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Freddy Martin

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"Freddie Martin" redirects here. For the English footballer, seeFreddie Martin (footballer).For the Jamaican cricketer, seeFrank Martin (cricketer).

Freddy Martin
Martin in the 1943 film Stage Door Canteen
Martin in the 1943 filmStage Door Canteen
Background information
Birth nameFrederick Alfred Martin
Born(1906-12-09)December 9, 1906
Cleveland,Ohio,United States
DiedSeptember 30, 1983(1983-09-30)(aged 76)
Newport Beach,California,United States
GenresBig band
Occupation(s)Musician, bandleader
Instrument(s)Saxophone

Frederick Alfred Martin(December 9, 1906 – September 30, 1983)[1]was an American bandleader andtenor saxophonist.

Early life[edit]

Freddy Martin was born inCleveland,Ohio,United States.[1][2]Raised largely in anorphanageand by various relatives, Martin started out playing drums, then switched toC melody saxophoneand subsequently tenor saxophone, the latter the one with which he would be identified.[1]Early on, he had intended to become a journalist. He had hoped that he would earn enough money from his musical work to enterOhio State University,but instead, he wound up becoming an accomplished musician. Martin led his own band while he was in high school, then played in various local bands.[1]Martin spent his spare time selling musical instruments, which also gave him an excuse to listen to the Lombardos play at the "Music Box". After working on a ship's band, Martin joined the Mason-Dixon band, then joinedArnold JohnsonandJack Albin.It was with Albin's "Hotel Pennsylvania Music" that he made his first recordings for Columbia'sHarmony,Velvet Tone,andClarion50-cent labels in 1930.[3]

Early career[edit]

Martin in 1943

After a couple of years, his skill began attracting other musicians. One wasGuy Lombardo,[1]who remained friends with Martin throughout his life. After graduation from high school, Martin accepted a job at theH.N. Whitemusical instrument company. When Lombardo was playing in Cleveland, Martin tried giving Lombardo some saxophones, which proved unsuccessful. However, Lombardo got to hear Martin's band. One night, when Lombardo could not do a certain date, he suggested that Martin's band could fill in for him. The band did very well and Martin's career got started. However, the band broke up, and he did not form a permanent band until 1931[1]at theBossert HotelinBrooklyn.

At the Bossert Marine Roof, a nautical-themed restaurant positioned on the roof of the hotel, Martin pioneered the "Tenor Band" style that swept the sweet-music industry.[4]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 rich, lilting style quickly spawned imitators in hotels and ballrooms nationwide. "Tenor bands", usually with just the three tenors and one trumpet, could occasionally be found playing for older dancers well into the 1980s.

The Martin band recorded first forColumbia Recordsin 1932. As the company was broke and signing no new contracts, the band switched toBrunswick Recordsafter one session and remained with that label till 1938. During his tenure at Brunswick/ARC, half of his recordings were issued on ARC's stable of budget-priced labels (Banner, Conqueror, Melotone, Oriole, Perfect, Romeo, and Vocalion) as well as scores of non-vocal takes issued on ARC's special theater use label, sold only to movie theaters as background music. In 1938, he signed withRCA Victorand was assigned toBluebird.The band also recorded pseudonymously in the early 1930s, backing singers such as Will Osborne. From 1932 to 1938, the band's primary vocalists were saxophonist Elmer Feldkamp and pianistTerry Shand.[1]The former primarily sang romantic ballads, while the latter was used mostly for 'hot' dance tunes.

Martin took his band into many prestigious hotels, including the Roosevelt Grill in New York City[1]and theAmbassador Hotelin Los Angeles. A fixture on radio, his sponsored shows includedNBC'sMaybelline Penthouse Serenadeof 1937. Martin's real success came in 1941 with an arrangement from the first movement ofTchaikovsky'sPiano Concerto No. 1inB♭minor.[1]Martin recorded the piece instrumentally, but soon lyrics were added by Ray Austin, and it was re-cut as "Tonight We Love"[4]with Clyde Rogers' vocal – becoming his biggest hit.[1]It sold over one million copies by 1946 and was awarded agold discby theRIAA.[5]

The success of "Tonight We Love" prompted Martin to adopt several other classical themes (ofRachmaninoff,Grieg,and others), which featured the band's pianistsJack Fina,Murray Arnold, and Barclay Allen.[1]In 1946, he recorded "Dingbat the Singing Cat",adapted fromProkofiev's"Peter and the Wolf",and later recorded"A Lover's Concerto",adapted from baroque composerChristian Petzold's "Minuet in G major",two decades before pop groupThe Toysreleased it. At this time, Martin enlarged the orchestra to a strength of six violins, four brasses, and a like number of saxes.

His band's first hits included "Intermezzo" and "the Hut-Sut Song".[4]

Musical style[edit]

Martin was nicknamed "Mr. Silvertone" by saxophonistJohnny Hodges.[citation needed]Chu Berrynamed Martin his favorite saxophonist. He has also been idolized by many other saxophonists, includingEddie Miller.Although his playing has been admired by so manyjazzmusicians, Martin never tried to be a jazz musician. Martin always led a sweet-styled band. Unlike most sweet bands that just played dull music, Martin's band turned out to be one of the most musical and most melodic of all the typical hotel-room sweet bands. According toGeorge T. Simon,Martin's band was "one of the most pleasant, most relaxed dance bands that ever flowed across the band scene."[citation needed]

He used the banner "Music in the Martin Manner."Russ Morganused a similar banner when he finally landed a radio series with his own band in 1936. (Morgan's title was "Music in the Morgan Manner".) Morgan had been playing in Martin's band and the two were good friends for years. Morgan used some of Martin's arrangements when he started his band.[citation needed]

Later career[edit]

Martin employed various people from the music industry for vocal performances, such as singersMerv Griffin,Buddy Clark,Gene Merlino;pianists Sid Appleman and Terry Shand; saxophonists Elmer Feldkamp and Stuart Wade; violinist Eddie Stone, and many others.[1]Helen Wardwas also a singer for Martin,[1]just before she joinedBenny Goodman's new band.

Martin's popularity as a bandleader led him to Hollywood in the 1940s where he and his band appeared in a handful of films, includingSeven Days' Leave(1942),Stage Door Canteen(1943),[1]andMelody Time(1948), among others.

In the 1950s and 1960s, Martin continued to perform on the radio and also appeared on TV. By 1955, he was featured five times a week on national radio networks through theRCA Thesaurustransciption service.[6]Untroubled by changing musical tastes, he continued to work at major venues and was musical director forElvis Presley's first appearance inLas Vegas.[1]Still in demand for hotel work, Martin entered the 1970s with an engagement at the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles.[1]In the early 1970s, he was part of two tours of one-nighters that were known as 'The Big Band Cavalcade'. Among the other performers on the show wereMargaret Whiting,Bob Crosby,Frankie Carle,Buddy Morrow,Art Mooney,andGeorge Shearing.When the tours ended, Martin returned to the West Coast. In 1977, Martin was asked to lead Guy Lombardo's band when Lombardo was hospitalized with a heart condition.

Martin continued leading his band until the early 1980s, although by then, he was semi-retired. Freddy Martin died on September 30, 1983, in Hoag Memorial Hospital Presbyterian, after suffering a second stroke. He was 76 years old.[7]

The 1947 song "Pico and Sepulveda"was recorded by Martin under the alias of" Felix Figueroa and his Orchestra "and was frequently featured onDr. Demento's syndicated radio show.[8]It was also featured in the 1980 surrealist filmForbidden Zone.

Selected discography[edit]

Grieg Piano Concerto(Bluebird 11430) 1942[9]

References[edit]

  1. ^abcdefghijklmnopColin Larkin,ed. (1992).The Guinness Encyclopedia of Popular Music(First ed.).Guinness Publishing.p. 1628.ISBN0-85112-939-0.
  2. ^[1]ArchivedApril 30, 2007, at theWayback Machine
  3. ^Wolters, Larry (1935). "RISE OF MARTIN TOUCHES VALLEE AND LOMBARDOS".Chicago Daily Tribune.
  4. ^abcGilliland, John(1994).Pop Chronicles the 40s: The Lively Story of Pop Music in the 40s(audiobook).ISBN978-1-55935-147-8.OCLC31611854.Tape 2, side B.
  5. ^Murrells, Joseph (1978).The Book of Golden Discs(2nd ed.). London: Barrie and Jenkins Ltd. p.25.ISBN0-214-20512-6.
  6. ^The Billboard - Music Radio - "New Features Launch 20th Thesaurus Year" 7 May 1955 p. 27 on Google Books.cm
  7. ^Townsend, Dorothy (1983). "Big-Band Leader Freddy Martin Dies in Newport".Los Angeles Times.
  8. ^[2]ArchivedMarch 10, 2007, at theWayback Machine
  9. ^Orodenker, M. H. (February 7, 1942)."On the Records"(PDF).Billboard.RetrievedMarch 28,2015.

External links[edit]

Listen to[edit]

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