Warren Covington (August 7, 1921 – August 24, 1999) was an American

big band A big band or jazz orchestra is a type of musical ensemble of jazz music that usually consists of ten or more musicians with four sections: saxophones, trumpets, trombones, and a rhythm section. Big bands originated during the early 1910s ...

trombonist The trombone (german: Posaune, Italian, French: ''trombone'') is a musical instrument in the brass family. As with all brass instruments, sound is produced when the player's vibrating lips cause the air column inside the instrument to vibrate ...

. He was active as a session musician, arranger, and bandleader throughout his career.

Biography

Covington, who was born in

Philadelphia Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania#Municipalities, largest city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the List of United States cities by population, sixth-largest city i ...

, played early on with Isham Jones (1939), then with Les Brown in 1945-46 and

Gene Krupa Eugene Bertram Krupa (January 15, 1909 – October 16, 1973), known as Gene Krupa, was an American jazz drummer, bandleader and composer who performed with energy and showmanship. His drum solo on Benny Goodman's 1937 recording of " Sing, Sing, ...

later in 1946. Following this he became a staff musician for

CBS CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS, the abbreviation of its former legal name Columbia Broadcasting System, is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainm ...

radio. With

Ralph Flanagan Ralph Elias Flenniken (April 7, 1914 – December 30, 1995), known professionally as Ralph Flanagan, was an American big band leader, pianist, composer, and arranger for the orchestras of Hal McIntyre, Sammy Kaye, Blue Barron, Charlie Barnet, a ...

in 1949 and again in 1955-56. He played briefly with

Tommy Dorsey Thomas Francis Dorsey Jr. (November 19, 1905 – November 26, 1956) was an American jazz trombonist, composer, conductor and bandleader of the big band era. He was known as the "Sentimental Gentleman of Swing" because of his smooth-toned trombo ...

in 1950. In 1956, he replaced Eddie Grady as leader of the Commanders, a Decca recording and touring band which lasted until the middle of 1957. Covington recorded two albums and one single with this band. After Tommy Dorsey died suddenly in November 1956, the Dorsey band continued under the direction of Jimmy Dorsey. However, the Tommy Dorsey estate soon took back Tommy's arrangements and approached Covington to form a new Tommy Dorsey band, which he led, touring and recording for Decca, into 1961. Among his hits with the Dorsey band was "Tea for Two Cha Cha", which sold over one million copies, 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 ...

. The track peaked at #3 in the

UK Singles Chart The UK Singles Chart (currently titled Official Singles Chart, with the upper section more commonly known as the Official UK Top 40) is compiled by the Official Charts Company (OCC), on behalf of the British record industry, listing the top-s ...

in 1958. A player who also occasionally played, with a variety of the baritone horn, baritone and tenor saxophone, Covington participated in the big bands of Charles Mingus,

Randy Weston Randolph Edward "Randy" Weston (April 6, 1926 – September 1, 2018) was an American jazz pianist and composer whose creativity was inspired by his ancestral African connection. Weston's piano style owed much to Duke Ellington and Thelonious ...

Bobby Hackett Robert Leo Hackett (January 31, 1915 – June 7, 1976) was an American jazz musician who played trumpet, cornet, and guitar with the bands of Glenn Miller and Benny Goodman in the late 1930s and early 1940s. Hackett was a featured soloist o ...

, and

George Benson George Washington Benson (born March 22, 1943) is an American guitarist, singer, and songwriter. He began his professional career at the age of 19 as a jazz guitarist. A former child prodigy, Benson first came to prominence in the 1960s, play ...

on recordings, and also a number of film

soundtrack A soundtrack is recorded music accompanying and synchronised to the images of a motion picture, drama, book, television program, radio program, or video game; a commercially released soundtrack album of music as featured in the soundtrack ...

s. He died in 1999 in New York.

Discography

As leader

* ''Shall We Dance?'' (

Decca Decca may refer to: Music * Decca Records or Decca Music Group, a record label * Decca Gold, a classical music record label owned by Universal Music Group * Decca Broadway, a musical theater record label * Decca Studios, a recording facility in W ...

, 1956) * ''Teenage Hop'' (Decca, 1957) * ''Latin Si!'' (Decca, 1962) * ''Dancing Trombones'' (Decca, 1962) * ''Everybody Twist'' (Decca, 1962) * ''Let's Dance Latin'' (Decca, 1964) * ''Golden Trombones Favorites'' (Decca, 1966) * ''Latin Dance Party'' (

Vocalion Vocalion Records is an American record company and label. History The label was founded in 1916 by the Aeolian Company, a maker of pianos and organs, as Aeolian-Vocalion; the company also sold phonographs under the Vocalion name. "Aeolian" was ...

, 1967) With

* ''The Fabulous Arrangements of Tommy Dorsey in Hi-Fi'' ( Brunswick, 1958) * ''Tea for Two Chas Chas'' (Decca, 1958) * ''More Tea for Two Cha Chas'' (Decca, 1959) * ''The Swingin Era'' (Decca, 1959) * ''Dance and Romance'' (Decca, 1960) * ''Tricky Trombones'' (Decca, 1960) * ''It Takes Two'' (Decca, 1960) * ''Dance to the Songs Everybody Knows'' (Decca, 1961) * ''Golden Trombones Favorites'' (Decca, 1966)

As sideman

, ''Bad Benson'' (CTI, 1974) * Les Brown, ''The Uncollected Les Brown and His Orchestra 1944–1946'' (Hindsight, 1976) * Chris Connor, ''Chris Connor Sings the George Gershwin Almanac of Song'' (

Atlantic The Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's five oceans, with an area of about . It covers approximately 20% of Earth's surface and about 29% of its water surface area. It is known to separate the " Old World" of Africa, Europe an ...

, 1957) *

Giora Feidman Giora Feidman ( he, גיורא פיידמן; born 25 March 1936) is an Argentine-born Israeli clarinetist who specializes in klezmer music. Biography Giora Feidman was born in Buenos Aires, Argentina, where his Bessarabian Jewish parents immigra ...

, ''The Art of the Klezmer'' (Star, 1979) * Astrud Gilberto, ''Beach Samba'' ( Verve, 1967) * Eartha Kitt, ''

That Bad Eartha ''That Bad Eartha'' is a twelve-song reconfiguration of material from American singer Eartha Kitt's first two eight-song, 10-inch albums issued by RCA Victor. It contains all eight songs from the 1953 album RCA Victor Presents Eartha Kitt. I ...

'' ( RCA Victor, 1953) * Eartha Kitt, ''Thursday's Child'' (RCA Victor, 1957) *

, ''The Gene Krupa Orchestra'' (Durium, 1974) *

Yusef Lateef Yusef Abdul Lateef (born William Emanuel Huddleston; October 9, 1920 – December 23, 2013) was an American jazz multi-instrumentalist, composer, and prominent figure among the Ahmadiyya Community in America. Although Lateef's main instruments ...

, ''

Part of the Search ''Part of the Search'' is an album by multi-instrumentalist Yusef Lateef recorded in 1973 (with one track from a 1971 recording session) and released on the Atlantic Records, Atlantic label.Betty Madigan Betty Madigan (born 1928) is an American traditional popular singer and actress.Harris, Harry (December 24, 1956)"Screening TV--'Stingiest Man'" ''The Philadelphia Inquirer''. Retrieved October 18, 2020.Leahy, Jack (April 30, 1961)"Sing and Be H ...

, ''The Jerome Kern Songbook'' (

Coral Corals are marine invertebrates within the class Anthozoa of the phylum Cnidaria. They typically form compact colonies of many identical individual polyps. Coral species include the important reef builders that inhabit tropical oceans and ...

, 1958) *

Van McCoy Van Allen Clinton McCoy (January 6, 1940 – July 6, 1979) was an American musician, record producer, arranger, songwriter, singer and orchestra conductor. He is known for his 1975 internationally successful song " The Hustle". He has approximat ...

, ''Love Is the Answer'' (

Avco Avco Corporation is a subsidiary of Textron which operates Textron Systems Corporation and Lycoming. History The Aviation Corporation was formed on March 2, 1929, to prevent a takeover of CAM-24 airmail service operator Embry-Riddle Compa ...

, 1974) *

Houston Person Houston Person (born November 10, 1934) is an American jazz tenor saxophonist and record producer. Although he has performed in the hard bop and swing genres, he is most experienced in and best known for his work in soul jazz. He received the ...

, ''Harmony'' ( Mercury, 1977) *

Don Sebesky Don Sebesky (born December 10, 1937) is an American arranger, jazz trombonist, and keyboardist. Biography Sebesky trained in trombone at the Manhattan School of Music; in his early career, he played with Kai Winding, Claude Thornhill, Tommy D ...

, ''Giant Box'' (CTI, 1973) * George Segal, ''A Touch of Ragtime Featuring the Music of Scott Joplin'' (Signature, 1974) *

Phil Silvers Phil Silvers (born Phillip Silver; May 11, 1911 – November 1, 1985) was an American entertainer and comedic actor, known as "The King of Chutzpah". His career as a professional entertainer spanned nearly sixty years. Silvers achieved major popu ...

, ''Phil Silvers and Swinging Brass'' ( Columbia, 1957) * The Spinners, ''Dancin' and Lovin'' (Atlantic, 1979) *

, ''Blue Moses'' (CTI, 1972)

References

External links

* Warren Covingtonat

Allmusic AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databa ...

Warren Covington recordings
at the Discography of American Historical Recordings. {{DEFAULTSORT:Covington, Warren 1921 births 1999 deaths American jazz trombonists Male trombonists American jazz bandleaders Musicians from Philadelphia 20th-century American musicians 20th-century trombonists Jazz musicians from Pennsylvania 20th-century American male musicians American male jazz musicians