Frederick Alfred Martin (December 9, 1906 – September 30, 1983)
was an American bandleader and
tenor saxophonist
The tenor saxophone is a medium-sized member of the saxophone family, a group of instruments invented by Adolphe Sax in the 1840s. The tenor and the alto are the two most commonly used saxophones. The tenor is pitched in the key of B (while th ...
.
Early life
Freddy Martin was born in
Cleveland
Cleveland ( ), officially the City of Cleveland, is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Cuyahoga County. Located in the northeastern part of the state, it is situated along the southern shore of Lake Erie, across the U.S. ...
,
Ohio
Ohio () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States. Of the fifty U.S. states, it is the 34th-largest by area, and with a population of nearly 11.8 million, is the seventh-most populous and tenth-most densely populated. The sta ...
, United States.
Raised largely in an
orphanage
An orphanage is a Residential education, residential institution, total institution or group home, devoted to the Childcare, care of orphans and children who, for various reasons, cannot be cared for by their biological families. The parent ...
and by various relatives, Martin started out playing drums, then switched to
C melody saxophone
The C melody saxophone, also known as the C tenor saxophone, is a saxophone pitched in the key of C one whole tone above the common B-flat tenor saxophone. The C melody was part of the series of saxophones pitched in C and F intended by the ins ...
and subsequently tenor saxophone, the latter the one with which he would be identified.
Early on, he had intended to become a journalist. He had hoped that he would earn enough money from his musical work to enter
Ohio State University
The Ohio State University, commonly called Ohio State or OSU, is a public land-grant research university in Columbus, Ohio. A member of the University System of Ohio, it has been ranked by major institutional rankings among the best publ ...
, but instead, he wound up becoming an accomplished musician. Martin led his own band while he was in high school, then played in various local bands.
Martin spent his spare time selling musical instruments; which also gave him an excuse to listen to the Lombardos play at the "Music Box". After working on a ship's band, Martin joined the Mason-Dixon band, then joined
Arnold Johnson and
Jack Albin
Jack may refer to:
Places
* Jack, Alabama, US, an unincorporated community
* Jack, Missouri, US, an unincorporated community
* Jack County, Texas, a county in Texas, USA
People and fictional characters
* Jack (given name), a male given name, ...
. It was with Albin's "Hotel Pennsylvania Music" that he made his first recordings, for Columbia's
Harmony
In music, harmony is the process by which individual sounds are joined together or composed into whole units or compositions. Often, the term harmony refers to simultaneously occurring frequencies, pitches ( tones, notes), or chords. However ...
,
Velvet Tone
Velvet Tone Records was an American record label that was founded by Columbia Records in 1925 and shut down in 1932. Velvet Tone contained material identical to that of Columbia's two other low price labels, Harmony Records and Diva Records (and ...
, and
Clarion
Clarion may refer to:
Music
* Clarion (instrument), a type of trumpet used in the Middle Ages
* The register of a clarinet that ranges from B4 to C6
* A trumpet organ stop that usually plays an octave above unison pitch
* "Clarion" (song), a 2 ...
50-cent labels in 1930.
Early career
After a couple of years, his skill began attracting other musicians. One was
Guy Lombardo
Gaetano Alberto "Guy" Lombardo (June 19, 1902 – November 5, 1977) was an Italian-Canadian-American bandleader, violinist, and hydroplane racer.
Lombardo formed the Royal Canadians in 1924 with his brothers Carmen, Lebert and Victor, and othe ...
,
who remained friends with Martin throughout his life. After graduation from high school, Martin accepted a job at the
H.N. White musical instrument company. When Lombardo was playing in Cleveland, Martin tried giving Lombardo some saxophones, which proved unsuccessful. But, Lombardo got to hear Martin's band. One night, when Lombardo could not do a certain date, he suggested that Martin's band could fill in for him. The band did very well and Martin's career got started. But, the band broke up and he did not form a permanent band until 1931,
at the
Bossert Hotel in
Brooklyn
Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York. Kings County is the most populous county in the State of New York, and the second-most densely populated county in the United States, be ...
.
At the Bossert Marine Roof, a nautical-themed restaurant positioned on the roof of the hotel, Martin pioneered the "Tenor Band" style that swept the sweet-music industry.
[ With his own tenor sax as melodic lead, Martin fronted an all-tenor sax section with just two brasses and a violin trio plus rhythm. The rich, lilting style quickly spawned imitators in hotels and ballrooms nationwide. "Tenor bands", usually with just the three tenors and one trumpet, could occasionally be found playing for older dancers well into the 1980s.
The Martin band recorded first for ]Columbia Records
Columbia Records is an American record label owned by Sony Music, Sony Music Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Corporation of America, the North American division of Japanese Conglomerate (company), conglomerate Sony. It was founded on Janua ...
in 1932. As the company was broke and signing no new contracts, the band switched to Brunswick Records
Brunswick Records is an American record label founded in 1916.
History
From 1916
Records under the Brunswick label were first produced by the Brunswick-Balke-Collender Company, a company based in Dubuque, Iowa which had been manufacturing produ ...
after one session and remained with that label till 1938. During his tenure at Brunswick/ARC, half of his recordings were issued on ARC's stable of budget priced labels (Banner, Conqueror, Melotone, Oriole, Perfect, Romeo, and Vocalion) as well as scores of non-vocal takes issued on ARC's special theater use label, sold only to movie theaters as background music. In 1938, he signed with RCA Victor
RCA Records is an American record label currently owned by Sony Music Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Corporation of America. It is one of Sony Music's four flagship labels, alongside RCA's former long-time rival Columbia Records; also Aris ...
and was assigned to Bluebird
The bluebirds are a North American group of medium-sized, mostly insectivorous or omnivorous birds in the order of Passerines in the genus ''Sialia'' of the thrush family (Turdidae). Bluebirds are one of the few thrush genera in the Americas.
...
. The band also recorded pseudonymously in the early 1930s, backing singers such as Will Osborne. From 1932 to 1938, the band's primary vocalists were saxophonist Elmer Feldkamp and pianist Terry Shand. The former primarily sang romantic ballads, while the latter was used mostly for 'hot' dance tunes.
Martin took his band into many prestigious hotels, including the Roosevelt Grill in New York City, and the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles. A fixture on radio, his sponsored shows included NBC
The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an American English-language commercial broadcast television and radio network. The flagship property of the NBC Entertainment division of NBCUniversal, a division of Comcast, its headquarters are l ...
's ''Maybelline Penthouse Serenade'' of 1937. For Martin, real success came in 1941 with an arrangement from the first movement of Tchaikovsky
Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky , group=n ( ; 7 May 1840 – 6 November 1893) was a Russian composer of the Romantic period. He was the first Russian composer whose music would make a lasting impression internationally. He wrote some of the most popu ...
's Piano Concerto No. 1 in B minor
B minor is a minor scale based on B, consisting of the pitches B, C, D, E, F, G, and A. Its key signature has two sharps. Its relative major is D major and its parallel major is B major.
The B natural minor scale is:
:
Changes neede ...
. Martin recorded the piece instrumentally, but soon lyrics were added by Ray Austin, and it was re-cut as "Tonight We Love"[ with Clyde Rogers' vocal – becoming his biggest hit.] It sold over one million copies by 1946, and was awarded a gold disc
Music recording certification is a system of certifying that a music recording has shipped, sold, or streamed a certain number of units. The threshold quantity varies by type (such as album, single, music video) and by nation or territory (see ...
by the RIAA
The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) is a trade organization that represents the music recording industry in the United States. Its members consist of record labels and distributors that the RIAA says "create, manufacture, and/o ...
.
The success of "Tonight We Love" prompted Martin to adopt several other classical themes (of Rachmaninoff
Sergei Vasilyevich Rachmaninoff; in Russian pre-revolutionary script. (28 March 1943) was a Russian composer, virtuoso pianist, and conductor. Rachmaninoff is widely considered one of the finest pianists of his day and, as a composer, one o ...
, Grieg, and others), which featured the band's pianists Jack Fina
Jack Fina (August 13, 1913 – May 14, 1970) was a bandleader, songwriter, and pianist.
Fina was born in Passaic, New Jersey, and educated at the New York College of Music and was a student of August Fraemcke and Elsa Nicilini. He started out ...
, Murray Arnold, and Barclay Allen. In 1946, he recorded " Dingbat the Singing Cat" adapted from Prokofiev's "Peter and the Wolf
''Peter and the Wolf'' ( rus, Петя и Bолк, r="Pétya i volk", p=ˈpʲetʲə i volk, links=no) Op. 67, a "symphonic fairy tale for children", is a musical composition written by Sergei Prokofiev in 1936. The narrator tells a children's s ...
", and later recorded "A Lover's Concerto
"A Lover's Concerto" is a pop song written by American songwriters Sandy Linzer and Denny Randell, based on the 18th century composition by Christian Petzold, " Minuet in G major", and recorded in 1965 by the Toys. "A Lover's Concerto" sold ...
", adapted from baroque composer Christian Petzold's " Minuet in G major", two decades before pop group The Toys
The Toys were an American pop girl group from Jamaica, New York, which was formed in 1961 and disbanded in 1968. Their most successful recording was "A Lover's Concerto" (1965), which sold more than two million copies and reached the number-tw ...
released it. At this time, Martin enlarged the orchestra to a strength of six violins, four brasses, and a like number of saxes.
His band's first hits included "Intermezzo" and " the Hut-Sut Song".
Musical style
Martin was nicknamed "Mr. Silvertone" by saxophonist Johnny Hodges
Cornelius "Johnny" Hodges (July 25, 1907 – May 11, 1970) was an American alto saxophonist, best known for solo work with Duke Ellington's big band. He played lead alto in the saxophone section for many years. Hodges was also featured on soprano ...
. Chu Berry
Leon Brown "Chu" Berry (September 13, 1908 – October 30, 1941) was an American jazz tenor saxophone, tenor saxophonist during the 1930s.
According to music critic Gary Giddins, musicians called him "Chu" either because he chewed on the mouthp ...
named Martin his favorite saxophonist. He has also been idolized by many other saxophonists, including Eddie Miller. Although his playing has been admired by so many jazz
Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with its roots in blues and ragtime. Since the 1920s Jazz Age, it has been recognized as a major ...
musicians, Martin never tried to be a jazz musician. Martin always led a sweet styled band. Unlike most sweet bands that just played dull music, Martin's band turned out to be one of the most musical and most melodic of all the typical hotel-room sweet bands. According to George T. Simon, Martin's band was "one of the most pleasant, most relaxed dance bands that ever flowed across the band scene."
He used the banner "Music in the Martin Manner." Russ Morgan
Russell Morgan (April 29, 1904 – August 7, 1969) was an American big band leader and arranger during the 1930s and 1940s. He was best known for being the one of the composers of the song "You're Nobody till Somebody Loves You", with Larry Stock ...
used a similar banner when he finally landed a radio series with his own band in 1936. (Morgan's title was "Music in the Morgan Manner".) Morgan had been playing in Martin's band and the two were good friends for years. Morgan used some of Martin's arrangements when he started his band.
Later career
Martin also had a good ear for singers. At one time or another, Martin employed Merv Griffin
Mervyn Edward Griffin Jr. (July 6, 1925 – August 12, 2007) was an American television show host and media mogul. He began his career as a radio and big band singer, later appearing in film and on Broadway. From 1965 to 1986 he hosted his own ta ...
, Buddy Clark
Buddy Clark (born Samuel Goldberg, July 26, 1912 – October 1, 1949) was an American popular singer of the Big Band era. He had some success in the 1930s, but his career truly blossomed in the late 1940s, after his return from service in Worl ...
, Gene Merlino
Mario Gino Merlino (born April 5, 1928) is a retired singer and musician, known for providing the singing voice of Lancelot in the musical film ''Camelot'', and for being part of the Grammy Award winning quartet, The Anita Kerr Singers.
Early ...
, pianists Sid Appleman and Terry Shand, saxophonist Elmer Feldkamp, Stuart Wade, violinist Eddie Stone, and many others. Helen Ward was also a singer for Martin, just before she joined Benny Goodman
Benjamin David Goodman (May 30, 1909 – June 13, 1986) was an American clarinetist and bandleader known as the "King of Swing".
From 1936 until the mid-1940s, Goodman led one of the most popular swing big bands in the United States. His co ...
's new band.
Martin's popularity as a bandleader led him to Hollywood in the 1940s where he and his band appeared in a handful of films, including '' Seven Days' Leave'' (1942), ''Stage Door Canteen
The Stage Door Canteen was an entertainment venue for American and Allied servicemen that operated in the Broadway theatre district of New York City throughout World War II. Founded by the American Theatre Wing (ATW) in 1942, the entertainers we ...
'' (1943), and ''Melody Time
''Melody Time'' is a 1948 American live-action/animated musical film produced by Walt Disney. The tenth Disney animated feature film, it was released to theatres by RKO Radio Pictures on May 27, 1948. Made up of seven segments set to popular mu ...
'' (1948), among others.
In the 1950s and 1960s, Martin continued to perform on the radio and also appeared on TV. Untroubled by changing musical tastes, he continued to work at major venues and was musical director for Elvis Presley
Elvis Aaron Presley (January 8, 1935 – August 16, 1977), or simply Elvis, was an American singer and actor. Dubbed the "Honorific nicknames in popular music, King of Rock and Roll", he is regarded as Cultural impact of Elvis Presley, one ...
's first appearance in Las Vegas
Las Vegas (; Spanish for "The Meadows"), often known simply as Vegas, is the 25th-most populous city in the United States, the most populous city in the state of Nevada, and the county seat of Clark County. The city anchors the Las Vegas ...
. Still in demand for hotel work, Martin entered the 1970s with an engagement at the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles. In the early 1970s, he was part of two tours of one-nighters that were known as 'The Big Band Cavalcade'. Among the other performers on the show were Margaret Whiting
Margaret Eleanor Whiting (July 22, 1924 – January 10, 2011) was an American popular music and country music singer who gained popularity in the 1940s and 1950s.Mapes, Jillian.Margaret Whiting, Iconic Standards Singer, Dies at 86. ''Billboard' ...
, Bob Crosby
George Robert Crosby (August 23, 1913 – March 9, 1993) was an American jazz singer and bandleader, best known for his group the Bob-Cats, which formed around 1935. The Bob-Cats were a New Orleans Dixieland-style jazz octet. He was the younge ...
, Frankie Carle
Frankie Carle (born Francis Nunzio Carlone, March 25, 1903 – March 7, 2001) was an American pianist and bandleader. As a very popular bandleader in the 1940s and 1950s, Carle was nicknamed "The Wizard of the Keyboard". "Sunrise Serenade" was Ca ...
, Buddy Morrow
Buddy Morrow (born Muni Zudekoff, aka Moe Zudekoff; February 8, 1919 – September 27, 2010) was an American trombonist and bandleader.
Career
On a scholarship at age 16, Morrow studied trombone with Ernest Horatio Clarke (1865–1947) at Juill ...
, Art Mooney
Arthur Joseph Mooney (February 11, 1911 – September 9, 1993) was an American singer and bandleader. His biggest hits were "I'm Looking Over a Four Leaf Clover" and "Baby Face" in 1948 and " Nuttin' For Christmas," with Barry Gordon, in 1955. ...
, and George Shearing
Sir George Albert Shearing, (13 August 1919 14 February 2011) was a British jazz pianist who for many years led a popular jazz group that recorded for Discovery Records, MGM Records and Capitol Records. Shearing was the composer of over 300 t ...
. When the tours ended, Martin returned to the West Coast. In 1977, Martin was asked to lead Guy Lombardo's band when Lombardo was hospitalized with a heart condition.
Martin continued leading his band until the early 1980s, although by then, he was semi-retired. Freddy Martin died on September 30, 1983, in Hoag Memorial Hospital Presbyterian, after suffering a second stroke. He was 76 years old.
The 1947 song "Pico and Sepulveda
"Pico and Sepulveda" is a 1947 song by Freddy Martin and his orchestra. Composed by Eddie Maxwell (Eddie Cherkose) and Jule Styne (Ambassador Records, 1947 — b/w "She of the Coffee Brown Eyes"), it features a Latin-style beat, and Martin used th ...
" was recorded by Martin under the alias of "Felix Figueroa and his Orchestra" and was frequently featured on Dr. Demento
Barret Eugene Hansen (born April 2, 1941), known professionally as Dr. Demento, is an American radio broadcaster and record collector specializing in novelty songs, comedy, and strange or unusual recordings dating from the early days of phonograp ...
's syndicated radio show. It was also featured in the 1980 surrealist film ''Forbidden Zone
''Forbidden Zone'' is an American absurdist musical fantasy comedy film produced and directed by Richard Elfman, and co-written by Elfman and Matthew Bright. Shot in 1977 and 1978, the film premiered in 1980 and was distributed in 1982. Origina ...
''.
Selected discography
''Grieg Piano Concerto'' (Bluebird 11430) 1942
References
External links
*
Listen to
Paper Tape Archive: Freddy Martin and vocalist Merv Griffin, NBC
{{DEFAULTSORT:Martin, Freddy
1906 births
1983 deaths
Musicians from Cleveland
American male saxophonists
American bandleaders
Big band bandleaders
Burials at Pacific View Memorial Park
Capitol Records artists
RCA Victor artists
20th-century American saxophonists
20th-century American male musicians