Dorsey Brothers Live 1954

[aktungmak]

fantastico!

[acfinney1]

Tommy is playing the Bunny Berigan solo with the trumpet section on Marie. He made it look so simple and what a tone he had.

[rahbbayrahb420]

4:29 loss of words and look at that crazy shawshank redemption look from the trombone bro..

[Dachshund]

This is great stuff!

[vpo2g2]

Third trumpet from the right was my aunts ex -- Paul Kahane ...ne Cohen

[bcassbass]

Johnny Amoroso playing trumpet on far right and singing "Marie". He is still playing and singing strongly today. Boca Raton and NYC!

Red Press playing lead alto. Still contracting broadway shows in NYC today.

[waltandrus]

MELLOW and NEAT! There's Flea, Lee and Pauly with TD, JD and the band playin' their ASSES OFF!!!

[jimaroo100]

Frank Sinatra said tat he learned everything he knew about phrasing from Tommy D. And Frank is the all time greatest in phrasing a song. He does it like no one else. So that is quite a compliment from him

[MonsterBobBurns]

Who possibly was the 1 person who did not like this!!!

[bucurdragos]

@MonsterBobBurns I know that guy , TRAIAN BASESCU from Romania who is deaf , dumb and illiterate

[247hdjazz]

Lee Castle is at the far left of the trumpet section.....

[jeffcool78]

i think this was a lost episode of the honeymooners called. Dorsey Brothers Show (5/23/1953)

[BigBlockTA79]

My favorite Honeymooners episode and this is why!!! Top notch all the way.

[KVFKID]

Hey, Polk played it off. If looks could kill.

[waynebrasler]

Rock was just about to come in and, strangely enough, the Dorseys scored a big comeback smack dab in the middle of it with their summer replacement series for Jackie Gleason. They were among the first to present Elvis on network television though Sullivan got the credit. They had two smash hit records, this when they should have long faded away. I believe all the audience members here are paid actors instructed to act as they are acting.

[luvmyrecords]

@waynebrasler Excellent point. Let's not forget, too, that Charlie Parker was a fan of this show. In fact, it was while watching this show that he passed away.

[247hdjazz]

I know a lot of these guys....some are/were friends:

The Trumpets were:Lee Castle, Pauly Cohen, 'Flea" Campbell, and Johnny Amoroso.....Gordon Polk was great!.....too bad he passed so early, in his 30's...

[annanoli]

@247hdjazz oh my..i don't see Lee Castle however...

[rmayer821]

@247hdjazz Yes, That's Paulie on trumpet. A hell of a player.

[anonemusify]

LOL I love Tommy Dorsey's look at the singer at 4:35. Great clip though

[hckydad]

WOW!! What a great clip! Thanks for posting it.

[fromthesidelines]

This led to their own series (produced by Jackie, initially as his 1954 summer replacement), "STAGE SHOW"...the one 'morty' remembers. It also aired in tandem with the filmed half-hour "HONEYMOONERS" series in the fall of '55, and both ended that summer.

[mb4828]

my grandfather played with the Dorseys. gotta love them :)

[mortygwhiz]

I must have been about 7 years old when this performance took place. I don't remember seeing it on TV, I guess I was too young. I do remember seeing a regular show on TV that the Dorsey brothers had, probably a couple of years later when I was old enough to remember. I noticed in this cut that the fellow who sang "Ain't She Sweet" was playing a Conga drum in the final song the band performed. I always remembered Ricky Ricardo playing a Conga drum and singing in the old "I Love Lucy" show.

[iainr222]

There is your evidence that TD was not just a great technician but COULD improvise. As for the unnecessary remark about his ageing the man was nudging 50 in 1954 and obviously didnt bother with the dye bottle !

[Blrmad]

John Amoroso was the vocalist on " Marie", And still perfoming on Trumpet and singing great in South Florida and New York.

[rrfpk]

Takes me back to great times, Capitol Theater in NY, TD and his great band, Jo Stafford, JD and his great band, Helen O Connell. How I yearn for the Make Believe Ballroom

[baysideful]

Wonderful :D

[generationll]

Can t believe how much Tommy has aged

[callmeBe]

WOw, this is SO fun! I never heard the Fab. Dorseys with bongs--and I think its a little weard. I have their rendition of "Ain't She Sweet," I think the arrangement might have even been done by Bill Finegan (and recorded with Buddy Greco)--boy is that a gas to watch it here!! What a top-notch performance by Gordon Polk!!! Thanks so much for such a great post!

[jabroni33175]

Thanks for posting this. Nice to have a little class on the youtube. Also thanks to crtune for the book recommendation. I'm def going to check that out. I'm 34 but I've been trying to listen to as much stuff from this era as I can. I download an episode of Jack Benny to my ipod every single night. Love the Phil Harris Orchestra songs.

[crtune]

This band was not only a spectacle but the lives of Tommy and Jimmy Dorsey were "operatic" in the amount of drama and the tremendous impact they had upon the music business. I strongly recommend to those interested at all, that they read "Tommy Dorsey - Livin' in a Great Big Way" by Peter J. Levinson. A riveting bio of TD, it also thoroughly covers the childhood in the poor coal fields of PA, the feuds, the drinking the bawdy espisodes and the great singers (e.g. Sinatra), and the deaths. RIP