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THE ONE AND ONLYTommy Dorsey Orchestra
Saturday, February 28 - 7:30pm
Music Director: Jeff Bush
In the history of the Big Bands, the Tommy Dorsey Orchestra could swing with the best of the dance bands, and no other ensemble came close when playing ballads. Tommy Dorsey, “The Sentimental Gentleman of Swing,” was a master at creating warm, romantic moods for dancing and listening. The band was popular almost from the moment it signed with RCA Victor in 1935, showcasing superb musicians and jazz standards sung by artists who projected them with great style and feeling. Jack Leonard was the featured singer for the first four years, recording such fine sides as “Dedicated to You,” “If It’s the Last Thing I Do,” “Little White Lies,” “You Taught Me to Love Again, “Once in a While,” and, probably his most famous hit, “Marie,” with the band adding vocal riffs as Jack sang the straight lyric.
Frank Sinatra joined the band in 1940. His career blossomed under Dorsey, and his vocals helped make the band more successful than ever. Frank credited Tommy with helping him develop his phrasing and breathing, as well as cultivating his musical taste and knowledge. Sy Oliver, who started working with the band around the same time, was one of the first black arrangers and vocalists to join a predominantly white orchestra. He was credited with infusing a new musical spirit into the repertoire with such tunes as “Easy Does It,” “Quiet Please,” “Sing High,” “Yes, Indeed,” “Swingin’ on Nothing,” “Well, Git It,” “Opus One,” and “On the Sunny Side of the Street.” Oliver had a unique way of approaching a straight pop tune, injecting a soft, two-beat feeling into it. Sinatra and Oliver worked both individually and together, turning out several hits of superior quality. These included Sinatra’s “This Love of Mine,” Jo Stafford’s “Embraceable You,” and Sinatra’s numbers with the vocal group the Pied Pipers: “There Are Such Things,” “Just As Though You Were Here,” “Street of Dreams,” and “Oh, Look at Me Now.” Sinatra’s biggest hit with the Pied Pipers—one that gave a huge boost to the popularity of vocal groups—was “I’ll Never Smile Again.”
By late 1946 the band business was having problems: many talented musicians had been lost to World War II, and the scarcity of gas and rubber in the war economy had made it very expensive for the bands to travel. In December of that year, eight top bandleaders announced they were calling it quits: Woody Herman, Benny Goodman, Harry James, Les Brown, Jack Teagarden, Benny Carter, Ina Ray Hutton, and Tommy Dorsey. This was the official end of the Big Band Era. However, less than two years later Dorsey re-emerged with a formidable new group. In the 1950’s his brother Jimmy (a talented reed player) joined him, and together the Dorsey brothers focused on the new medium of television. In 1953 they appeared with their orchestra on Jackie Gleason’s popular CBS television show. The brothers then took the unit on tour and onto their own television program, Stage Show, which ran from 1954 to 1956. In January 1956, the Dorseys made rock music history by introducing Elvis Presley in his national television debut. Then a regional country singer, Presley made six guest appearances on Stage Show. After Tommy’s passing in 1956, Jimmy Dorsey led his brother’s band for a short time, followed by a succession of worthy leaders who have kept it alive up to the present day.
TDO’s current Music Director, Jeff Bush, has played trombone with the orchestra on and off since 2000. He has performed with many master jazz artists (Benny Golson, Jon Hendricks, Ahmad Jamal, and Vanessa Rubin, among others) and some of the world’s best bands, including the Count Basie Orchestra, the Vanguard Jazz Orchestra, and Harry Connick Jr.’s Big Band. He has also performed or recorded with Christina Aguilera, Tom Waits, Frankie Valli, Paul Anka, the Temptations, the Four Tops, Manhattan Transfer, Bobby Caldwell, HBO’s The Sopranos, the New York City Ballet, and many Broadway shows.
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Event Venue & Nearby Stays
Corning Museum of Glass, 1 Museum Way, Corning, NY 14830-2253, United States
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