Tommy Dorsey (November 19, 1905 – November 26, 1956) was an American jazz trombonist, trumpeter and bandleader in the Big Band era. Known as “the sentimental gentleman of swing,” 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
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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"
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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
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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,
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As there are so many recordings by Tommy, it was very hard to choose just one record, so I have opted for two. The first being his signature tune "I'm gettin' sentimental over you" recorded 18 October 1935.
And here's my favourite, "Opus One," recorded in Hollywood 14 November 1944
Today's video is a clip of "The Song Of India" from 1941.
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