Sy Oliver

Sy Oliver from September 1946
Background information
Birth name Melvin Oliver
Born (1910-12-17)December 17, 1910
Bentleyville, Pennsylvania, United States
Died May 28, 1988(1988-05-28) (aged 77)
Genres Bandleader, conductor
Years active 1930s - 1980s
Labels Columbia, Capitol
Associated acts Pied Pipers, Frank Sinatra

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.

As a composer, one of his most famous songs was T'ain't What You Do (It's the Way That You Do It) which he co-wrote with Trummy Young.

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 [link]

  • 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 [link]

External links [link]


https://wn.com/Sy_Oliver

I Never Knew (What That Song Meant Before)

I Never Knew (What That Song Meant Before) is the twenty fourth studio album by American country music artist, Connie Smith. The album was released in August 1974 on Columbia Records and was produced by Ray Baker. The title track became the album's lead single.

Background

I Never Knew (What That Song Meant Before) contained eleven tracks (as did her past three albums for the Columbia label), including cover versions of Harlan Howard's "The Key's in the Mailbox" and Tom T. Hall's "Never Having You." The album was recorded at the Columbia Recording Studio in Nashville, Tennessee in 1974 and was her second and final album that was released that year. The album was issued on a 12-inch LP album, with six songs on the first side of the record and five songs on the other side of the record. The album has not been reissued since its original release on vinyl under Columbia in 1974.

Release

I Never Knew (What That Song Meant Before) spawned one single, the title track. Release in June 1974, the song (written by Sanger D. Shafer) became a major hit on the Country chart in the United States, reaching #13 on the Billboard Magazine Hot Country Songs chart. The album itself also charted. Released in August 1974, I Never Knew (What That Song Meant Before) peaked at #22 on the Billboard Top Country Albums chart, Smith's highest-charting album since 1973's God Is Abundant.

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This page contains text from Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia - https://wn.com/I_Never_Knew_(What_That_Song_Meant_Before)

I Never Knew (What That Song Meant Before) (song)

"I Never Knew (What That Song Meant Before)" is a single by American country music artist Connie Smith. Released in June 1974, the song reached #13 on the Billboard Hot Country Singles chart. The song was issued onto Smith's second 1974 studio release that went by the same name. The single became Smith's second major hit single under Columbia Records.

Chart performance

References

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This page contains text from Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia - https://wn.com/I_Never_Knew_(What_That_Song_Meant_Before)_(song)

Podcasts:

Sy Oliver

ALBUMS

Satchmo: The Louis Armstrong Collection

Released 2011

Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day

Released 2008

108 Classic Sides From a Great American Hitmaker

Released 2007

First Class Jazz

Released 2006

The Chronological Classics: Ella Fitzgerald 1950

Released 2001

On the Sunny Side of the Street

Released 2001

The Great Ella Fitzgerald [Goldies]

Released 1999

Jazz Greats, Volume 53: Big Band Voices

Released 1998

Frank Sinatra & Friends

Released 1998

Duets

Released 1997

Smoke Dreams

Released 1993

Swing for a Crime

Released 1992

Jazz in the Charts 093 (1950-1951)

Songs That Won the War: Swing Again, Yes Indeed!

Decca: The Legendary Big Band Singers

Born: 1910-12-17

Died: 1988-05-28

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PLAYLIST TIME:

I Never Knew

by: Deborah Cox

It was a cold day in December
I remember it so well
You captured my whole being
And you left me in a spell
You warmed my heart with passion
Desiring all of you
You left me cold in the summer
I wish that I had only knew but I
Never knew that you would be the one
To come along and snatch my heart and run
Away from me with no explanation why
I never knew what we had would die
All I wanna do is hide away
From all the hurt and pain of yesterday
Can't you see the tears, the hurt inside?
I never knew, please tell me why, why
All the nights you left me crying
Keeping company with my fears
That some day you'd leave me lonely
And that's exactly what you did
I swore that I was your baby
Darkest night for you I'd bear
Now that I need you here with me
I call your name and you're not there
You left me standing so empty handed
Out in the cold how was I to know
That my love didn't matter, and my world was shattered
'Cause you left me here drowning in tears, oh why
I never knew that you would be the one
To come along and snatch my heart and run
Away from me with no explanation why
I never knew what we had would die
All I wanna do is hide away
From all the hurt and pain of yesterday
Can't you see the tears, the hurt inside?
I never knew, please tell me why
After we made plans to spend our lives together
I thought what we had was meant to be forever
Oh why did our love have to go away?
I don't know how, I don't know when
All I know I'll never love this way again
I never knew that you would be the one
To come along and snatch my heart and run
Away from me with no explanation why
I never knew what we had would die
All I wanna do is hide away
From all the hurt and pain of yesterday
Can't you see the tears, the hurt inside?
I never knew, please tell me why
I never knew that you would be the one
Come along and snatch my heart and run
Away from me with no explanation why
I never knew what we had would die
All I wanna do is hide away
From all the hurt and pain of yesterday
Can't you see the tears, the hurt inside?
I never knew, please tell me why
I never knew, I never knew
I never knew, I never knew
I never knew, I never knew
I never knew, I never knew it could be like this
I never knew, I never knew
I never knew, I never knew
I never knew, I never knew




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