Sy Oliver

Melvin "Sy" Oliver (December 17, 1910 in Battle Creek, Michigan – May 28, 1988 in New York City) was a jazz arranger, trumpeter, composer, singer and bandleader. His mother was a piano teacher and his father was a multi-instrumentalist who made a name for himself demonstrating saxophones at a time that instrument was little used outside of marching bands.

Oliver left home at 17 to play with Zack Whyte and his Chocolate Beau Brummels and later with Alphonse Trent. He sang and played trumpet with these bands, becoming known for his "growling" horn playing.

Sy arranged and conducted many songs for Ella Fitzgerald from her Decca years.

He joined Jimmie Lunceford's band in 1933 and contributed many hit arrangements to the band, including "My Blue Heaven" and "Ain't She Sweet". In 1939, he became one of the first African Americans with a prominent role in a white band when he joined Tommy Dorsey as an arranger, though he ceased playing trumpet at that time. (Fletcher Henderson joined the Benny Goodman orchestra as the arranger in the same year.) He led the transition of the Dorsey band from Dixieland to modern big band. His joining was instrumental in Buddy Rich's decision to join Dorsey. His arrangement of "On the Sunny Side of the Street" was a big hit for Dorsey, as were his own compositions "Yes Indeed" (a gospel-jazz tune that was later recorded by Ray Charles), "Opus One," "The Minor is Muggin'," "T.D.'s Boogie Woogie," and "Well, Git It."

After leaving Dorsey, Oliver continued working as a free-lance arranger---one of his more successful such efforts was the Frank Sinatra album I Remember Tommy, a combined tribute to each man's former boss---and as music director for Decca Records.

In later years, up until 1980, he led his own jazz band, for which he took up the trumpet again.

Selected discography

• For Jimmie Lunceford:
  • Stomp it Off (1934-1935 Decca recordings) (GRP CD)
  • Swingsation (1935-1939 Decca recordings) (1998 GRP CD)
  • Lunceford Special (1939 Columbia recordings) (ca 1975 Columbia LP)
  • Rhythm is Our Business (1933-1940, both periods and record companies, successively) (ASV CD)
• For Tommy Dorsey:
  • Yes, Indeed! (1939-1945 RCA recordings) (Bluebird CD)
  • The Popular Frank Sinatra, Vol. 1, with the Pied Pipers (1940-1941 RCA recordings) (Bluebird CD)
• For Ella Fitzgerald:
  • Ella: The Legendary Decca Recordings (1938-1955 Decca recordings) (GRP 4-CD box)

• Under his own name:
  • Sway it with flowers'(1958 Decca)
  • Sentimental Sy' (1958 Dot)
  • Backstage (1959 Dot)
  • I can get it for you wholesale (1962 Columbia)
  • Easy walker (1962 Sesac)
  • Take me back ! (1972 Flac)
  • Yes Indeed ! (1973 Black and Blue)
  • Above all (1976)

See also

• Arrangement
• Swing music

External links

• Sy Oliver Papers, the collection of his personal scores and papers, in the Music Division of The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts.
• Interview with Sy Oliver
• Obituary