Charlie Spivak
Encyclopedia
Charlie Spivak was an American
trumpet
er and bandleader
, best known for his big band
in the 1940s.
in 1907, and that his family emigrated to settle in New Haven, Connecticut
while he was a child. Others place his birth in New Haven two years earlier, in 1905. What is certain is that he learned to play trumpet when he was ten years old, and played in his high school
band, going on to work with local groups before joining Johnny Cavallaro's orchestra.
He played with Paul Specht
's band for most of 1924 to 1930, then spent time with Ben Pollack
(1931–1934), the Dorsey brothers (1934–1935), and Ray Noble
(1935– 1936). He played on "Solo Hop
" in 1935 by Glenn Miller
and His Orchestra. He spent 1936 and 1937 mostly working as a studio musician with Gus Arnheim
, Glenn Miller, Raymond Scott
's radio orchestra, and others, followed by periods with Bob Crosby
(1938), Tommy Dorsey
(1938–1939), and Jack Teagarden
(1939).
Finally, with the encouragement and financial backing of Glenn Miller, he formed his own band in November 1939. Though it failed within a year, he tried again shortly afterwords, this time taking over an existing band (Bill Downer's) and making a success of it. Spivak's band was one of the most successful in the 1940s, and survived until 1959. He scouted top trumpeter Paul Fredricks
(formerly of Alvino Rey
's Orchestra) just as Fredricks left the service at the end of the War in 1946. Fredricks was instrumental in the band's success in the coming years as it reached its peak .
Spivak's experience playing with jazz musicians had little effect on his own band's style, which was straight dance music, made up mainly of ballads and popular tunes. Spivak himself (known as "Cheery, Chubby Charlie") had always been noted and used for his tone rather than for any improvisational ability.
A number of the band's musicians were to make names for themselves, including drummer Dave Tough
, bassist Jimmy Middleton, trumpeters Les Elgart
and Paul Fredricks
, saxophonist Don Raffell
, trombonist Nelson Riddle
, and singers Garry Stevens, June Hutton
, Tommy Mercer, Jimmy Saunders, and Irene Daye
(who had sung with Gene Krupa
, and whom Spivak married in 1950). Riddle was also responsible for many of the band's arrangements, together with Sonny Burke
. The late Manny Albam
also arranged for the Spivak band.
When the Spivak orchestra broke up, he went to live in Florida
, where he continued to lead a band until illness led to his temporary retirement in 1963. On his recovery, he continued to lead large and small bands, first in Las Vegas
, then in South Carolina
; in Greenville, South Carolina
in 1967 he led a small group featuring his wife as vocalist. She died in 1971 after years of fighting cancer. During this time Spivak was also co-owner of the "Ye Olde Fireplace Inn", a dinner club in Greenville. Spivak continued to play and record until his death. Spivak's son, Joel A. Spivak, was a television and radio broadcaster primarily in the Philadelphia, Pa, Los Angeles, Cal, and Washington, DC areas.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
trumpet
Trumpet
The trumpet is the musical instrument with the highest register in the brass family. Trumpets are among the oldest musical instruments, dating back to at least 1500 BCE. They are played by blowing air through closed lips, producing a "buzzing" sound which starts a standing wave vibration in the air...
er and bandleader
Bandleader
A bandleader is the leader of a band of musicians. The term is most commonly, though not exclusively, used with a group that plays popular music as a small combo or a big band, such as one which plays jazz, blues, rhythm and blues or rock and roll music....
, best known for his big band
Big band
A big band is a type of musical ensemble associated with jazz and the Swing Era typically consisting of rhythm, brass, and woodwind instruments totaling approximately twelve to twenty-five musicians...
in the 1940s.
Biography
The details of Spivak's birth are unclear. Some sources place it in the UkraineUkraine
Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It has an area of 603,628 km², making it the second largest contiguous country on the European continent, after Russia...
in 1907, and that his family emigrated to settle in New Haven, Connecticut
New Haven, Connecticut
New Haven is the second-largest city in Connecticut and the sixth-largest in New England. According to the 2010 Census, New Haven's population increased by 5.0% between 2000 and 2010, a rate higher than that of the State of Connecticut, and higher than that of the state's five largest cities, and...
while he was a child. Others place his birth in New Haven two years earlier, in 1905. What is certain is that he learned to play trumpet when he was ten years old, and played in his high school
High school
High school is a term used in parts of the English speaking world to describe institutions which provide all or part of secondary education. The term is often incorporated into the name of such institutions....
band, going on to work with local groups before joining Johnny Cavallaro's orchestra.
He played with Paul Specht
Paul Specht
Paul Specht was an American dance bandleader popular in the 1920s.Born in Sinking Spring, Pennsylvania, Specht was a violinist, having been taught by his father Charles G. Specht, a violinist, organist, and bandleader in his own right...
's band for most of 1924 to 1930, then spent time with Ben Pollack
Ben Pollack
Ben Pollack was a drummer and bandleader from the mid 1920s through the swing era. His eye for talent led him to either discover or employ, at one time or another, musicians such as Benny Goodman, Jack Teagarden, Glenn Miller, Jimmy McPartland and Harry James...
(1931–1934), the Dorsey brothers (1934–1935), and Ray Noble
Ray Noble (musician)
Ray Noble was an English bandleader, composer, arranger and actor. Noble studied music at the Royal Academy of Music and became leader of the HMV Records studio band in 1929. The band, known as the New Mayfair Dance Orchestra, featured members of many of the top hotel orchestras of the day...
(1935– 1936). He played on "Solo Hop
Solo Hop
Solo Hop is a 1935 instrumental composed by Glenn Miller and released as a Columbia 78 single. The recording was part of Glenn Miller's earliest sessions as a leader recording under his own name....
" in 1935 by Glenn Miller
Glenn Miller
Alton Glenn Miller was an American jazz musician , arranger, composer, and bandleader in the swing era. He was one of the best-selling recording artists from 1939 to 1943, leading one of the best known "Big Bands"...
and His Orchestra. He spent 1936 and 1937 mostly working as a studio musician with Gus Arnheim
Gus Arnheim
Gus Arnheim was an early popular band leader. He is noted for writing several songs with his first hit being "I Cried for You" from 1923. He was most popular in the 1920s and 1930s...
, Glenn Miller, Raymond Scott
Raymond Scott
Raymond Scott was an American composer, band leader, pianist, engineer, recording studio maverick, and electronic instrument inventor....
's radio orchestra, and others, followed by periods with Bob Crosby
Bob Crosby
George Robert "Bob" Crosby was an American dixieland bandleader and vocalist, best known for his group the Bob-Cats.-Family:...
(1938), Tommy Dorsey
Tommy Dorsey
Thomas Francis "Tommy" Dorsey, Jr. was an American jazz trombonist, trumpeter, composer, and bandleader of the Big Band era. He was known as "The Sentimental Gentleman of Swing", due to his smooth-toned trombone playing. He was the younger brother of bandleader Jimmy Dorsey...
(1938–1939), and Jack Teagarden
Jack Teagarden
Weldon Leo "Jack" Teagarden , known as "Big T" and "The Swingin' Gate", was an influential jazz trombonist, bandleader, composer, and vocalist, regarded as the "Father of Jazz Trombone".-Early life:...
(1939).
Finally, with the encouragement and financial backing of Glenn Miller, he formed his own band in November 1939. Though it failed within a year, he tried again shortly afterwords, this time taking over an existing band (Bill Downer's) and making a success of it. Spivak's band was one of the most successful in the 1940s, and survived until 1959. He scouted top trumpeter Paul Fredricks
Paul Fredricks
Paul G. Fredricks was a German-American brass musician of the Big Bands Era of the 1930s and 1940s. He is known for his unique skills as a trumpeter and left his mark on a range of larger bands such as the orchestras of Alvino Rey, Charlie Spivak, Les Brown's Band of Renown, and Mel Torme's...
(formerly of Alvino Rey
Alvino Rey
Alvin McBurney , known by his stage name Alvino Rey, was an American swing era musician and pioneer, often credited as the father of the pedal steel guitar...
's Orchestra) just as Fredricks left the service at the end of the War in 1946. Fredricks was instrumental in the band's success in the coming years as it reached its peak .
Spivak's experience playing with jazz musicians had little effect on his own band's style, which was straight dance music, made up mainly of ballads and popular tunes. Spivak himself (known as "Cheery, Chubby Charlie") had always been noted and used for his tone rather than for any improvisational ability.
A number of the band's musicians were to make names for themselves, including drummer Dave Tough
Dave Tough
Dave Tough was an American jazz drummer associated with both Dixieland and swing jazz in the 1930s and 1940s...
, bassist Jimmy Middleton, trumpeters Les Elgart
Les Elgart
Les Elgart was an American swing jazz bandleader and trumpeter.Lester E. Elgart began playing trumpet as a teenager, and by age 20 had landed professional gigs. In the 1940s he played in bands led by Raymond Scott, Charlie Spivak, and Harry James, and occasionally found himself in bands alongside...
and Paul Fredricks
Paul Fredricks
Paul G. Fredricks was a German-American brass musician of the Big Bands Era of the 1930s and 1940s. He is known for his unique skills as a trumpeter and left his mark on a range of larger bands such as the orchestras of Alvino Rey, Charlie Spivak, Les Brown's Band of Renown, and Mel Torme's...
, saxophonist Don Raffell
Don Raffell
Don Raffell was an American saxophonist, woodwind doubler, studio musician and educator. Raffell recorded on hundreds of records, movies, and T.V shows dating from the 1940s all the way through the 1990s...
, trombonist Nelson Riddle
Nelson Riddle
Nelson Smock Riddle, Jr. was an American arranger, composer, bandleader and orchestrator whose career stretched from the late 1940s to the mid 1980s...
, and singers Garry Stevens, June Hutton
June Hutton
June Hutton was an American popular singer.-Career:Born in Chicago of African American descent, in the late 1930s, Hutton joined the band of her older sister, Ina Ray Hutton, singing under the name of Elaine Merritt...
, Tommy Mercer, Jimmy Saunders, and Irene Daye
Irene Daye
Irene Daye was an American jazz singer.Irene Daye began her career at age 17 by singing in Jan Murphy's big band while still in high school in 1935, continuing with Murphy through 1937...
(who had sung with Gene Krupa
Gene Krupa
Gene Krupa was an American jazz and big band drummer and composer, known for his highly energetic and flamboyant style.-Biography:...
, and whom Spivak married in 1950). Riddle was also responsible for many of the band's arrangements, together with Sonny Burke
Sonny Burke
Sonny Burke was a big band leader. In 1937, he graduated from Duke University where he had formed and led the jazz big band known as the Duke Ambassadors....
. The late Manny Albam
Manny Albam
Manny Albam was a jazz baritone saxophone player who eventually put the instrument down in favour of a long and respected career as an arranger, writer, and teacher.-Biography:The son of Lithuanian immigrants, who was born in the Dominican Republic when his mother went into labour en route...
also arranged for the Spivak band.
When the Spivak orchestra broke up, he went to live in Florida
Florida
Florida is a state in the southeastern United States, located on the nation's Atlantic and Gulf coasts. It is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the north by Alabama and Georgia and to the east by the Atlantic Ocean. With a population of 18,801,310 as measured by the 2010 census, it...
, where he continued to lead a band until illness led to his temporary retirement in 1963. On his recovery, he continued to lead large and small bands, first in Las Vegas
Las Vegas, Nevada
Las Vegas is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Nevada and is also the county seat of Clark County, Nevada. Las Vegas is an internationally renowned major resort city for gambling, shopping, and fine dining. The city bills itself as The Entertainment Capital of the World, and is famous...
, then in South Carolina
South Carolina
South Carolina is a state in the Deep South of the United States that borders Georgia to the south, North Carolina to the north, and the Atlantic Ocean to the east. Originally part of the Province of Carolina, the Province of South Carolina was one of the 13 colonies that declared independence...
; in Greenville, South Carolina
Greenville, South Carolina
-Law and government:The city of Greenville adopted the Council-Manager form of municipal government in 1976.-History:The area was part of the Cherokee Nation's protected grounds after the Treaty of 1763, which ended the French and Indian War. No White man was allowed to enter, though some families...
in 1967 he led a small group featuring his wife as vocalist. She died in 1971 after years of fighting cancer. During this time Spivak was also co-owner of the "Ye Olde Fireplace Inn", a dinner club in Greenville. Spivak continued to play and record until his death. Spivak's son, Joel A. Spivak, was a television and radio broadcaster primarily in the Philadelphia, Pa, Los Angeles, Cal, and Washington, DC areas.
Discography
- 1958: Pinciana (Design)
- 1977: Charlie Spivak and his Orchestra 1943-46 (Hindsight)
- 1985: Charlie Spivak and his Orchestra (Ranwood)
- 1993: For Sentimental Reasons (Vintage Jazz Classics)
- 2002: Dance Date (Collectors' Choice MusicCollectors' Choice MusicCollectors' Choice Music is a company primarily in two businesses. They are best known for re-issuing albums originally recorded in LP record form as compact discs...
) - 2005: What's Cookin' Charlie '41 - '47
External links
- Charlie Spivak — biography from Solid!