Tommy Dorsey
Play Radio
Listen to Tommy Dorsey Radio,
featuring artists like Jimmy Dorsey, Harry James, Les Brown, Charlie Barnet and more…
559,511 plays (108,970 listeners)
Tommy Dorsey (1905 – 1956) was a jazz trombonist and bandleader in the Big Band era.
Thomas Dorsey was born in Shenandoah, Pennsylvania and is the younger brother of Jimmy Dorsey.
He worked with many bands in the New York City area starting in the 1920s, including the bands of Rudy Vallee, Vincent Lopez, and Paul Whiteman. With brother Jimmy, he led the Dorsey Brothers Orchestra until they split up (with some acrimony) in 1935. The brothers also appeared as session musicians on many jazz recordings.
Tommy Dorsey formed his own band, which was very successful, scoring 137 Billboard chart hits. His best-known song was I’m Getting Sentimental Over You, which showcases his high range and smooth legato style and earned him the nickname “the sentimental gentleman of swing.”
The band featured trumpeters Bunny Berigan and Charlie Shavers, arranger Sy Oliver, 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, and Dorsey himself influenced trombonists including Urbie Green.
“He would take a musical phrase and play it all the way through seemingly without breathing for eight, ten, maybe sixteen bars. How in the hell did he do it? I used to sit behind him on the bandstand and watch, trying to see him sneak a breath… I discovered he had a ‘sneak’ pinhole in the corner of his mouth — not an actual pinhole, but a tiny place where he was breathing .
Thomas Dorsey was born in Shenandoah, Pennsylvania and is the younger brother of Jimmy Dorsey.
He worked with many bands in the New York City area starting in the 1920s, including the bands of Rudy Vallee, Vincent Lopez, and Paul Whiteman. With brother Jimmy, he led the Dorsey Brothers Orchestra until they split up (with some acrimony) in 1935. The brothers also appeared as session musicians on many jazz recordings.
Tommy Dorsey formed his own band, which was very successful, scoring 137 Billboard chart hits. His best-known song was I’m Getting Sentimental Over You, which showcases his high range and smooth legato style and earned him the nickname “the sentimental gentleman of swing.”
The band featured trumpeters Bunny Berigan and Charlie Shavers, arranger Sy Oliver, 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, and Dorsey himself influenced trombonists including Urbie Green.
“He would take a musical phrase and play it all the way through seemingly without breathing for eight, ten, maybe sixteen bars. How in the hell did he do it? I used to sit behind him on the bandstand and watch, trying to see him sneak a breath… I discovered he had a ‘sneak’ pinhole in the corner of his mouth — not an actual pinhole, but a tiny place where he was breathing .
Top Albums
-
Swing High
Tommy Dorsey
Buy- Download Album
- Amazon MP3 $6.99
- 7digital $9.99
- iTunes $7.99
- Buy Album
- Amazon Search
- eBay Search
New
-
Fascinating Rhythm
Tommy Dorsey Buy- Download Album
- Amazon MP3 Search
- 7digital Search
- iTunes Search
- Buy Album
- Amazon Search
- eBay Search
New
-
March/June 1940 Broadcasts To S. America
Tommy Dorsey Buy- Download Album
- Amazon MP3 Search
- 7digital Search
- iTunes Search
- Buy Album
- Amazon Search
- eBay Search
-
Tommy Dorsey and His Greatest Band
Tommy Dorsey Buy- Download Album
- Amazon MP3 Search
- 7digital Search
- iTunes Search
- Buy Album
- Amazon Search
- eBay Search
Shoutbox
-
EdwardJamesT Frank Sinatra owe to this man in his early carreer :)
-
mahtness super win.
-
Luchiojeans http://www.lastfm.es/group/Live%2BLike%2BIn%2BThe%2B50%2527s%2B%2526%2B60%2527s
-
drippz candy to my ear
-
pone2none one of the fathers of swing!!!
-
VanNostran Fantastic Swing-My Dad had this one on an old college 78 RPM and I wore it out before I knew what it was all about.
-
Bram_F. legend!
-
bicknor Could even be a 'magnum opus'!
Videos
-
Play
Boogie Woogie - Tommy Dorsey
-
Play
I'll Never Smile Again
-
Play
"SONG OF INDIA" BY TOMMY DORSEY
2 shouts
-
Play
On the Sunny Side of the Street
1 shout
Top Listeners
-
ohrstrom02
Top Listener
-
unsavage
Top Listener
-
espardanyeta
Top Listener
-
Leuhrall
Top Listener
More Information
- Links
- Labels
Email Newsletter
Get exclusive tour, release & promotion updates on Tommy Dorsey from Universal Music.
