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*{{Find a Grave|6044}}
*{{Find a Grave|6044}}
*[http://www.touchoftonga.com/DavidMulliss/harry-james.html Harry James and his big band]
*[http://www.touchoftonga.com/DavidMulliss/harry-james.html Harry James and his big band]
*[http://parabrisas.com/d_jamesh.html Solid! – Harry James]
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20050523083819/http://www.parabrisas.com/d_jamesh.html Solid! – Harry James]
*[http://www.jazzsight.com/jazzsightprofiles.html – The Man With The Horn – A Biography of Harry James]
*[http://www.jazzsight.com/jazzsightprofiles.html – The Man With The Horn – A Biography of Harry James]


Revision as of 17:57, 30 October 2017

For other people named Harry James, see Harry James (disambiguation).

Harry James
James c. 1942
Born
Harry Haag James

(1916-03-15)March 15, 1916
Albany, Georgia, U.S.
DiedJuly 5, 1983(1983-07-05) (aged 67)
Las Vegas, Nevada, U.S.
Cause of deathLymphatic cancer
Spouse(s)
​
​
(m. 1935; div. 1943)​

​
​
(m. 1943; div. 1965)​

Joan Boyd
​
​
(m. 1968; div. 1970)​
Children5
Musical career
Genres
Occupations
  • Musician
  • bandleader
  • trumpeter
InstrumentTrumpet
Years active1933–1983

Harry Haag James (March 15, 1916 – July 5, 1983) was an American musician who is best known as a trumpet playing band leader who led a big band from 1939 to 1946. He broke up his band for a short period in 1947 but shortly after he re-organized and was active again with his band from then until his death in 1983. He was especially known among musicians for his astonishing technical proficiency as well as his superior tone, and was extremely influential on up and coming trumpet players from the late 1930s into the 1940s. He was also an actor in a number of motion pictures that usually featured his bands in some way.

Early life

Texas Historical Commission's marker at the childhood homesite of Harry James in Beaumont, Texas.
From left: Stan "Cuddles" Johnson, Fraser MacPherson, Bob Smith, Harry James, Al Johnson, Stew Barnett. (The Cave Supper Club, May 1970)
From left: Harry James, Lucille Ball, Betty Grable. (The Lucille Ball-Desi Arnaz Show, 1958)

Harry James was born in Albany, Georgia,[1] the son of Myrtle Maybelle (Stewart), an acrobat and horseback rider, and Everett Robert James, a bandleader in a traveling circus, the Mighty Haag Circus. According to the Bill Sterns Sports Newsreel broadcast on September 12, 1942, on which James appeared, he was saved from being trampled, at the age of 6, by his mother's horse after performing with the horse.[2] By the age of 10 he was taking trumpet lessons from his father, who placed him on a strict daily practice schedule. Each day, James was given one page to learn from the Arban's book and was not allowed to pursue any other pastime until he had learned that particular page.

Career

In 1924, his family settled in Beaumont, Texas.[3] It was here in the early 1930s that James began playing in local dance bands when just 15 years of age. James played regularly with Herman Waldman's band, and at one performance was noticed by nationally popular Ben Pollack.[4] In 1935 he joined Pollack's band, but at the start of 1937 left to join Benny Goodman's orchestra, where he stayed through 1938. He was nicknamed "The Hawk" early in his career for his ability to sight-read. A common joke was that if a fly landed on his written music, Harry James would play it. His low range had a warmth associated with the cornet and even the flugelhorn, but this sound was underrecorded in favor of James' brilliant high register.

With financial backing from Goodman,[5] in January 1939 James debuted his own big band in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, but it didn't click until 1941 when he added a string section.[6] This big band became known as Harry James and His Music Makers.[7] His hit "You Made Me Love You" was in the Top 10 during the week of December 7, 1941.[8] He and his band were featured in three films, Private Buckaroo, Two Girls and a Sailor and Springtime in the Rockies. He toured with the band into the 1980s, and to this day the Harry James Orchestra still exists, now led by Fred Radke.[9]

Bandleader

His was the first "name band" to employ vocalist Frank Sinatra, in 1939, for $75 a week. James signed Sinatra to a one-year contract, of which Sinatra worked seven months before leaving to sing for Tommy Dorsey[10] He wanted to change Sinatra's name to 'Frankie Satin' but Sinatra refused.[11] His later band included drummer Buddy Rich. His featured vocalist was Helen Forrest.[10] Johnny MacAfee was featured on the sax and vocals and Corky Corcoran was a youthful sax prodigy.

Radio

His orchestra succeeded Glenn Miller's on a program sponsored by Chesterfield Cigarettes in 1942, when Miller disbanded his orchestra to enter the Army. In 1945, James and his orchestra had a summer replacement program for Danny Kaye's program on CBS.[12] He also led the orchestra for Call for Music, which was broadcast on CBS February 13, 1948 - April 16, 1948, and on NBC April 20, 1948 - June 29, 1948.[13]

Film

He played trumpet in the 1950 film Young Man with a Horn,[14] dubbing Kirk Douglas. In the album from that movie, he backed Doris Day and the album charted at #1. James's recording of "I'm Beginning to See the Light" appears in the motion picture My Dog Skip (2000). His music is also featured in the Woody Allen film Hannah and Her Sisters. James recorded many popular records and appeared in many Hollywood movies.

Musical style and image

Influences

With James's childhood spent as a musician in a traveling circus, he picked up a flamboyant style that utilized such techniques as heavy vibrato, half valve and lip glissandi, valve and lip trills, and valve tremolos. These techniques were popular at the time in what some have called a "hot" jazz style, with James's idol Louis Armstrong providing an example of one who used these techniques, but they later fell out of favor in the 1950s with the advent of "cool" jazz.[15] James's father instituted a rigorous regime of practice for James as a child, and this allowed James to achieve an exceptional technical proficiency in the more classical techniques of range, fingering and tonguing. Growing up in the south, James was also exposed to blues music, which had an influence on his style. As James explained, "I was brought up in Texas with the blues – when I was eleven or twelve years old down in what they call 'barbecue row' I used to sit in with the guys that had the broken bottlenecks on their guitars, playing the blues; that's all we knew."[16] Louis Armstrong, after hearing Harry James solo on several numbers while at a Benny Goodman one-nighter with his friend Lionel Hampton, exclaimed to Hampton in the vernacular of the time, "That white boy – he plays like a jig!"[17]

Move towards pop

After James left Benny Goodman's band in 1939 to form his own band, he soon found that leading a commercially viable musical group required a broader set of skills than those needed to be a gifted musician playing in someone else's band. The James band ran into financial trouble, and it became increasingly difficult for James to make payroll and keep the band together. In 1940, James lost his contract with Columbia Records (he returned in 1941), and Frank Sinatra left the band that January. It was not long after this that James made a pivotal decision: he would adopt a "sweeter" style that added strings to the band, and the band would deliver tunes that were in more of a "pop" vein and less true to its jazz roots. From a commercial standpoint, the decision paid off — James soon enjoyed a string of chart topping hits that provided commercial success for him and his band. Indeed, a U.S. Treasury report released in 1945 listed Harry James and Betty Grable as the highest-paid couple in the nation.[18]

What worked well commercially with the public, however, had the opposite effect on those in the circle of jazz critics. Dan Morgenstern, the respected critic and Director of the Institute of Jazz Studies, called the 1941 release of "You Made Me Love You" "the record that the jazz critics never forgave Harry James for recording."[19] With James continuing to employ his "hot" jazz style on pop hits through the 1940s, his playing was often labeled as "schmaltzy"[20] and dismissed by the critics, though radio discs from this period reveal James's continued commitment to jazz. A variety of modern arrangements from Neal Hefti, Frank Devenport, Johnny Richards and Jimmy Mundy often inspired his musicians, and as bop surpassed swing by the late 1940s, James was surprisingly open to its influence.[21]

Refocused

After coasting through the mid-1950s, James made a complete reevaluation of where he was heading in his musical career. Count Basie provided the impetus by making a significant comeback with his newly formed "16 Men Swinging" band, and James wanted a band with a decided Basie flavor.[22] James signed with Capitol Records in 1955, and two years later, after releasing new studio versions of many of his previously released songs from Columbia, James recorded ten new tracks for an album entitled Wild About Harry!. This album was the first in a series released on Capitol, and continuing later on MGM, representative of the Basie style that James adopted during this period, with some of the arrangements provided by former Basie saxophonist and arranger Ernie Wilkins, whom James hired for his own band.[23]

Even after his return to more jazz-oriented releases in the late 1950s and into the 1960s, James never completely regained favor with the jazz critics during his lifetime. More recent reissues, however, such as Capitol's 7-disc set The Capitol Vaults Jazz Series: Gene Krupa and Harry James in 2012, have prompted new, more favorable analyses of James's work. In 2014, Marc Myers of JazzWax commented, "[James's] band of the mid-1940s was more modern than most of the majors, and in 1949 he led one of the finest bands of the year." And on James's releases from 1958–1961, Myers noted, "The James band during this period has been eclipsed by bands led by Basie, Maynard Ferguson and Stan Kenton. While each served up its own brand of magnificence, James produced more consistently brilliant tracks than the others... virtually everything James recorded during this period was an uncompromising, swinging gem."[24]

Response to the critics

While in London, Harry James did an interview with the English jazz critic Steve Voce. When Voce asked him if the biggest audience was for the commercial numbers he had recorded, he visibly bristled. James answered, "That would depend on for whom you are playing. If you're playing for a jazz audience, I'm pretty sure that some of the jazz things we do would be a lot more popular than 'Sleepy Lagoon,' and if we're playing at a country club or playing Vegas, in which we have many, many types of people, then I'm sure that 'Sleepy Lagoon' would be more popular at that particular time. But I really get bugged about these people talking about commercial tunes, because to me, if you're gonna be commercial, you're gonna stand on your head and make funny noises and do idiotic things. I don't think we've ever recorded or played one tune that I didn't particularly love to play. Otherwise, I wouldn't play it."[25]

Personal life

James was married three times. He married singer Louise Tobin on May 4, 1935, and they had two children. They divorced in 1943.[2] That same year, he married actress Betty Grable. They had two daughters, Victoria Elizabeth (b. 1944) and Jessica (b. 1947), before divorcing in 1965. James married a third time on December 27, 1967,[26][27] to Las Vegas showgirl Joan Boyd, whom he would divorce in March 1970. Contrary to some assertions, he did not marry a fourth time. He had five children (two by Tobin, two by Grable, one by Boyd) and (as of his death) 16 grandchildren.

James owned several thoroughbred racehorses that won races such as the California Breeders' Champion Stakes (1951) and the San Vicente Stakes (1954). He was also a founding investor in the Atlantic City Race Course. His knowledge of horse racing was demonstrated during a 1958 appearance on The Lucy–Desi Comedy Hour entitled "Lucy Wins A Racehorse".[28]

Final years

In 1983, James, a heavy smoker, was diagnosed with lymphatic cancer, but he continued to work, playing his last professional job on June 26, 1983, in Los Angeles, just nine days before his death in Las Vegas, Nevada.[1][29] The job had become his final performance with the Harry James Orchestra.[7] Harry James died July 5, 1983 at age 67.

He died exactly 40 years after his marriage to Betty Grable (July 5, 1943), who was buried exactly 30 years after that date (July 5, 1973). Frank Sinatra gave the eulogy at his funeral, held in Las Vegas.[29]

Filmography

Discography

Main article: Harry James discography

The discography of Harry James includes 30 studio albums, 47 EPs, three soundtrack/stage and screen albums, and numerous live albums and compilation albums, along with contributions as sideman and appearances with other musicians.[30][31] James released over 200 singles during his career, with nine songs reaching number one, 32 in the top ten, and 70 in the top 100 on the U.S. pop charts, as well as seven charting on the U.S. R&B chart.[a] [32] [33] [34]

Notes
  1. ^ At the time of James's charts, Billboard magazine referred to the R&B chart as "The Harlem Hit Parade."

Selected singles

Selected albums

  • Boogie Woogie (Columbia Records – C44, 1941, compilation)[41]
  • Young Man with a Horn (Columbia Records – CL 6106, 1950)[42]
  • Wild About Harry! (Capitol Records – ST 874, 1957)[23]
  • The New James (Capitol Records – ST 1037, 1958)[43]
  • Harry's Choice! (Capitol Records – ST 1093, 1958)[44]
  • Trumpet Rhapsody (Harmony/Columbia, collection of singles from the 1940s, released ca. 1958)
  • Harry James and His New Swingin' Band (MGM, 1959)
  • Harry James...Today! (MGM, 1960)
  • Requests On-The-Road (MGM, 1961)
  • The Spectacular Sound of Harry James (MGM, 1961)
  • Harry James Plays Neal Hefti (MGM, 1961)
  • The King James Version (Sheffield Lab – LAB-3, 1976)[45]
  • Comin' From A Good Place (Sheffield Lab – LAB-6, 1977)[46]
  • Still Harry After All These Years (Sheffield Lab – LAB-11, 1979)[47]
  • Harry James. Record Session '39–'42. Hep Records. Scotland. 1999.
  • Harry James and His Music Makers. Feet Draggin' Blues '44 – '47. Hep Records. England. 1999.

Awards

Grammy Hall of Fame

As of 2016, two recordings of Harry James had been inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame, a special Grammy award established in 1973 to honor recordings that are at least 25 years old, and that have "qualitative or historical significance."

Harry James Grammy Hall of Fame Awards[48]
Year recorded Title genre Label Year inducted
1942 Trumpet Blues and Cantabile Jazz (Album) Columbia 1999
1941 You Made Me Love You (I Didn't Want to Do It) Pop (Single) Columbia 2010

Readers' polls

Metronome magazine conducted annual readers' polls for their readers to choose whom they considered to be the top jazz musician on each instrument for the year. The winners were invited to join an ensemble known as the Metronome All-Stars that was assembled for studio recordings. The studio sessions were held in the years 1939–42, 1946–53, and 1956, and typically resulted in two tracks which allowed each participant a chance to solo for one chorus. Harry James was chosen to play trumpet with the Metronome All-Stars for the years 1939, 1940 and 1941.

In a similar annual poll conducted by Downbeat magazine, James was chosen by Downbeat's readers as the best trumpet instrumentalist for the years 1937,[49] 1938[50] and 1939,[51] and as favorite soloist for 1942.[52]

Honors and inductions

For his contribution to the motion picture industry, on February 8, 1960 Harry James was awarded a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6683 Hollywood Blvd.[53]

In 1983, James was inducted into the Big Band and Jazz Hall of Fame.[54]

Pedagogical writings

  • Harry James Studies & Improvisations for Trumpet, Harry James, ed. Elmer F. Gottschalk, New York: Robbins Music, 1939
  • Harry James Trumpet Method, Harry James, Everette James, ed. Jay Arnold, New York: Robbins Music, 1941

See also

Template:Wikipedia books

References

  1. ^ a b "The Dead Rock Stars Club". Thedeadrockstarsclub.com. Retrieved July 17, 2008.
  2. ^ a b William Ruhlmann. "Harry James | Biography". AllMusic. Retrieved August 27, 2015.
  3. ^ "Texas Historic Sites Atlas". Texas Historical Commission. Retrieved May 31, 2017.
  4. ^ Harry James and his big band. Touchoftonga.com. Retrieved on 2013-07-21.
  5. ^ Gilliland 1994, tape 2, side B.
  6. ^ Billboard, July 18, 1942
  7. ^ a b James, Harry (Haag) – Jazz.com | Jazz Music – Jazz Artists – Jazz News. Jazz.com. Retrieved on 2013-07-21.
  8. ^ "The Official Site of the Harry James Orchestra". Harryjamesband.com. May 10, 2015. Retrieved August 27, 2015.
  9. ^ "The Life of Harry James". Fredradke.com. Retrieved August 27, 2015.
  10. ^ a b Gilliland, John (1994). Pop Chronicles the 40s: The Lively Story of Pop Music in the 40s (audiobook). ISBN 978-1-55935-147-8. OCLC 31611854. Tape 1, side A.
  11. ^ "The Night Sinatra Happened". vanityfair.com. Retrieved January 29, 2016.
  12. ^ "Radio". The Brooklyn Daily Eagle. June 7, 1945. p. 21. Retrieved April 15, 2015 – via Newspapers.com. Open access icon
  13. ^ Dunning, John. (1998). On the Air: The Encyclopedia of Old-Time Radio. Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-507678-3. P. 131.
  14. ^ "Harry James". IMDb.com. Retrieved August 27, 2015.
  15. ^ "W W Norton & Company Study Space: Jazz, Ch 12 Cool Jazz and Hard Bop". wwnorton.com / Scott DeVeaux and Gary Giddins. Retrieved January 20, 2016.
  16. ^ The Merv Griffin Show. November 15, 1977.
  17. ^ Levinson, Peter (1999). Trumpet Blues – The Life of Harry James. p. 50. ISBN 0-19-514239-X.
  18. ^ "Hollywood Star Walk: Harry James". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved January 20, 2016.
  19. ^ Levinson 1999, p. 94.
  20. ^ Yanow, Scott (2000). Swing. p. 85. ISBN 0-87930-600-9.
  21. ^ Yanow, Scott. "1948-1949". AllMusic. Retrieved December 20, 2016.
  22. ^ Levinson 1999, p. 195.
  23. ^ a b "Harry James And His Orchestra – Wild About Harry". Discogs. Retrieved December 18, 2015.
  24. ^ "Harry James: 1958–'61". jazzwax.com / Marc Myers. Retrieved January 20, 2016.
  25. ^ Levinson 1999, p. 251.
  26. ^ UPI wirestory published nationally Dec.28, 1967
  27. ^ AP wirephoto published nationally Dec.28, 1967
  28. ^ "The Lucy Desi Comedy Hour Lucy Wins A Racehorse". IMDb.com. Retrieved August 27, 2015.
  29. ^ a b "Harry Haag James (1916–1983) – Find A Grave Memorial". Findagrave.com. Retrieved August 27, 2015.
  30. ^ Popa, Christopher. "Collector's Checklists: Harry James 33s". Big Band Library.com. Retrieved January 2, 2016.
  31. ^ "Recordings by 'Harry James And His Orch'/'Harry James'/'Harry James And His Orchestra'". The Honking Duck. Retrieved January 2, 2016.
  32. ^ Whitburn, Joel (1986). Pop Memories 1890–1954: The History of American Popular Music. Menomonee Falls, WI: Record Research Inc. pp. 73, 123, 226–228, 308, 391–393. ISBN 0-89820-083-0.
  33. ^ "Music VF, US & UK hits charts". MusicVF.com. Retrieved January 2, 2016.
  34. ^ Kowal, Barry. "Hits of All Decades". hitsofalldecades.com. Retrieved January 15, 2016.
  35. ^ "Harry James And His Orchestra – Night Special / Back Beat Boogie". Discogs. Retrieved December 11, 2015.
  36. ^ Orodenker, M.H. (February 7, 1942). "On the Records" (PDF). Billboard. Retrieved March 28, 2015.
  37. ^ Murrells, Joseph (1978). The Book of Golden Discs (2nd ed.). London: Barrie and Jenkins Ltd. p. 23. ISBN 0-214-20512-6.
  38. ^ Murrells, Joseph (1978). The Book of Golden Discs (2nd ed.). London: Barrie and Jenkins Ltd. pp. 27/8. ISBN 0-214-20512-6.
  39. ^ Murrells, Joseph (1978). The Book of Golden Discs (2nd ed.). London: Barrie and Jenkins Ltd. p. 21. ISBN 0-214-20512-6.
  40. ^ Murrells, Joseph (1978). The Book of Golden Discs (2nd ed.). London: Barrie and Jenkins Ltd. p. 25. ISBN 0-214-20512-6.
  41. ^ "Various – Boogie Woogie". Discogs. Retrieved December 28, 2015.
  42. ^ "Columbia 10-inch Album Discography, Part 2: Main Series (CL 6100 to CL 6199) 1950– 1952". Both Sides Now Publications. Retrieved December 25, 2015.
  43. ^ "Harry James And His Orchestra – The New James". Discogs. Retrieved December 24, 2015.
  44. ^ "Harry James And His Orchestra – Harry's Choice". Discogs. Retrieved December 11, 2015.
  45. ^ "Harry James & His Big Band – The King James Version". Discogs. Retrieved December 18, 2015.
  46. ^ "Harry James – Comin' From A Good Place". Discogs. Retrieved December 18, 2015.
  47. ^ "Harry James & His Big Band – Still Harry After All These Years". Discogs. Retrieved December 18, 2015.
  48. ^ "Grammy Hall of Fame List". Grammy.org. Retrieved December 26, 2015.
  49. ^ "1937 DownBeat Readers Poll". Downbeat Magazine. Retrieved December 27, 2015.
  50. ^ "1938 DownBeat Readers Poll". Downbeat Magazine. Retrieved December 27, 2015.
  51. ^ "1939 DownBeat Readers Poll". Downbeat Magazine. Retrieved December 27, 2015.
  52. ^ "1942 DownBeat Readers Poll". Downbeat Magazine. Retrieved December 27, 2015.
  53. ^ "Harry James". Official Website, Hollywood Walk of Fame. Retrieved December 29, 2015.
  54. ^ "Big Band and Jazz Hall of Fame". DavesMusicDatabase.com. Retrieved January 22, 2016.
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