Teddy Powell (March 1, 1905 – November 17, 1993) was born in

Oakland, California Oakland is the largest city and the county seat of Alameda County, California, United States. A major West Coast of the United States, West Coast port, Oakland is the largest city in the East Bay region of the San Francisco Bay Area, the third ...

, United States, as Teodoro Paolella, and became a respected American jazz musician, band leader, composer, and arranger. Some of his compositions were written under the pseudonym Freddy James. Powell began playing violin when he was eight and picked up the banjo when he was fourteen. During the late 1920s to the early 1930s, he was a member of the

Abe Lyman Abe Lyman (August 4, 1897 – October 23, 1957) was a popular bandleader from the 1920s to the 1940s. He made recordings, appeared in films and provided the music for numerous radio shows, including ''Your Hit Parade''. His name at birth was Abra ...

orchestra, taking on the additional tasks of gathering radio bands. He formed the Teddy Powell Orchestra in 1939 and it performed through the 1940s. Powell's sidemen included Tony Aless, Gus Bivona,

Pete Candoli Pete Candoli (born Walter Joseph Candoli; June 28, 1923 – January 11, 2008) was an American jazz trumpeter. He played with the big bands of Woody Herman and Stan Kenton and worked in the studios of the recording and television industries. Car ...

Irving Fazola Irving Fazola (December 10, 1912 – March 20, 1949) was an American jazz clarinetist. Biography Irving Henry Prestopnik was born in New Orleans, Louisiana, United States. After receiving the nickname "Fazola", he used it as his last name. Influe ...

, and

Charlie Ventura Charlie Ventura (born Charles Venturo; December 2, 1916 – January 17, 1992) was an American tenor saxophonist and bandleader from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. Career During the 1940s, Ventura played saxophone for the bands o ...

, but his best sideman left for better paying work. "Snake Charmer", a song Powell published in 1937 (lyrics by Leonard Whitcup), is still a popular song among partner dancers in Finland, where it is usually performed as a translation: Kuningaskobra fi). It placed 69th on the 1952-1959 charts, and is still being recorded by modern performers, as listed in the recordings database of the Finnish national broadcasting company Yle. After the band folded, Powell wrote music and arrangements. He had hits with "Bewildered" and "If My Heart Could Only Talk". During the latter part of his career, he worked in music publishing.

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* as Teddy Powell * as Freddy James * {{DEFAULTSORT:Powell, Teddy 1905 births 1993 deaths American jazz bandleaders American jazz composers American male jazz composers American jazz guitarists Big band bandleaders Musicians from Oakland, California American people of Italian descent 20th-century American composers 20th-century American guitarists Guitarists from California Jazz musicians from California American male guitarists 20th-century American male musicians 20th-century jazz composers