Biography
Trumpeter Les Elgart joined forces with his sibling Larry to direct one of the more successful swing ensembles during the 1950s. The group’s polished and meticulously scored approach extended the fading big-band era’s presence on the charts for several additional years, while their later collaborations frequently veered toward current easy-listening styles. Born on August 3, 1917, in New Haven, CT, to piano-playing parents, Elgart began studying trumpet in his early teens and had already turned professional by age twenty. In the early 1940s he appeared in ensembles directed by Raymond Scott, Charlie Spivak, and Harry James, among others, sometimes sharing the stage with his saxophonist brother. The pair launched their own orchestra in 1945 and engaged prominent arrangers including Nelson Riddle, Ralph Flanagan, and Bill Finegan, yet several obstacles—the Musicians’ Union recording strike, waning interest in live swing, leadership disputes, and the close of World War II—forced them to disband in 1946, after which Les and Larry pursued separate freelance careers.
They reconvened in 1952, bringing arranger Charles Albertine along. Capitalizing on fresh recording techniques, they developed a lighter, more refined texture that featured compact brass and saxophone sections while omitting piano and nearly all solo work. The 1953 LP Sophisticated Swing codified this approach, and a string of subsequent Columbia releases met with strong sales. Peak commercial success arrived with the 1956 album The Elgart Touch and the following year’s For Dancers Also, both of which entered the Top 15 on the LP charts. Singles fared less prominently, though a version of the theme from “The Man With the Golden Arm” charted modestly and the original “Bandstand Boogie” was selected by Dick Clark as the theme for American Bandstand. Les gradually shifted his focus to managerial duties and ceased performing by the late 1950s; he departed the group for California, leaving Larry in sole musical control.
The brothers joined forces once more in 1963, by which point Larry had embraced a contemporary easy-listening palette that fused rock, pop, swing, exotica, lounge, and space-age bachelor-pad elements. Charles Albertine contributed arrangements at the outset before moving into television and film scoring; he was succeeded by Bobby Scott. Command Performance!, issued in 1964, proved their final charting album, yet several other releases from the period, notably 1967’s Girl Watchers, later attracted lounge collectors. That recording marked one of their last joint projects, as Les withdrew to Texas and appeared only sporadically thereafter. Larry, by contrast, achieved commercial success in the early 1980s as the architect of the popular Hooked on Swing medley albums. Les Elgart died of heart failure in Dallas on July 29, 1995.
They reconvened in 1952, bringing arranger Charles Albertine along. Capitalizing on fresh recording techniques, they developed a lighter, more refined texture that featured compact brass and saxophone sections while omitting piano and nearly all solo work. The 1953 LP Sophisticated Swing codified this approach, and a string of subsequent Columbia releases met with strong sales. Peak commercial success arrived with the 1956 album The Elgart Touch and the following year’s For Dancers Also, both of which entered the Top 15 on the LP charts. Singles fared less prominently, though a version of the theme from “The Man With the Golden Arm” charted modestly and the original “Bandstand Boogie” was selected by Dick Clark as the theme for American Bandstand. Les gradually shifted his focus to managerial duties and ceased performing by the late 1950s; he departed the group for California, leaving Larry in sole musical control.
The brothers joined forces once more in 1963, by which point Larry had embraced a contemporary easy-listening palette that fused rock, pop, swing, exotica, lounge, and space-age bachelor-pad elements. Charles Albertine contributed arrangements at the outset before moving into television and film scoring; he was succeeded by Bobby Scott. Command Performance!, issued in 1964, proved their final charting album, yet several other releases from the period, notably 1967’s Girl Watchers, later attracted lounge collectors. That recording marked one of their last joint projects, as Les withdrew to Texas and appeared only sporadically thereafter. Larry, by contrast, achieved commercial success in the early 1980s as the architect of the popular Hooked on Swing medley albums. Les Elgart died of heart failure in Dallas on July 29, 1995.
Albums
