Tommy Dorsey

Tommy Dorsey was born November 19, 1905, in Shenandoah, Pennsylvania. He was taught trumpet by his father who also gave lessons to his brother Jimmy. While Tommy would switch his main focus to trombone by the mid-1920s, he still occasionally recorded on trumpet.

The Dorsey Brothers led parallel lives until they were nearly 30. They played and recorded with the Scranton Sirens, Jean Goldkette, and Paul Whiteman, but mostly worked as a studio musicians during 1925-33, appearing on a countless number of recordings.

In 1934 they organized the Dorsey Brothers Orchestra as a working big band, with trombonist Glenn Miller contributing many of the arrangements. But acrimony between the brothers erupted in a fight on the bandstand in May 1935, resulting in Tommy departing mid-performance. Jimmy Dorsey inherited the big band while the trombonist soon took over Joe Haymes’ Orchestra.

Tommy Dorsey signed with Victor and made the band’s first records in September 1935. Two months later Dorsey had his first session with his Clambake Seven, an eight-piece Dixieland-oriented group taken out of the big band.

Many musicians would pass through the Tommy Dorsey Orchestra, but the real breakthrough was in 1937 with Bunny Berigan contributing major solos to hit records of “Marie” and “Song Of India.”

In 1939 Dorsey lured arranger Sy Oliver away from the Jimmie Lunceford Orchestra to give the group a more modern sound. In the ’40s, Dorsey added a large string section. The band weathered the 1942-44 musicians’ strike with a seemingly endless series of radio shows, films, and concerts.

After a brief hiatus, by mid-1947 Tommy Dorsey was again in the big band business, looking backward to the Swing Era and eschewing bebop. The nostalgia approach worked. Tommy somehow kept the band going.

In 1952, Tommy and Jimmy joined forces with a new Dorsey Brothers Orchestra, even hosting the television series Stage Show during 1955-56, on which they famously introduced Elvis Presley to a national audience.

On November 26, 1956, a week after turning 51, Tommy Dorsey passed away in his sleep from the combination of a heavy meal, alcohol, and sleeping pills. – adapted from an article by Scott Yanow