Jimmy Dorsey

Jimmy Dorsey excelled as a reed instrumentalist on alto saxophone and clarinet while also ranking among the foremost bandleaders throughout the swing period. He shared leadership of ensembles with his sibling Tommy at the outset and conclusion of his professional path, yet during the intervening span he accumulated multiple hits flavored with Latin elements that positioned his orchestra among the foremost recording and touring groups of the opening 1940s. Despite reduced activity in the closing 1940s and initial half of the 1950s, he still attained a major pop success in the closing weeks before his death.

Born the elder son of music educator and marching-band conductor Thomas Francis Dorsey, Sr., and Theresa Langton Dorsey, he gained his initial training from his father and performed on cornet with that ensemble by age seven. He shifted to trumpet for a professional appearance at nine with J. Carson McGee's King Trumpeters in New York during September 1913, then turned to reed instruments two years afterward, rotating between alto saxophone and clarinet. His brother Tommy, less than two years his junior, took up brass instruments, primarily trombone, and the pair established Dorsey's Novelty Six in 1920. Performing as Dorsey's Wild Canaries, they held a lengthy booking at a Baltimore amusement park and broadcast on radio, thereby becoming one of the earliest jazz groups heard over the air. Dorsey departed for the Scranton Sirens, moved to New York around September 1924 to join the California Ramblers, transferred to the Jean Goldkette Orchestra in 1925 alongside Bix Beiderbecke, Joe Venuti, Eddie Lang, and Frankie Trumbauer, and then entered Paul Whiteman's orchestra in 1926; his younger brother followed him into each of those groups.

The brothers eventually based themselves in New York, working as studio musicians on recordings, radio, and Broadway pit orchestras. From 1927 onward they assembled recording-only units called the Dorsey Brothers Orchestra for OKeh Records, first charting in June 1928 with "Coquette" (vocal by Bill Dutton). Their initial Top Ten entry arrived in spring 1929 with "Let's Do It (Let's Fall in Love)" (vocal by Bing Crosby). They formed a permanent touring band in April 1934, signed with the new Decca label, and placed "What a Diff'rence a Day Made" (vocal by Bob Crosby) in the Top Ten that autumn, followed in winter 1935 by "I Believe in Miracles" (vocal by Crosby), "Tiny Little Fingerprints" (vocal by Kay Weber), and "Night Wind" (vocal by Crosby). "Lullaby of Broadway" (vocal by Crosby) reached number one in May, aided by manager Francis "Cork" O'Keefe, a central figure in the early-1930s big-band scene.

At that moment the Dorseys stood poised to lead the expanding swing field when O'Keefe placed them at the Glen Island Casino, a premier East Coast venue carrying a CBS radio link. After years of collaboration their relationship remained strained: the older, reserved Jimmy contrasted with the more forceful Tommy, and prior clashes had occasionally turned destructive backstage. On the evening of May 30, 1935—then observed as Decoration Day—the band launched "I'll Never Say 'Never Again' Again" only for a tempo dispute to erupt; Tommy walked off the stand mid-performance, abandoning both his brother and the group.

Jimmy retained the existing personnel, with several sides still awaiting release. "Chasing Shadows" (vocal by Bob Eberly) reached number one in June, while "Every Little Movement" entered the charts in July and climbed into the Top Ten. He continued issuing material under the Dorsey Brothers Orchestra name, securing two further Top Ten entries in autumn 1935 with "You Are My Lucky Star" and "I've Got a Feelin' You're Foolin'" (both featuring Bob Eberly). By year's end, following Tommy's formation of his own orchestra, Jimmy retitled his unit Jimmy Dorsey & His Orchestra and charted "You Let Me Down" in December. That same month he began supplying music for Bing Crosby's weekly Kraft Music Hall broadcast, remaining until July 1937.

Benny Goodman meanwhile claimed the crown of "King of Swing," and Tommy assembled a commercially potent ensemble that challenged him directly. Jimmy's initial results were modest, though he topped the charts in June 1936 with "Is It True What They Say About Dixie?" Only after leaving the Crosby program and expanding his own visibility did his band join the more prominent ranks. In 1938 he achieved seven Top Ten hits, ending with the number-one "Change Partners" in October. Six more Top Ten placements followed in 1939 and three in 1940, among them the chart-topping "The Breeze and I," which inaugurated a sequence of Spanish-song adaptations arranged by Tutti Camerata. While Jimmy attained commercial traction, Tommy dominated the airwaves with his accessible style, propelled by vocalist Frank Sinatra.

Jimmy's fortunes accelerated sharply in 1941 with twelve Top Ten successes. "I Hear a Rhapsody" hit number one in April, matched that month by "High on a Windy Hill." A defining release was the third consecutive chart-topper, "Amapola," alternating verses by Bob Eberly and Helen O'Connell, which reached number one in March and became the year's most popular record. Before 1941 closed he returned to number one with "My Sister and I," "Green Eyes" (another Eberly–O'Connell duet), "Maria Elena," and "Blue Champagne," finishing second only to Glenn Miller among recording artists. Hollywood beckoned, and he debuted on screen in Lady, Be Good in September 1941. The American Federation of Musicians recording ban of August 1942 curtailed sessions, yet he still secured six Top Ten hits that year, including "Tangerine," another Latin-inflected duet by Eberly and O'Connell featured in his second film, The Fleet's In, released in March. He placed fourth among recording artists for 1942, behind Miller, Harry James, and Kay Kyser. The year 1943 proved quieter, but Decca's early settlement with the union allowed its roster, Dorsey included, to dominate charts in 1944. He earned five Top Ten entries, among them the number-one "Besame Mucho" (vocals by Eberly and Kitty Kallen), ranking third behind labelmates Bing Crosby and the Andrews Sisters.

Amid these vocal successes the Jimmy Dorsey Band also functioned as a committed jazz ensemble that extended instrumentally whenever possible. Its signature piece, the 1932 instrumental "Contrasts," stood as a solid jazz composition; the band also enjoyed success with the buoyant pop-jazz "John Silver" and explored modern textures on the 1942 single "Sorghum Switch" via electric guitar. Unlike certain peers, Dorsey sustained musical exploration into the 1940s, readily absorbing bebop elements, with his early-decade singles ranking among the more adventurous commercial swing releases.

Commercial fortunes declined after 1945, although two Top Ten hits arrived that year and one in 1946. Dorsey moved to MGM Records by 1947 and appeared in the largely dramatized biographical film The Fabulous Dorseys that May, which also featured a cameo by Art Tatum. He reached the Top Ten with "Ballerina" (vocal by Bob Carroll) in January 1948 and continued charting for several more years after transferring to Columbia Records in 1950, where he cut enjoyable Dixieland-oriented sides that yielded his first LP. Eventually forced to disband, he accepted Tommy's 1953 invitation to join the Tommy Dorsey Orchestra as a featured soloist; the unit soon reverted to billing as the Dorsey Brothers Orchestra. From 1954 to 1956 the brothers hosted the live television program Stage Show, on which Elvis Presley made his national television debut in January 1956.

Diagnosed with throat cancer in 1956, Jimmy assumed leadership of the band after Tommy's sudden death that November, continuing until hospitalized in March 1957. His final Fraternity Records session included "So Rare" (vocals by the Arthur Malvin Singers), which climbed into the Top Five the week of his death at age 53 on June 12, 1957.