Albert J. Trace ''(aka'' Albert Joseph Trace; ''né'' Feinberg; 25 December 1900 – 31 August 1993) was an American songwriter and orchestra leader of the 1930s, 1940s and 1950s. His popularity peaked in the

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

area during the height of the

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 an ...

era. He was the brother of the songwriter Ben Trace.

Career

A native of Chicago, Trace played

professional baseball Professional baseball is organized baseball in which players are selected for their talents and are paid to play for a specific team or club system. It is played in baseball league, leagues and associated farm teams throughout the world. Mod ...

before deciding on music as a career. His first jobs during the early 1920s included playing the drums and singing with various bands, until he formed his own band in 1933, the year in which Chicago was celebrating its centennial with a World's Fair officially known as A Century of Progress International Exposition. The band's first engagement in May 1933 was at the Fair's French pavilion and, when the Fair closed for the winter in November, he remained in Chicago, beginning a long engagement at the Blackhawk Restaurant, followed by three years at the Sherman Hotel. Starting in early 1943 and continuing during and after

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

, the Al Trace Orchestra, including the vocalists

Toni Arden Antoinette Ardizzone (February 15, 1924 – May 29, 2012), known professionally as Toni Arden, was an American traditional pop music singer. Family Arden was born in New York City. Her father, Phillip Ardizzone, was a singer with the Metropolit ...

and Bob Vincent, were familiar regulars on the Chicago-based ''

It Pays to Be Ignorant ''It Pays to Be Ignorant'' was a 1942–1951 radio comedy show which maintained its popularity during a nine-year run on three networks for such sponsors as Philip Morris, Chrysler, and DeSoto. The series was a spoof on the academic discourse o ...

'', one of the most popular shows of the era known as the

Golden Age of Radio The Golden Age of Radio, also known as the old-time radio (OTR) era, was an era of radio in the United States where it was the dominant electronic home entertainment, entertainment medium. It began with the birth of commercial radio broadcastin ...

. Al Trace and His Silly Symphonists was one of several comedy ensembles in the early 1940s. Others included

Spike Jones and His City Slickers Lindley Armstrong "Spike" Jones (December 14, 1911 – May 1, 1965) was an American musician and bandleader specializing in spoof arrangements of popular songs and classical music. Ballads receiving the Jones treatment were punctuated with gun ...

, the

Hoosier Hot Shots The Hoosier Hot Shots were an American quartet of musicians who entertained on stage, screen, radio, and records from the mid-1930s into the 1970s. The group formed in Indiana where they performed on local radio before moving to Chicago and a n ...

and the Korn Kobblers. In February 1945, radio stations introduced "

Sioux City Sue "Sioux City Sue" is a 1945 song and a 1946 movie. Lyricist Ray Freedman and composer Dick Thomas wrote the song. Thomas recorded the song in February 1945 for National Records and it was a number one Country charts hit for him. The song was Thom ...

", performed by Al Trace and His Silly Symphonists (

National Records National Records was a record label that was started in New York City by Albert Green in 1945 and lasted until early 1951. Big Joe Turner was signed at the beginning and remained until 1947. Billy Eckstine was also a big seller for the label as w ...

5007). The song became a hit. Trace recorded for several record companies:

Mercury Records Mercury Records is an American record label owned by Universal Music Group. It had significant success as an independent operation in the 1940s and 1950s. Smash Records and Fontana Records were sub labels of Mercury. In the United States, it is ...

MGM Records MGM Records was a record label founded by the Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer film studio in 1946 for the purpose of releasing soundtrack recordings (later LP albums) of their musical films. It transitioned into a pop music label that continued into the ...

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 ...

Damon Records Damon Records was a United States record label. Original Damon was headquartered in Kansas City, Missouri. Damon used musicians and singers who were not members of the American Federation of Musicians labor union to make recordings during the ...

, Regent Records and

Chance Records Chance Records was a Chicago-based label founded in 1950 by Art Sheridan. It specialized in blues, jazz, doo-wop, and gospel. Among the acts who recorded for Chance were The Flamingos, The Moonglows, Homesick James, J. B. Hutto, Brother John S ...

. He composed over 300 songs, some alone and others as a collaborator, most frequently with his brother, Ben Trace, while also writing a considerable number of songs using the

pseudonym A pseudonym (; ) or alias () is a fictitious name that a person or group assumes for a particular purpose, which differs from their original or true name (orthonym). This also differs from a new name that entirely or legally replaces an individua ...

s Clem Watts or Bob Hart. Among the Ben Trace/Al Trace collaborations was his most successful recording, " You Call Everybody Darlin'", which was a #1 hit in 1948. Another very popular song was "

If I Knew You Were Comin' I'd've Baked a Cake "If I Knew You Were Comin' I'd've Baked a Cake" is a popular song written by Al Hoffman, Bob Merrill, and Clem Watts and published in 1950. In the U.S, the best known version of the song was recorded by Eileen Barton in January 1950. Joe Lipman ...

". His other song collaborators included

Al Hoffman Al Hoffman (September 25, 1902 – July 21, 1960) was an American song composer. He was a hit songwriter active in the 1930s, 1940s and 1950s, usually co-writing with others and responsible for number-one hits through each decade, many of wh ...

Bob Merrill Henry Robert Merrill Levan (May 17, 1921 – February 17, 1998) was an American songwriter, theatrical composer, lyricist, and screenwriter. He was one of the most successful songwriters of the 1950s on the US and UK single charts. He wrote ...

and

Abner Silver Abner Silberman (28 December 1899, in New York City, New York, United States – 24 November 1966) as pen name Abner Silver, was an American songwriter who worked primarily during the Tin Pan Alley era of the craft. Career Usually composing the m ...

. In 1975, shortly after his 74th birthday, he retired from active work as a songwriter and bandleader and joined with another ex-bandleader to form a booking agency in

Scottsdale, Arizona , settlement_type = City , named_for = Winfield Scott , image_skyline = , image_seal = Seal of Scottsdale (Arizona).svg , image_blank_emblem = City of Scottsdale Script Logo.svg , nick ...

. Trace died of a stroke in

Sun City West, Arizona Sun City West is an unincorporated community and census-designated place (CDP) in Maricopa County, Arizona, United States. The population was 25,806 at the 2020 census. Geography Sun City West is located northwest of downtown Phoenix at (33 ...

, at the age of 92.

Ensembles led by Trace

* 1944–1948: Al Trace and His Silly Symphonists * 1948–1950: Al Trace And His New Orchestra * 1949: Al Trace & His Flame Throwers * 1953: Al Trace and His Orchestra

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Trace, Al American bandleaders Songwriters from Illinois Musicians from Chicago 1900 births 1993 deaths 20th-century American male musicians