Editing Sy Oliver

{{Short description|American trumpeter, composer, singer and bandleader (1910–1988)}}
{{Infobox musical artist
|name              = Sy Oliver
|image             = Sy Oliver (1946).jpg
|caption           = Sy Oliver from September 1946
|background        = solo_singer
|birth_name        = Melvin James Oliver
|birth_date        = {{birth date |1910|12|17|mf=yes}}
|death_date        = {{death date and age|1988|5|28|1910|12|17|mf=y}}
|birth_place       = [[Battle Creek, Michigan]], United States
|death_place       = New York City
|occupation        = Bandleader, conductor, arranger
|genre             = Jazz
|years_active      = 1930s–1980s 
|label             = [[Decca Records|Decca]], [[Columbia Records|Columbia]], [[Capitol Records|Capitol]]
|associated_acts   = [[Bill Kenny (singer)|Bill Kenny]], [[Frank Sinatra]], [[Jimmie Lunceford]]
}}
'''Melvin James''' "'''Sy'''" '''Oliver''' (December 17, 1910 – May 28, 1988)<ref name="LarkinJazz">{{cite book|title=[[Encyclopedia of Popular Music|The Guinness Who's Who of Jazz]]|editor=[[Colin Larkin (writer)|Colin Larkin]]|publisher=[[Guinness Publishing]]|date=1992|edition=First|isbn=0-85112-580-8|page=308}}</ref> was an American [[jazz]] arranger, trumpeter, composer, singer and bandleader.

== Life ==
Sy Oliver was born in [[Battle Creek, Michigan]], United States.<ref name="NYT obit">{{cite news|last1=Watrous|first1=Peter|title=Sy Oliver, 77, a Jazz Composer, Arranger and Band Leader, Dies|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1988/05/28/obituaries/sy-oliver-77-a-jazz-composer-arranger-and-band-leader-dies.html?scp=2&sq=%22sy+oliver%22&st=cse&pagewanted=print|newspaper=[[The New York Times]]|access-date=16 September 2016|date=28 May 1988}}</ref> His mother was a piano teacher, and his father was a multi-instrumentalist, who demonstrated [[saxophone]]s at a time when instrument was seldom played other than by marching bands.

Oliver left home at 17 to play with [[Zack Whyte]] and his Chocolate Beau Brummels and later with [[Alphonse Trent]].<ref name="NYT obit"/> He sang and played trumpet with these bands, becoming known for his "growling" horn playing. He also began arranging with them.<ref>Sy Oliver, "Jazz: The Rough Guide" Ian Carr, Digby Fairweather, Brian Priestley, Rough Guides Ltd., London 1995, p. 483</ref>

He continued singing for the next 17 years, making many recordings when he was with [[Jimmie Lunceford]] and with his own band.<ref name="LarkinJazz"/> With Lunceford, from 1933 to 1939,<ref name="LarkinJazz"/> he recorded more than two dozen vocals. From 1949 to 1951, he recorded more than a dozen with his band. With [[Tommy Dorsey]], he recorded very few vocals. In 1941, he sang with [[Jo Stafford]], on his own compositions "Yes Indeed" and "Swingin' on Nothin'".<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://adp.library.ucsb.edu/index.php/mastertalent/detail/106500/Oliver_Sy|title=Oliver, Sy - Discography of American Historical Recordings|website=Adp.library.ucsb.edu|access-date=July 31, 2021}}</ref> He also sang with The Sentimentalists on the 1944 recording of his arrangement of "Chicago".

Oliver arranged and conducted many songs for [[Ella Fitzgerald]] from her [[Decca Records|Decca]] years. As a composer, one of his most famous songs was "[[T'ain't What You Do (It's the Way That You Do It)]]", which he co-wrote with [[Trummy Young]] in 1939.

In 1933, Oliver joined [[Jimmie Lunceford]]'s band as a trumpet player, arranger and songwriter. He contributed many hit arrangements for the band, including "My Blue Heaven" and "Ain't She Sweet", as well as his original composition "For Dancers Only", which eventually became the band's theme song. He was co-arranger with pianist Ed Wilcox; Oliver primarily taking the up-tempo numbers, Wilcox the ballads. Oliver's arrangements "were a dashing parade of innovation that rivaled Ellington's for consistency and originality."<ref>''The Rough Guide'', p.483</ref>

In 1939, when band leader [[Tommy Dorsey]] decided he wanted a swing band, his first step was to hire Oliver as an arranger away from Lunceford for $5,000 more a year.<ref name="LarkinJazz"/> Oliver then became one of the first [[African Americans]] with a prominent role in a white band when he joined [[Tommy Dorsey]]. ([[Fletcher Henderson]], another African American composer/arranger, had joined the [[Benny Goodman]] orchestra as the arranger a few years earlier.) He led the transition of the Dorsey band from [[Dixieland]] to modern [[big band]].<ref name="LarkinJazz"/>  His joining was instrumental in Dorsey luring several jazz players, including [[Buddy Rich]], to his band.

With Dorsey, Oliver continued sharing arranging duties with other arrangers, primarily [[Axel Stordahl]], Oliver doing up-tempo tunes, Stordahl ballads. As James Kaplan put it, "Tommy Dorsey's band got a rocket  boost in 1939 when Dorsey stole Lunceford's great arranger Sy Oliver."<ref>James Kaplan, ''Frank: The Voice'', Doubleday, New York, 2010, p. 647, {{ISBN|9780385518048}}</ref>

His arrangement of "[[On the Sunny Side of the Street]]" was a big hit for Dorsey in 1946, as were his compositions [[Yes, Indeed! (1941 song)|"Yes, Indeed!"]] (a [[Gospel music|gospel]]-jazz tune that was later recorded by [[Ray Charles]]), "[[Opus No. 1 (1943 song)|Opus One]]" (originally titled as "Opus No. 1", but changed to suit the lyric that was added later), "The Minor Is Muggin'", and "Well, Git It".<ref name="LarkinJazz"/>

Oliver left Dorsey after seven years, in 1946, and began working as a freelance arranger and as music director for [[Decca Records|Decca]].<ref>{{cite news |newspaper=[[Los Angeles Times]] |url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1988-05-30-mn-2315-story.html |date=May 30, 1998 |access-date=December 7, 2022|title=Sy Oliver; Influential Arranger in Big Band Era}}</ref>

On June 26, 1950, Sy Oliver and his Orchestra recorded the first American version of "[[C'est si bon]]" ([[Henri Betti]], [[André Hornez]], [[Jerry Seelen]]) and "[[La Vie en rose]]" ([[Louiguy]], [[Édith Piaf]], [[Mack David]]) for [[Louis Armstrong]]. One of his more successful efforts as an arranger was the 1961 [[Frank Sinatra]] album, ''[[I Remember Tommy]]'', a combined tribute to their former boss.

In 1974, he began a nightly gig with a small band at the [[Rainbow Room]] in New York. He continued that gig until 1984, with occasionally time off to make festival or other dates, including at the [[Roseland Ballroom]] in New York.  He retired in 1984.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Watrous |first=Peter |date=1988-05-28 |title=Sy Oliver, 77, a Jazz Composer, Arranger and Band Leader, Dies |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1988/05/28/obituaries/sy-oliver-77-a-jazz-composer-arranger-and-band-leader-dies.html |access-date=2024-02-26 |work=The New York Times |language=en-US |issn=0362-4331}}</ref>

Oliver died in New York City at the age of 77.<ref name="NYT obit" />

==Discography==
* ''Sway It with Flowers'' (Brunswick, 1956)
* ''Sentimental Sy'' (Dot, 1958)
* ''77 Sunset Strip and Other Selections'' with Frankie Ortega (Jubilee, 1959)
* ''Back Stage'' (Dot, 1959)
* ''Dance Music for People Who Don't Dance Any More'' (Riverside, 1961)
* ''What Can I Say?'' with Val Anthony (L.I.M.S., 1966)
* ''Yes Indeed'' (Black and Blue, 1973)
* ''Annie Laurie'' (Jazz Legacy, 1978)
* ''Easy Walker'' (Jazz Legacy, 1979)

===As sideman===
'''With [[Jimmie Lunceford]]'''
* ''Lunceford Special'' (Columbia, 1967)
* ''Stomp it Off'' (Decca, 1992)
* ''Rhythm is Our Business'' (Decca, 1996)
* ''Swingsation'' (GRP, 1998)

'''With others'''
* [[Louis Armstrong]], ''Satchmo Serenades'' (Decca, 1952)
* [[Tommy Dorsey]], ''What Is This Thing Called Love?'' (Victor, 1942)<ref>{{cite magazine|last1=Orodenker|first1=M.H.|title=On the Records|magazine=[[Billboard (magazine)|Billboard]]|date=February 28, 1942|page=25}}</ref>
* [[Ella Fitzgerald]], ''Ella: The Legendary Decca Recordings'' (GRP, 1995)
* [[Frank Sinatra]], ''The Popular Frank Sinatra'' (Megaforce, 2015)
* [[Caterina Valente]], ''Plenty Valente'' (Decca, 1957)
* [[Peggy Lee]], ''[[Miss Wonderful]]'' (Decca, 1959) — arranger, conductor
* [[Peggy Lee]], ''[[Dream Street (Peggy Lee album)|Dream Street]]'' (Capitol Records, 1957) — arranger, conductor
* [[Peggy Lee]] with the Sy Oliver Orchestra, "The Siamese Cat Song" (''Lady and the Tramp'' soundtrack, Walt Disney Records, 1955) — bandleader

==See also==
*[[Swing music]]

== References ==
{{reflist}}

==External links==
{{commons category}}
*[http://www.nypl.org/archives/2588 Sy Oliver Papers], the collection of his personal scores and papers, in the [http://www.nypl.org/locations/lpa/music-division Music Division] of [http://www.nypl.org/locations/lpa The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts].
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20090309060138/http://www.jazzprofessional.com/interviews/SyOliver_1.htm The Sy Oliver Story, Part 1], an interview with Les Tompkins, 1974.
*{{IMDb name|id=0647011|name=Sy Oliver}}
* [https://adp.library.ucsb.edu/names/106500 Sy Oliver recordings] at the [[Discography of American Historical Recordings]].

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Oliver, Sy}}
[[Category:1910 births]]
[[Category:1988 deaths]]
[[Category:American male jazz composers]]
[[Category:American jazz trumpeters]]
[[Category:American male trumpeters]]
[[Category:American music arrangers]]
[[Category:American jazz bandleaders]]
[[Category:American big band bandleaders]]
[[Category:Jubilee Records artists]]
[[Category:Bell Records artists]]
[[Category:Entertainers from Battle Creek, Michigan]]
[[Category:Jazz musicians from Michigan]]
[[Category:Jazz arrangers]]
[[Category:20th-century American trumpeters]]
[[Category:20th-century American male musicians]]
[[Category:New York Jazz Repertory Company members]]
[[Category:Black & Blue Records artists]]
[[Category:Columbia Records artists]]
[[Category:Decca Records artists]]
[[Category:Capitol Records artists]]
[[Category:Bluebird Records artists]]
[[Category:20th-century American jazz composers]]
[[Category:20th-century African-American musicians]]