SI ZENTNER

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ORCHESTRA

SWING FEVER

Description:
While big bands seemed to be fading fast during the late '50s and early '60s, bandleader Si Zentner was one of the few to front a successful big band enjoying both critical and commercial acclaim. Born Simon H. Zentner on June 13, 1917, in New York City, the future bandleader picked up a violin at the age of four, before switching over to trombone, and earned a music college scholarship. Originally studying to be a classical musician, Zentner became more interested in more commercial styles of music, after lending his skills to a recording session with composer/bandleader Andre Kostelanetz. Throughout the '40s, Zentner learned the tricks of the trade by playing in bands led by such notables as Les Brown, Harry James, and Jimmy Dorsey. Zentner then relocated to Los Angeles, where he worked regularly as a studio musician — and from 1949 through 1955, was on the MGM staff working on such hit movies as Singing in the Rain and A Star Is Born. But Zentner's desire to front his own big band peaked at this time. Signing a recording contract with Liberty Records in 1959, Zentner assembled a large swing outfit, and toured steady he once claimed that his band played 178 consecutive one night stands. While several popular releases came out around this time 1959's Thinking Man's Band, 1960's Suddenly It's Swing, 1963's Waltz in Jazz Time, Zentner's band won a staggering 13 straight Downbeat polls for 'Best Big Band,' as Zentner himself was recognized as 'Best Trombonist' in Playboy's Jazz Reader's Poll. Zentner's band scored their biggest hit in 1961, with a Bob Florence arranged twist version of Hoagy Carmichael's "Up a Lazy River," which managed to cross over into the top 40 of the pop charts.

Songs:

Personnel

Details:

Swing Fever

Little Boy Blues

The Song Is You

Love Is The Thing

Siboney

But Not For Me

Beautiful Friendship

Bye Bye Blues

Turnaround

Everything I've Got Belongs To You

I Start To Miss You

Avalon

Hollywood Freeway

Surrey With The Fringe On Top

Saianai

I'll Take Romance

Alone Together

Jolly Roger

Walkin' Home

Russian Lullaby

En Garde

The Last Dance

Collective Personnel: Don Fagerquist, Tom Scott, Tony Rizzi, Bob Print, Ray Triscari, Bernie Fleischer, Jules Chalkin, Bruce McDonald, more

Label:	FRESH SOUND
Number:	2007
Item Code:	18725
Format:	CD
Genre:
Dates:	(1959-1960)
Price:	$16.00
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