“Tommy Dorsey: Livin’ in a Great Big Way,” by Peter Levinson, Da Capo Press, hardcover, $27.50
By Pam Linn / Special to The Malibu Times
Peter Levinson’s new biography, “Tommy Dorsey: Livin’ in a Great Big Way,” chronicles the life and times of one of music’s most controversial masters. It completes a trilogy of jazz greats, following “Trumpet Blues: The Life of Harry James”and “September in the Rain: The Life of Nelson Riddle.” The key link among the subjects of these biographies was Frank Sinatra, who began his career with James, then joined Dorsey’s band and wound up with Riddle as his arranger and music director for the rest of his career.
Published by Da Capo Press, the book’s release coincides with the Nov. 19 centennial of Dorsey’s birth and the release of Bluebird/Legacy’s three-CD box set of his music, “The Sentimental Gentleman of Swing.”
Levinson’s work is informed by a lifetime of professional involvement in the music and entertainment industry as agent, manager and publicist for a host of jazz musicians and singers.
Many of their careers evolved in the Dorsey band, a difficult but often rewarding discipline for some of the biggest talents to survive the heyday of dance bands. After rock replaced swing as the nation’s pop music culture, many continued their careers as first-call instrumentalists on recording and film studio orchestras where accurate reading, technique and discipline were prized.
While Dorsey was not himself a great jazz trombonist, he had an incredible sense of melody and could showcase a singer better than any of his peers. When Sinatra told James that Dorsey wanted to hire him, James agreed that was the place he should go.
Sinatra has said that he would watch Dorsey’s back as he played a solo and never could see his jacket move. His breath control was extraordinary, and Sinatra developed that technique into his own distinctive phrasing.
Though they seemed to respect each other’s talent, their relationship was volatile. After two and half years on the road, Sinatra once told his piano player that the two most important people in his life were his mother and Dorsey. Eventually, he came to hate Dorsey, but he never lost respect for his leadership and toughness.
Two years of interviewing musicians netted Levinson a world of insight into Dorsey’s legendary perfectionism. Drummer Louis Bellson, who worked with Dorsey four different times, was able to shed light on developments during each phase of the time he worked with him. Having also worked for Benny Goodman, Count Basie and Duke Ellington, he felt Dorsey was the strongest leader.
But on a trip to Pennsylvania, Levinson discovered the family roots of the Dorsey brothers and clues to their almost opposite personalities. Saxophonist Jimmy Dorsey seemed shy and insecure compared to his younger brother’s domineering personality and was often mistaken as being the younger. Their relationship was complicated and often wound up in fist fights on the bandstand, with Jimmy leaving the band only to return, sometimes years later.
As demanding and difficult as Dorsey was, he could be equally loyal to those he cared about. Although he had fired Bunny Berigan, whose trumpet solos contributed to the success of recordings like “Marie” and “I Can’t Get Started,” Dorsey paid for his failed attempts at alcoholic rehab. Later, when Berigan was dying in a hospital, Dorsey spent every day at his bedside. After his death, Dorsey paid all his funeral expenses and, with Harry James, set up a trust fund for Berigan’s children.
Although he had interviews with scores of musicians, Levinson said, a trip to the Dorsey’s hometown proved invaluable.
“In June of 2002, I went to my prep school reunion in Pottstown,” Levinson said. “The real reason I went is Shenandoah and Lansford were nearby. I interviewed Curt Williams, a writer for the Panther Valley newspaper, who knew all about the bands that came through the area. Richie Lisella, Dorsey’s onetime band boy, came with us to see the two local ballrooms where they played. It’s amazing to think towns that size could fill two ballrooms on the same weekend, but dancing was the only entertainment.”
To Levinson, the towns looked unchanged from the way they were in the ’40s, when coal mining was the only local industry. “Connie Motko, a cousin of the Dorseys, gave me a real sense of why their father, Pop Dorsey, saw to it that his boys never went into the mines. He taught the brothers everything about playing music and was a strict taskmaster. I believe Dorsey’s discipline and perfectionism were a direct result of this influence.”
Peter Levinson, a longtime Malibu resident, is currently working on a biography of Fred Astaire. He will sign his new book at Diesel, A Bookstore, located at 3890 Cross Creek Road, on Nov. 9 at 7 p.m.