Jazz
During the 1950's Russ Morgan was still a highly successful band leader and was holding his own during the rise of the rock 'n' roll era. With three American number ones in his career and having four simultaneous records in the top ten Russ Morgan was a big band force to reckon with!
Famed for his individual style, hear the wonderful "On An Ordinary Morning" which features a duet with Evelyn Knight whilst Bing Crosby sings "Big Movie Show In The Sky."
This new 2CD set follows on from "Music In The Morgan Manner" - JASCD 403 and continues the "Into The Fifties" series of American bands and includes the popular songs "O Mein Papa," "Hoop-De-Doo" and "Poor People Of Paris."
Russ Morgan
Active Decades: '30s, '40s and '50s
Born: Apr 29, 1904 in Scranton, PA
Died: Jul 08, 1969 in Las Vegas, NV
Genre: Jazz
Styles: Big Band, Sweet Bands
Russ Morgan was a major arranger and composer in the pre-rock era. He played in New York groups during the early '20s and did arrangements for Victor Herbert and John Philip Sousa. He was a music director on radio in Detroit in 1926, doing arrangements for Fletcher Henderson, Chick Webb, Louis Armstrong, the Boswell Sisters, and the Dorsey brothers. Later, Morgan wrote Cotton Club reviews, conducted an orchestra on Broadway, and served as music director for Brunswick. He played with Freddy Martin in 1934 and formed his own band in 1936. During the late '30s,'40s, and '50s, he led an extremely successful orchestra. The songs were simple, coy, and often embarrassingly contrived, but radio audiences loved them. Morgan introduced The Ames Brothers singing group in 1949. The coming of rock & roll ended Morgan's reign, but he kept doing concerts and shows in Las Vegas during the '50s and '60s. His son Jack kept the band going into the mid-'80s.
---Ron Wynn, All Music Guide |
