success as a vocalist in the Dorsey band and claimed he learned breath control from watching Dorsey play trombone. Dorsey said his trombone style was heavily influenced by that of Jack Teagarden. Another member of the Dorsey band probably spent considerable time observing and listening to Sy Oliver's striking arrangements: trombonist Nelson Riddle, whose later partnership as Sinatra's major arranger and conductor is considered to have revolutionised post-World War II popular music.

Dorsey might have broken up his own band permanently following World War II, as many big bands did due to the shift in music economics following the war, and he did disband the orchestra at the end of 1946. But a top-ten selling album (All-Time Hits) made it possible for Dorsey to re-organise a big band in early 1947.

Tommy Dorsey in The Fabulous Dorseys (1947).

The biographical film of 1947, "The Fabulous Dorseys" describes sketchy details of how the brothers got their start from-the-bottom-up into the jazz era of one-nighters, the early days of radio in its infancy stages, and the onward march when both brothers ended up with Paul Whiteman before 1935 when The Dorsey Brothers' Orchestra split into two.

The Dorsey brothers themselves later reconciled---Jimmy Dorsey had had to break up his own highly successful big band in 1953, and brother Tommy invited him to join up as a feature attraction---but before long Tommy renamed the band the Dorsey Brothers Orchestra. The brothers took the unit on tour and onto their own television show, Stage Show, from 1954-1956---on which they introduced Elvis Presley to national television audiences, among others.

In 1956, Tommy Dorsey died at age 51 in his Greenwich, Connecticut home, choking in his sleep after a heavy meal following which he had been sedated with sleeping pills. Jimmy Dorsey (out of whose band Tommy had walked two decades earlier) led his brother's band until his own death of throat cancer the following year. At that point, trombonist Warren Covington assumed leadership of the band with, presumably, Jane Dorsey's blessing (she owned the rights to her late husband's band and name) and it produced, ironically enough, the biggest selling hit record ever released under the Dorsey name. Billed as the Tommy Dorsey Orchestra Starring Warren Covington, they topped the charts in 1958 with Tea For Two Cha-Cha. Covington led the Dorsey band through 1970 (he also led and recorded with his own organisation), after which Jane Dorsey renamed it, simply, The Tommy Dorsey Orchestra, which is conducted today by Buddy Morrow, featuring vocalist Rob Zappulla. Jane Dorsey died of natural causes around the age of 79 in 2003.

The grave of Tommy Dorsey in Kensico Cemetery

Dorsey's married life was varied and at times headline making. His first wife was 16 year old Mildred Kraft with whom he eloped while he was 17 in 1922. They had two children- Patricia and Tom (nicknamed "Skipper") but divorced in 1943. He then wed movie actress Pat Dane in 1943 and they were divorced in 1947, but not before he gained headlines for striking actor Jon Hall when Hall embraced his wife Pat. Finally Dorsey married Jane Earl New (b. 23 October 1923 in Dublin, Laurens County, Georgia - d. 24 August 2003 in Bay Harbor Island, Miami-Dade County, Florida) on 27 March 1948 in Atlanta, Fulton County, Georgia, and had two children - Catherine Susan and Steve. She remained his wife until his death. She had been a dancer at the world-renowned Copacabana.

Tommy and Jane Dorsey are interred together in Kensico Cemetery in Valhalla, New York. Sinatra released a tribute album to Dorsey in 1961 entitled I Remember Tommy with arrangements by another Dorsey alumnus, Sy Oliver.

Bix Beiderbecke and his Rhythm Jugglers, a pickup band formed, and dissolved, in 1925. From left to right, Howdy Quicksell (banjo), Tom Gargano (drums), Paul Mertz (piano), Don Murray (clarinet), Beiderbecke (cornet), and Tommy Dorsey (trombone).

Recent CDs with recordings of the Tommy Dorsey band arrangements include the following (in order of popularity). H12. Yes, Indeed!, 13. Loose Lid Special, 14. Swingin' on Nothin', 15. Day, 11. Once in a While, 12. Who?, 13. Panama, 14. The Sheik of Araby, 15. *1938

• Stop, Look and Listen
  

  

  Stop, Look and Listen album cover
• 1939, Vol No. 3
• Homefront: 1941-1945
• The Early Jazz Sides: 1931-1937
• All-Time Greates Dorsey/Sinatra Hits, Vol 1-4
• The V-Disc Recordings
• It's D'Lovely 1947-1950
• The Complete Tommy Dorsey, Vol. 2 (1936)
• Stardust
• Greatest Hits
• Sentimental
• Opus One
• 1937-1938
• The Fabulous Dorsey
• Greatest Hits (RCA)
• Tommy Dorsey, Vol. 1
• 1938, Vol. 2
• At the Fat Man's
• All-Time Greatest Dorsey/Sinatra Hits, Vol. 3
• All-Time Greatest Dorsey/Sinatra Hits, Vol. 2
• The Complete Standard Transciptions
• Having a Wonderful Time
• The Complete Tommy Dorsey, Vol 1 (1935)

Tommy Dorsey appeared in several films. While not known for his acting skills, his band leader talents stood him well in films. Dorsey and members of his band appeared in the following films:

• Las Vegas Nights (1941)
• Ship Ahoy (1942)
• Presenting Lily Mars (1943)
• Girl Crazy (1943)
• Du Barry Was a Lady (1943)
• Thrill of a Romance (1945)
• The Great Morgan (1946)
• The Fabulous Dorseys (1947)
• A Song Is Born (1948) Musical remake of Ball of Fire

• Disc Jockey (1951)

• Peter J. Levinson, Tommy Dorsey: Livin' in a Great Big Way: a Biography (Cambridge, MA: Da Capo Press, 2005) ISBN 978-0-306-81111-1
• Robert L. Stockdale, Tommy Dorsey: On The Side (Metuchen, NJ: The Scarecrow Press, 1995) ISBN 0-8108-2951-7

Wikimedia Commons has media related to:

Tommy Dorsey

• Tommy Dorsey at the Radio Hall of Fame
• Tommy Dorsey at All Music Guide
• Google Songs
• The Tommy Dorsey Orchestra