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Harry James
One of the most popular bandleaders of the wartime era, Harry James is best remembered today for his colorful trumpet playing and as the husband of pin-up girl Betty Grable. Born in a run-down hotel next to the city jail in Albany, Georgia, Harry's parents were circus performers -- his mother a trapeze artist and his father the bandleader.
James began playing drums at age seven and took up the trumpet at ten, performing for the Christy Brothers circus band. James' family later settled in Beaumont, Texas, and he began playing for local dance bands while in high school. In 1935 he joined Ben Pollack's orchestra, leaving in December 1936 for Benny Goodman. During his time with Goodman, James became very popular with the jazz crowd for his colorful, ear-shattering, trumpet playing. He became so popular that when he decided to leave Goodman in December 1938 to form his own band Goodman himself financed the outfit.
Harry James and His Music Makers debuted in February 1939 at the Benjamin Franklin Hotel in Philadelphia. They made their first recordings for Brunswick. Connie Haines was the female vocalist. In June of that year James hired an inexperienced Frank Sinatra as his male vocalist. The orchestra did well in New York, but its high-swinging sound wasn't well-received outside the city. A trip to Los Angeles proved financially disastrous, and the band struggled to make it through a booking at the Sherman Hotel in Chicago. Tommy Dorsey was in Chicago at the same time and was having problems with his male vocalist.
He offered Sinatra a job. With Sinatra's wife expecting and the band's financial future uncertain James let him go. He was soon replaced by Dick Haymes, who went on to become one of the top male vocalists of the era. In early 1940 James began recording with Varsity, a minor label. Although his records weren't selling well with the public he was greatly admired by other musicians. James, however, wasn't content with his financial picture and decided to adopt a new sound. He announced he was adding a string section. Horrified reactions from the jazz crowd convinced him to abandon the idea.
However, in 1941 when he signed with Columbia the label's A&R director made the same suggestion. James followed through and recorded several schmaltzy ballads and semi-classical selections, including the now famous ''You Made Me Love You.'' Though jazz fans cringed the new sound proved popular with the public, and the band was on its way to stardom. Haymes left the band in 1942, replaced by Johnny McAfee as lead male vocalist. James had gone through a string of female vocalists -- Haines, Helen Ward, Dell Parker, Bernice Byers, and Lynn Richards -- until he hired Helen Forrest in 1941. She turned out to be one of his most valuable assets. With Harry's sentimental horn and Helen's emotional singing the band was at its peak and soon began to receive movie offers.
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Trumpet Blues: The Life of Harry James
by R.J. DeLuke
Trumpet Blues: The Life of Harry James by Peter Levinson Oxford Univ Press 384pp. ISBN 0195110307
Miles Davis thought he was wonderful. Clark Terry said he could do it all. That’s a couple of pretty fair trumpet players talking about another.About Louis Armstrong?No.His name was Harry James and his fascinating and somewhat tragic story is told in “Trumpet Blues, The Life of Harry James,” by Peter J. Levinson ...
read moreHarry James and His Orchestra: The Music Makers
by Jack Bowers
While the listener won’t find any crowd-pleasing hit songs on this album, he or she will be treated to more than seventy-four minutes of quite enjoyable music-making by ace trumpeter / bandleader Harry James and his orchestras (with three exceptions -- “Tuxedo Junction,” performed by a nonet, and quartet-only versions of “Sleepy Time Gal” and “The Man I Love”). This compilation surveys the period from 1939, shortly after James left the Benny Goodman Orchestra to form his own ensemble, through ...
read moreHarry James Orchestra: Hotel Astor Roof, 1942
by Dave Nathan
1942 was a big year for Harry James. He and the band were beginning to be featured in Hollywood films, he had a highly ranked radio show and he was beginning his vigorous pursuit of Betty Grable. Tenor man Corky Corcoran had joined the band the previous October for what was to become a stay of more than 20 years. James is said to have hired Corcoran much as for his ability to play third base as his facility with ...
read moreGene Krupa and Harry James: The Complete Capitol Recordings Of Gene Krupa & Harry James
by C. Andrew Hovan
Those mail-order mavens at Mosaic have continued to quarry the Capitol vaults with new and blithe packages of the works of Bob Cooper, Frank Rosolino, Bill Holman, Peggy Lee, June Christy, and Jack Teagarden recently on the dock, not to mention the massive 12-disc compilation of rare Capitol sides from the pre-LP era. This latest perusal of the vaults brings to light some long-forgotten performances from drummer Gene Krupa and trumpeter Harry James on an attractive seven-disc boxed set.
Gene ...
read moreCharlie Shavers v. Harry James
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JazzWax by Marc Myers
Back in early May, I received an email from a reader, Jeremy Mushlin, who had an interesting point: “I will go toe to toe with any Harry James fan and argue that Charlie Shavers was his trumpet-playing equal. Charlie just did not get the same opportunities and also wasn't as well organized as James. Compare Harry James's Soft Lights, Sweet Trumpet and Trumpet After Midnight with Shavers's Gershwin, Shavers and Strings and The Most Intimate. A big, bold statement, ...
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More Harry James in Hi-Fi
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JazzWax by Marc Myers
Throughout the 1950s, Count Basie saw Harry James in his rear-view mirror. For James, Basie was an inspiration and a model on which to record. Their connection dated back to 1939, when James recorded Two O'Clock Jump, a trumpet-driven interpretation of Basie's popular One O'Clock Jump credited to Basie, James and Benny Goodman. The update became James's closing theme and an exercise in attempted one-upmanship. In 1952, when Basie formed his New Testament Band, a re-tooling of his dance band ...
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Harry James in 10 Clips
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JazzWax by Marc Myers
Harry James is one of the most underappreciated bandleaders of the late 1940s, '50s and early '60s. While plenty has been written about bands led by Count Basie, Stan Kenton, Les Brown and Maynard Ferguson during this same period, James has received little or no praise or recognition. Maybe it's because his band sounded so much like Basie, thanks to his passion for Ernie Wilkins's arrangements. Or perhaps it's because he clung to his stodgy 1940s hits far longer than ...
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Harry James Plays Neal Hefti
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JazzWax by Marc Myers
By my count, there were four big-band albums that paid tribute to the pen of composer-arranger Neal Hefti between 1957 and 1961: Steve Allen Plays Neal Hefti (1957), Basie Plays Hefti (1958), Frank Capp's Percussion in a Tribute to Neal Hefti (1960) and Harry James Plays Hefti (1961). Or put differently, Hefti composed and arranged for four major bandleaders and had enough star power to get equal billing on the cover. The Allen album is a smooth swinger; the Basie ...
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Harry James: 1958-'61
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JazzWax by Marc Myers
In the late 1950s and early 1960s, right around the time that Count Basie's New Testament Band was hitting its stride, another band was also at the top of its game—the Harry James Orchestra. The albums that James recorded from 1958 until 1961 were exceptional examples of updated swing—thanks to a confluence of events, including the availability of top players and arrangements with punch and swagger. In many respects, the James band wouldn't have been as whip-tight and punchy if ...
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When Harry James Met Nancy Ames
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Rifftides by Doug Ramsey
Scouring the web in search of something unrelated, I came across a clip from a 1967 Ed Sullivan show that brought to mind—as if a reminder were needed—Harry James’s stunning musicianship. The trumpeter teamed up with Nancy Ames in a performance of one of Ethel Merman’s signature songs from Cole Porter’s Anything Goes. A couple of his licks in the piece emphasize James’s ability as a blues player, an attribute often ignored by critics who downgraded him for his sugary ...
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JazzSnap: Harry James (C. 1943)
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JazzWax by Marc Myers
The saxophonist here is Corky Corcoran, lead tenor on Harry James' band recordings from 1941 through the 1970s. That's James on trumpet, of course, and James band stringman John deVoodgt to James' right. I'm guessing this is 1943 based on the cut of their suits and the fabulous 1943 newspaper photo of James on the right. The photo at the top is from Betty's collection of snapshots and stills sent along to me by her friend Chris. Betty has donated ...
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Harry James: In a Mist
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JazzWax by Marc Myers
Trumpeter Harry James recorded Bix Beiderbecke's In a Mist just twice--once in 1949 and again in mid-1950. One was a studio date, the other a live radio remote. What's interesting here, of course, is that Bix never recorded his own composition on cornet. For Bix, In a Mist was a piano solo recorded in September 1927. What prompted James to apply his trumpet to the piano piece? In 1949, James was fresh off recording the music for the ersatz Beiderbecke ...
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Compatible Quotes: Harry James
Source:
Rifftides by Doug Ramsey
This very thin guy with swept back hair...climbed on the stage. He'd sung only eight bars of “Night and Day" when I felt the hairs on the back of my neck rising.--on first hearing the unknown young singer Frank Sinatra I was the only member in the band to be silly enough to put some of those drunken ideas into practice. Amazing what alcohol does for you eh? The only problem with having a great year is it makes you ...
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Levinson on Harry James
Source:
Rifftides by Doug Ramsey
Although still in his late teens, James was already six-foot-one and weighed 150 pounds. He had a thin waist, no hips, and long skinny legs. To go along with his slinky frame, he had a large, oval-shaped head, a long nose and prominent ears, dark wavy hair, and a pencil-thin moustache. Perhaps his most provocative feature, however, was his deep-set baby-blue eyes--the bluest blue eyes this side of his future band vocalist, Frank Sinatra. He had a high-pitched voice that ...
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Harry James
Instrument: Trumpet
Born: March 15, 1916
Died: July 5, 1983
