Daily Dose Of Jazz…

Freddy Martin was born Frederick Alfred Martin on December 9, 1906 in Cleveland, Ohio. Raised largely in an orphanage and with various relatives, he started out playing drums, then switched to C-melody saxophone and later the tenor saxophone that he would come to be identified with. He led his own band in high school, played in several local bands and took that money to enroll in Ohio State University.

After working on a ship’s band, Martin joined the Mason-Dixon band, then joined Arnold Johnson and then Jack Albin, with whom he would make his first recording with the “Hotel Pennsylvania Music” for Columbia’s Harmony, Velvet Tone, and Clarion 50 cent labels in 1930. However it was while filling in for Guy Lombardo one night that kick started his career. It was in 1931 at the Bossert Marine Room in Brooklyn, New York that Freddy pioneered the “Tenor Band” style that swept the sweet-music industry. With his own tenor sax as melodic lead, Martin fronted an all-tenor sax section with just two brasses and a violin trio plus rhythm.

The Martin band recorded first for Columbia, Brunswick and RCA’s Bluebird and Victor, backed singers, played hotels and became a staple on NBC’s Maybelline Penthouse Serenade. His adaptation of a Tchaikovsky tune released as Tonight We Love became his biggest hit.

Freddy Martin was nicknamed “Mr. Silvertone” by saxophonist Johnny Hodges and Chu Berry has named him his favorite saxophonist. He used the banner “Music In The Martin Manner.” Having a good ear for singers at one time or another, Martin employed Helen Ward, Stuart Wade, Merv Griffin, Buddy Clark as well as pianists Sid Appleman and Terry Shand, violinist Eddie Stone and many others.

Martin’s popularity as a bandleader led him to Hollywood in the 1940s where he and his band appeared in a handful of films, in the 1950s and 1960s he continued to perform on the radio, appear on television, be the musical director for Elvis Presley’s first Vegas appearance, and continue his hotel gigs. He would continue to lead his band until the early 80s, although by then, he was semi-retired. Bandleader and tenor saxophonist Freddy Martin passed away on September 30, 1983, in a Newport Beach hospital after a lingering illness. He was 76 years old.

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Daily Dose Of Jazz…

Eddie Heywood was born Edward Heywood, Jr. on December 4, 1915 in Atlanta, Georgia. Following in his father’s jazz footsteps, in through the Thirties he played with Waymon Carter, Clarence Love and Benny Carter once he moved to New York in 1939.

After starting his band, Heywood was an occasional sideman with Billie Holiday in 1941. By 1943 he was taking several classic solos on a Coleman Hawkins quartet date and put together the first sestet with Doc Cheatham and Vic Dickerson. Their version of “Begin the Beguine” became a hit in 1944 and three successful years followed.

Between 1947 and 1950, Eddie was stricken with a partial paralysis of his hands and could not play at all. However, it did not stop him when he made a comeback later in the decade. During the Fifties he composed and recorded “Land of Dreams” and “Soft Summer Breeze” and is probably best known for his 1956 recording of his composition “Canadian Sunset,” all of which he recorded with the Hugo Winterhalter Orchestra.

After a second partial paralysis in the 1960s, he made another comeback and continued his career in the 1980s. Pianist Eddie Heywood, who passed away on January 3, 1989 in Miami Beach, Florida, was awarded a star at 1709 Vine Street on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

Eddie Heywood: 1915-1989 / Piano

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Daily Dose Of Jazz…

Paul Lingle was born on December 3, 1902 in Denver, Colorado and began on piano at age six. He first played professionally in the San Francisco area in the 1920s, later becoming a local legend in the Bay area in the Forties. He often accompanied Al Jolson in the late 1920s, including recording for his film soundtracks.

In the 1930s Paul worked mainly on radio, and also played with Al Zohn’s band. He tuned pianos early in the 1940s and worked as a soloist in local San Francisco clubs, accompanying visiting musicians such as Leadbelly and Bunk Johnson.

Lingle moved to Honolulu, Hawaii in 1952, where he played until his death on October 30, 1963. A talented stride pianist that also played ragtime, he released almost no recorded material during his lifetime, doing only one session for Good Time Jazz in 1952. Euphonic Records posthumously released several volumes of private recordings that were critically acclaimed.

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Daily Dose Of Jazz…

Jimmy Lytell was born on December 1, 1904 in New York, NY. His first professional experience came at age twelve, and by the beginning of the 1920s he was recording with early jazz ensembles. Jimmy played in the Original Indiana Five in 1921 and the Original Memphis Five from 1922 – 1925, and also played in the Original Dixieland Jazz Band for two years beginning in1922.

After the 1920s Lytell rarely performed in jazz settings, spending more time as a studio and orchestra musician. He worked as a staff musician for NBC during this time. From 1949 into the late 1950s he appeared in the New Original Memphis Five revival band, and recorded with Connee Boswell late in the 1950s.

As a leader, he recorded 18 titles during the Roaring Twenties and six more for London Records in 1950. Clarinetist Jimmy Lytell, player of Dixieland and early jazz continued to perform up until a year before his death on November 28, 1972 in Kings Point, New York.

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Daily Dose Of Jazz…

Horace W. Henderson, the younger brother of Fletcher Henderson, was born on November 22, 1904 in Cuthbert, Georgia. He attended Wilberforce University and played in the “Collegians” band that included Benny Carter and Rex Stewart. This band would later be known as the Horace Henderson Orchestra and then as the Dixie Stompers.

Henderson left the band to work with Sammy Stewart, then in 1928 organized a new band called the Collegians and in 1931 Don Redman took over this band. Henderson continued to work as the band’s pianist and arranger before leaving to work for his brother.

He arranged for many of the most important jazz musicians of the era, such as Charlie Barnet, the Casa Loma Orchestra, Tommy Dorsey, Benny Goodman, Earl Hines, Jimmie Lunceford and also for his brother. Although Horace worked continually, led bands, arranged, recorded, and composed into the 1980s without the popularity of his older sibling, he is considered by many the more talented and skillful of the Henderson brothers.

His best-known arrangements are of his own “Hot and Anxious” which later became “In The Mood”, “Christopher Columbus” and “Big John Special”. At different times in his career, Horace was pianist and musical director for both Lena Horne and Billie Holiday.

Jazz pianist, organist, arranger and bandleader Horace Henderson passed away on August 29, 1988 at the age of 83.

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