Sy Oliver | |
|---|---|
.jpg) Sy Oliver from September 1946 | |
| Background information | |
| Birth name | Melvin James Oliver |
| Born | (1910-12-17)December 17, 1910 Battle Creek, Michigan, United States |
| Died | May 28, 1988(1988-05-28) (aged 77) New York City |
| Genres | Jazz |
| Occupation(s) | Bandleader, conductor, arranger |
| Years active | 1930s–1980s |
| Labels | Decca,Columbia,Capitol |
Melvin James "Sy"Oliver (December 17, 1910 – May 28, 1988)[1] was an Americanjazz arranger, trumpeter, composer, singer and bandleader.
Sy Oliver was born inBattle Creek, Michigan, United States.[2] His mother was a piano teacher, and his father was a multi-instrumentalist, who demonstratedsaxophones at a time when instrument was seldom played other than by marching bands.
Oliver left home at 17 to play withZack Whyte and his Chocolate Beau Brummels and later withAlphonse Trent.[2] He sang and played trumpet with these bands, becoming known for his "growling" horn playing. He also began arranging with them.[3]
He continued singing for the next 17 years, making many recordings when he was withJimmie Lunceford and with his own band.[1] With Lunceford, from 1933 to 1939,[1] he recorded more than two dozen vocals. From 1949 to 1951, he recorded more than a dozen with his band. WithTommy Dorsey, he recorded very few vocals. In 1941, he sang withJo Stafford, on his own compositions "Yes Indeed" and "Swingin' on Nothin'".[4] He also sang with The Sentimentalists on the 1944 recording of his arrangement of "Chicago".
Oliver arranged and conducted many songs forElla Fitzgerald from herDecca years. As a composer, one of his most famous songs was "T'ain't What You Do (It's the Way That You Do It)", which he co-wrote withTrummy Young in 1939.
In 1933, Oliver joinedJimmie Lunceford's band as a trumpet player, arranger and songwriter. He contributed many hit arrangements for the band, including "My Blue Heaven" and "Ain't She Sweet", as well as his original composition "For Dancers Only", which eventually became the band's theme song. He was co-arranger with pianist Ed Wilcox; Oliver primarily taking the up-tempo numbers, Wilcox the ballads. Oliver's arrangements "were a dashing parade of innovation that rivaled Ellington's for consistency and originality."[5]
In 1939, when band leaderTommy Dorsey decided he wanted a swing band, his first step was to hire Oliver as an arranger away from Lunceford for $5,000 more a year.[1] Oliver then became one of the firstAfrican Americans with a prominent role in a white band when he joinedTommy Dorsey. (Fletcher Henderson, another African American composer/arranger, had joined theBenny Goodman orchestra as the arranger a few years earlier.) He led the transition of the Dorsey band fromDixieland to modernbig band.[1] His joining was instrumental in Dorsey luring several jazz players, includingBuddy Rich, to his band.
With Dorsey, Oliver continued sharing arranging duties with other arrangers, primarilyAxel Stordahl, Oliver doing up-tempo tunes, Stordahl ballads. As James Kaplan put it, "Tommy Dorsey's band got a rocket boost in 1939 when Dorsey stole Lunceford's great arranger Sy Oliver."[6]
His arrangement of "On the Sunny Side of the Street" was a big hit for Dorsey in 1946, as were his compositions"Yes, Indeed!" (agospel-jazz tune that was later recorded byRay Charles), "Opus One" (originally titled as "Opus No. 1", but changed to suit the lyric that was added later), "The Minor Is Muggin'", and "Well, Git It".[1]
Oliver left Dorsey after seven years, in 1946, and began working as a freelance arranger and as music director forDecca.[7]
On June 26, 1950, Sy Oliver and his Orchestra recorded the first American version of "C'est si bon" (Henri Betti,André Hornez,Jerry Seelen) and "La Vie en rose" (Louiguy,Édith Piaf,Mack David) forLouis Armstrong. One of his more successful efforts as an arranger was the 1961Frank Sinatra album,I Remember Tommy, a combined tribute to their former boss.
In 1974, he began a nightly gig with a small band at theRainbow Room in New York. He continued that gig until 1984, with occasionally time off to make festival or other dates, including at theRoseland Ballroom in New York. He retired in 1984.[8]
Oliver died in New York City at the age of 77.[2]
WithJimmie Lunceford
With others
