Sy Oliver

Biography
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Melvin James (Sy) Oliver,was one of America's great jazz composers and arrangers of the big band era, and a musician who had a significant impact on American popular music.

Sy Oliver was born in Battle Creek, Mich., on Dec. 10, 1910. His parents were music teachers, and his father was also a concert singer. As a trumpeter in high school, Oliver played with Cliff Barnett's Club Royal Serenaders. and at age 17, he moved up to the more prestigious territory bands, working with Zack Whyte and his Chocolate Beau Brummels, where he began to hone his arranging skills, and with Alphonso Trent's band, which was based in Cincinnati.

Oliver joined the Jimmie Lunceford Orchestra in late 1933, and in the six years until he left, his composing and arranging made the group one of the most successful and individual big bands of the swing era. He was also one of Lunceford's main trumpet soloists. When the orchestra left Buffalo in 1933, it had neither name nor reputation; for the next 10 years it astonished audiences in New York and around the country with its precision playing, high-powered novelty numbers, slick showmanship and razor-sharp swing. Oliver's arrangements were at the core of the band's repertory. Such Oliver compositions as ''For Dancers Only,'' ''Dream of You,'' ''Organ Grinder Swing,'' ''Stomp It Off'' and '' 'Tain't What You Do'' helped define the orchestra, and they remain some of jazz's finest arrangements and compositions. Mr. Oliver also arranged novelty or nostalgia tunes for the orchestra, slyly remaking them into major pieces. And the use of a vocal trio, brilliantly arranged by Mr. Oliver, became one of the orchestra's trademarks. New Allegiance.

Oliver was hired away from the Lunceford Orchestra in 1939 by the Tommy Dorsey Orchestra, for which he arranged and sang and for which he also composed a number of songs, including ''Opus One'' and ''Easy Does It.'' Oliver led a band in the Army between 1943 and 1945, and was host of a radio show, ''Endorsed by Dorsey,'' which featured his own band. He returned to Dorsey after the war.

From the late 1940's to the early 70's, Oliver moved from job to job, working for 10 years at Decca Records as a musical director. He recorded several albums, including a tribute to the Lunceford band, and wrote scores for several television shows. He continued to compose, arrange and, occasionally, to perform.

In the early 1970's, he formed a well-received nine-piece orchestra - featuring the clarinetist Barney Bigard, the pianist Cliff Smalls and the tenor saxophonist Arnett Cobb - that played the St. Regis-Sheraton, the Rainbow Grill and other clubs. In 1974, he and the group moved into the Rainbow Room, where they stayed until 1984, with occasional breaks for performances at jazz festivals and at Roseland in New York. He was also one of four musical directors of the New York Jazz Repertory Orchestra, which was dedicated to keeping jazz masterworks alive in a repertory setting. In 1984, Sy Oliver retired to spend time with his family.

Backgrounder: Oliver Nelson - Taking Care of Business

Source: JazzWax by Marc Myers
March 2, 2024

Last week, following my series on organ combos, Bill Kirchner sent along a terrific Backgrounder suggestion: Oliver Nelson's Taking Care of Business, Nelson's second leadership date. Recorded in March 1960, the album featured Oliver Nelson (as,ts), Lem Winchester (vib), Johnny “Hammond" Smith (org), George Tucker (b) and Roy Haynes (d). The tracks: Trane Whistle (Oliver Nelson) Doxy (Sonny Rollins) In Time (Nelson) Lou's Good Dues Blues (Nelson) All the Way (Sammy Cahn, Jimmy Van Heusen) Groove (Nelson) Talk about a ...
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Video / DVD

Sy Oliver's Arrangements in 10 Clips

Source: JazzWax by Marc Myers
August 31, 2023

Yesterday's post on arranger, trumpeter and vocalist Sy Oliver generated many emails from readers who have long loved his work and those who weren't familiar with him. In yesterday's post, I shared some of Oliver's classic arrangements for Tommy Dorsey and Frank Sinatra. To drive home Oliver's importance and influence, here are 10 of my favorite arrangements over the decades: Here's Oliver's arrangement of Now or Never by Billie Holiday in 1949... Here's Oliver's arrangement of That Old Feeling by ...
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Video / DVD

Sy Oliver: Easy Walker and Sentimental Sy

Source: JazzWax by Marc Myers
August 30, 2023

Sy Oliver was one of the most important arrangers of the swing era. A trumpeter, singer and arranger in Jimmie Lunceford's orchestra in the 1930s, Oliver was hired by Tommy Dorsey in 1939 to give the band a more authentic Savoy Ballroom sound. Oliver's good fortune came the following January when Frank Sinatra joined Dorsey and Oliver was tasked with orchestrating the singer's up-tempo numbers. Axel Stordahl handled the ballads. Some of Sinatra's most memorable songs with Dorsey were arranged ...
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Birthday

Jazz Musician of the Day: Oliver Lake

Source: Michael Ricci
September 14, 2022

All About Jazz is celebrating Oliver Lake's birthday today!

Born in Marianna, Arkansas in 1942, Oliver moved to St. Louis at the age of two. He began drawing at the age of thirteen (and paints daily, using oil, acrylics, wood, canvas, and mixed media), and soon after began playing cymbals and bass drum in various drum and bugle corps. At 17, he began to take a serious interest in jazz. Like many other members of BAG and its Chicago-based sister ...
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Award / Grant

Christina Beaudry-Cárdenas Wins The Oliver Jones Award Presented By The Festival International De Jazz De Montréal!

Source: Braithwaite & Katz Communications
June 18, 2022

Christina Beaudry-Cárdenas will celebrate her prize on July 9 at 6 p.m. during a show presented as part of Le Studio TD Entrée Libre series. The Oliver Jones Award: A history of gratitude and knowledge sharing The award was created in honour of Montréal jazz legend Oliver Jones. Born in the neighbourhood of Little Burgundy, this piano giant left an indelible mark on the history of the jazz fest. When two of Oliver Jones’s close collaborators approached the festival to ...
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Birthday

Jazz Musician of the Day: Oliver Lake

Source: Michael Ricci
September 14, 2021

All About Jazz is celebrating Oliver Lake's birthday today!

Birthday

Jazz Musician of the Day: Oliver Lake

Source: Michael Ricci
September 14, 2020

All About Jazz is celebrating Oliver Lake's birthday today!

Video / DVD

Oliver Nelson + Eric Dolphy

Source: JazzWax by Marc Myers
March 17, 2020

The blues were in Oliver Nelson's blood. Virtually everything he wrote and arranged had an indigo hue. But Nelson's original works weren't your average blues. They were blues cathedrals constructed with flying-buttress passages, gargoyle phrases and stained-glass voicings. When Nelson played the alto or tenor saxophone on these blues, there was a warm clarity to his tone and a sweetness to how he dragged notes. Nelson recorded head-to-head albums with Eric Dolphy, a blues master of another stripe. Dolphy's blues ...
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Birthday

Jazz Musician of the Day: Oliver Lake

Source: Michael Ricci
September 14, 2019

All About Jazz is celebrating Oliver Lake's birthday today!

Video / DVD

StLJN Saturday Video Showcase: The eclectic artistry of Oliver Lake

Source: St. Louis Jazz Notes by Dean Minderman
March 16, 2019

This week, StLJN's video spotlight shines on musician, painter, poet, and former St. Louisan Oliver Lake, who's coming to town to perform in a concert sponsored by the Nu-Art Series and St. Louis University next Friday, March 22 at Xavier Hall on the SLU campus. Lake will joined for the performance by pianist Greg Mills, trumpeter and Nu-Art Series impresario George Sams, and dancers Antonio Douthis-Boyd and Kirven Douthis-Boyd, and, in keeping with the “Jazz 'N Tongues" theme of Nu-Art's ...
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