Tommy Dorsey AMERICAN MUSICIAN WRITTEN BY: The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica Tommy Dorsey, byname of Thomas Francis Dorsey, Jr., (born November 27, 1905, Mahanoy Plane, Pennsylvania, U.S.—died November 26, 1956, Greenwich, Connecticut), American musician who—both independently and with his brother Jimmy—led several of the most popular big bands of the swing era. He was also a highly respected and influential trombonist. Both brothers received their first musical training from their father, a music teacher and marching band director. Tommy began his performance career on trumpet and trombone, eventually playing the trombone exclusively, though his trumpet playing was exceptional. As teenagers, they worked in several bands before forming their own combo, Dorsey’s Novelty Six, in 1920. By 1922 the group, now known as Dorsey’s Wild Canaries, had attained some prominence in the Baltimore, Maryland, area and was among the first jazz bands to be broadcast on radio. During this period the brothers also played (sometimes separately but usually together) in a variety of musical groups. In 1927 they began recording with a changing slate of musicians they dubbed the Dorsey Brothers Orchestra. They had a string of hits in the late 1920s and early ’30s, often featuring vocalists such as Bing Crosby and his younger brother Bob. After splitting with Jimmy in 1935, Tommy took over the remnants of the recently disbanded Joe Haymes Orchestra. Soon thereafter Tommy recorded “I’m Getting Sentimental over You,” which became his theme song and the source of his nickname, “The Sentimental Gentleman of Swing.”
