Tommy Dorsey, born on November 19, 1905 at Shenandoah, Pennsylvania.
Tommy Dorsey known as "The Sentimental Gentleman of Swing", died November 26, 1956.
Suggested reading (biography) : http://www.swingmusic.net/Tommy_Dorsey_Biography.html
Tommy Dorsey: "Marie":
(Joy-bringer!)
"Marie is one of the best examples of the Tommy Dorsey band at its finest, demonstrating the great gains when pop and art collide. It started out as a waltz written by Irving Berlin for an early sound movie called The Awakening that had music, but no dialogue. Dorsey got the idea for recording the tune while appearing at the Nixon's Grand with the Sunset Royal Serenaders, whose vocalist performed the song while the band chanted phrases behind. Fred Stulce, Dorsey's first alto man, copied the lyrics as they performed. However, when Dorsey sent his manager Bobby Burns and arranger Paul Weston to the Serenaders to trade some arrangements to get "Marie, they were thrown out. Dorsey then told Weston, "Then you write it! and the hit version of "Marie was recorded on January 29, 1937.
Marie starts out with a lightly swinging beat. Dorsey elegantly purrs the main theme while the horn section punches out riffs behind. Jack Leonard follows with the vocal with the band responding vocally, just as the Serenaders had done. (Although Leonard was a fine singer, it's hard not to speculate what Sinatra could have done with this performance). Dorsey for once shows a willingness to swing out a little bit, but up until this point in the song, "Marie has been merely a spectacular dance number. But once Bunny Berigan enters with his solo, the song is suddenly transformed into something special."
^ From all*about*jazz >> http://www.allaboutjazz.com/php/article.php?id=18063 ^
