Frederick Alfred (Freddy) Martin (1906-1983) was an American bandleader and
tenor saxophonist.
Early life
Martin was born in Cleveland, Ohio.[1] Raised largely in an orphanage and with various relatives, Martin
started out playing drums, then switched to C-melody saxophone and later tenor saxophone, the latter the one he would be
identified with. 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. But instead, he wound
up becoming an accomplished musician. Martin led his own band while he was in high school,
then played with in various local bands. After working on a ships band, Martin joined the Mason-Dixon band, then joined
Arnold Johnson and Jack Albin. It was with Albin's "Hotel
Pennsylvania Music" that he made his first recordings, for Columbia's Velvet Tone label
in 1930.
Early career
After a couple of years, his skill began attracting other musicians. One such musician was Guy
Lombardo, who would remain friends with Martin throughout his life. There is a story about Lombardo and Martin. 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. Fortunately,
Lombardo did get to hear Freddy’s band. One night, when Guy could not do a certain date, he suggested that Freddy’s band could
fill in for him. The band did very well and that’s how Martin’s career really got started. But the band broke up and he did not
form a permanent band until 1931 at the Bossert Hotel in Brooklyn.
At the Bossert Marine Room, Freddy 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 in 1932. As the company was
broke and signing no new contracts, the band switched to Brunswick Records after one
session and remained with that label till 1938. Afterwards Martin appeared on RCA's Bluebird and Victor Records. The band also recorded pseudonymously in the
early '30s, backing singers such as Will Osborne.
Martin took his band into many prestigious hotels, including the Roosevelt Grill in
New York City and the Ambassador in Los Angeles. A
fixture on radio, his sponsored shows included NBC's Maybelline Penthouse Serenade of
1937. But Martin’s real success came in 1941 with an arrangement from the first movement of Tchaikovsky’s B-flat piano concerto. Martin recorded the piece instrumentally, but soon lyrics
were put in and it was re-cut as "Tonight We Love" with Clyde Rogers' vocal - becoming his biggest hit.
The success of "Tonight We Love" prompted Martin to adopt other classical themes as well, which featured the band's pianists
Jack Fina, Murray Arnold and Barclay Allen. At this time Freddy enlarged the orchestra to a strength of six violins, four brasses
and a like number of saxes.
Musical style
Freddy Martin was nicknamed "Mr. Silvertone" by saxophonist Johnny Hodges.
Chu Berry named Freddy 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 musicians, Freddy
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, Freddy's band was,
- "one of the most pleasant, most relaxed dance bands that ever flowed across the band scene."
Martin was probably one of the most respected tenor saxophonists of the dance band era.
He used the banner "Music In The Martin Manner." Ironically, Russ Morgan 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"!). Russ
had been playing in Freddy’s band and the two were good friends for years. Russ even used some of Freddy's arrangements when he
started his band. Did Martin let the "Music In The ------ Manner" and the arrangement thing go? Yes. "Freddy Martin is such a
nice man," said Larry Barnett. "He’s almost too nice for his own good."
Later career
Martin also had a good ear for singers. At one time or another, Martin employed Merv
Griffin, Buddy Clark, Terry Shand (also a pianist), Elmer Feldkamp (also a
saxophonist), Stuart Wade (his most impressive male singer), Eddie Stone (also a violinist), and many others. Helen Ward was a
singer for Martin just before she joined Benny Goodman's new band. Ironically, as far as I
know of, she was the only female singer to have appeared with Martin's band, recording two sides of a 78 in early 1934 with Freddy using the alias "Ed Loyd."
A popular bandleader, Martin’s popularity led him to Hollywood and
during the 1940s, he and his band appeared in a handful of films, including Seven Days'
Leave (1942), Stage Door Canteen (1943) and Melody Time (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’s first appearance in 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 long TV series of one-nighters that was
known as The Big Band Cavalcade. Among the other performers on the show were Margaret
Whiting, Bob Crosby, Frankie Carle,
Buddy Morrow, Art Mooney and George Shearing. 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 a Newport Beach hospital after a lingering illness. He was 76 years old.
The 1947 song "Pico and Sepulveda" by Felix Figueroa & His Orchestra (actually
Freddy Martin & His Orchestra) was frequently featured on Dr. Demento's syndicated radio
show. [2]
Listen to
External links
References
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