Daily Dose Of Jazz…

Warren Covington was born on August 7, 1921  in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and played with Isham Jones in 1939, then with Les Brown in 1945-46 and Gene Krupa in late 1946. Following this he became a staff musician for CBS radio.

By the end of the decade he was working with Ralph Flanagan and again in the mid Fifties. He played briefly with Tommy Dorsey but by 1956 he replaced Eddie Grady as leader of the Commanders, a Decca recording and touring band which lasted until the middle of 1957. Covington recorded two albums and one single with this band.

Post Tommy Dorsey’s sudden death in 1956, the band continued under the direction of Jimmy Dorsey. However, Tommy’s estate took back his arrangements and approached Warren to form a new Tommy Dorsey band, which he led, touring and recording for Decca, into 1961. Among his hits with the Dorsey band was Tea for Two Cha Cha, which sold over one million copies and was awarded a gold disc.

A player who also occasionally played, with a variety of the baritone horn, baritone and tenor saxophone, Covington participated in the big bands of Charles Mingus, Randy Weston, Bobby Hackett, and George Benson on recordings, and also a number of film soundtracks.

Big band trombonist Warren Covington, who was also an active session player, arranger and bandleder, transitioned on  August 24, 1999 in New York.

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