Jimmy &
Tommy Dorsey
1914-1957
& 1905-1956
Bandleaders,
Musicians, Composers
To fans of jazz and swing, the Dorsey Brothers
need no introduction. As musicians, composers and dance band
leaders, they are inextricably linked with the swing craze
during the big-band era of the 1930's and 1940's. Their numerous
hits include ""I'm Getting Sentimental Over You",
"I'll Never Smile Again" and "Boogie-Woogie."
In all they sold a combined total of 110 million records in
their 40 year careers.
 Born
to Thomas Dorsey and Theresa Langton, the two brothers grew
up in an Irish mining community in Pennsylvania. A self-taught
musician himself, Thomas Dorsey resolved to keep his boys
out of the mines, and instead ignited in them his own love
of music. He even formed a band with them, the Way Back When
Dorsey Brothers Orchestra. After Thomas Sr. quit the band,
they became Dorsey's Novelty Six, later to be renamed Dorsey's
Wild Canaries. The band performed throughout Shenandoah until
they broke up in 1922 and Tommy and Jimmy joined the Scranton
Sirens.
After two years with the Scranton Sirens,
the brothers moved to the Jean Goldkette Jazz Band in Detroit,
Michigan. They performed with jazz talents Bix Beiderbecke,
Joe Venuti and Eddie Lang. Jimmy began playing the saxophone
and clarinet, becoming one of the finest players of his day,
while Tommy took up the trombone, coaxing from it a velvety
tone that would become his trademark. Tommy was a hot player
at heart, having recorded a few hot sides by 1927 and he continued
to play with smaller ensembles throughout his career.
The Dorsey's big break came in 1927 when
the Paul Whiteman Orchestra of New York City hired the entire
Goldkette band. This brought them radio and recording jobs
and performances with singers like Bing Crosby and the Boswell
Sisters. In 1934, Tommy and Jimmy formed their own band, the
Dorsey Brothers Orchestra, with Glenn Miller on second trombone
and another rising star Bob Crosby. However, the band broke
up only one year later, after a dispute broke out between
the two brothers during a Memorial Day weekend performance.
The more exacting and temperamental of the two, Tommy is generally
blamed for the band's demise.
Over the next eighteen years, the two went
their separate ways. Jimmy led the original Dorsey Brothers
Band, renamed the Jimmy Dorsey Orchestra, while Tommy took
over a band from Joe Haymes, turning it into the Tommy Dorsey
Band, a more jazz-oriented band that featured Frank Sinatra
from 1940-42. Tommy and Jimmy enjoyed tremendous success with
their respective bands. Both brothers compiled a healthy list
of film and television appearances, and they reunited temporarily
for the making of the 1947 film bio The Fabulous Dorseys.
In 1953 Jimmy's band fell apart and the
brothers were reconciled. Jimmy joined Tommy's orchestra and
they performed as Tommy Dorsey Orchestra featuring Jimmy Dorsey.
The brothers performed together for the next three years,
and in 1955-56 they enjoyed wide national coverage with their
own show on CBS called Stage Show. It was on their
show that Elvis made his first TV appearance.
Between their bands together and apart The
Dorsey Brothers had 312 charted hits with 29 going to the
#1 spot. In Pop Memories 1890-1954; The History of American
Popular Music author Joel Whitburn lists the top 100
artists. Tommy Dorsey is fourth, while Jimmy ranks seventeenth.
Number one and two are their peers and fellow musicians Bing
Crosby and Paul Whiteman respectively.
The two brothers died in their early fifties
less than a year apart, Tommy on November 26, 1956 and Jimmy
on June 12, 1957. Two days before Jimmy died, he received
a gold record for his greatest instrumental, "So Rare."
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