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| New Tommy Dorsey Biography Peter Levinson's new biography of Tommy Dorsey will be published by Da Capo Press this fall. Peter, author of the previous Trumpet King: A Life of Harry James, reveals the parallels between the Big Band rock star-like excesses and the current pop music world, showing that the industry which we complain of now had its antecedents in the Swing era. Levinson's Tommy Dorsey: Living in a Great Big Way, A Biography is the first biography of the musician and bandleader in thirty years and it's a great one. From his legendary love of excess to his brusque but shrewd business style to his ear for musical talent, Dorsey was a true “rock star” sized celebrity. And, after climbing from hardscrabble beginnings in a Pennsylvania coal-mining town, his rags to riches climb was as high as any other of his age. As he did so well in his previous biographies of Harry James and Nelson Riddle, Peter Levinson captures the popular music world of the Thirties and Forties, when Swing was king. All the major musical players are represented here - Bing Crosby, Glenn Miller, and a skinny Dorsey discovery from Hoboken, New Jersey, Frank Sinatra. The Dorsey-Sinatra relationship is especially well-told. The domineering and demanding Dorsey struck fear in the young Sinatra, yet gave the singer exactly the break he needed to go on and become perhaps the greatest pop music vocalist of his generation. Levinson quotes Sinatra as saying: “The two most important people in my life have been my mother and Tommy Dorsey.” No wonder the young singer signed the notorious disputed contract allowing Dorsey a 33.3% agent fee on all future earnings! What perhaps is most astonishing in retrospect is the tremendous popular appeal of the Tommy Dorsey Band. At his pinnacle in the Forties, Dorsey was one of the top musical celebrities of his age with a continuous decade long string of Billboard charting hits. He remained the top-selling artist for parent company RCA Victor until well into the Fifties - when a certain pelvis-churning rock n' roller overtook him. The book will publish in November, just in time for the Centennial Birthday Celebration festivities. Jazz at Lincoln Center will be doing a series of collaborative tribute concerts with the Juilliard school (for which Levinson is acting as a consultant) and Sony / BMG Legacy will release a 3-CD box set retrospective as well as a Best of Sinatra Sings with Dorsey. There will even be a Crystal Ships “Dorsey Centennial” Cruise with full Big Band of the Dorsey repertoire. write your comments about the article :: © 2005 Jazz News :: home page |