Tommy Dorsey

“A fascinating study of a musical giant who lived fast and died young.” —New York Daily News

Swing has never gone out of style. It was the music the Greatest Generation danced to—and went to war to. And no musician evokes the Big Band era more strikingly than Tommy Dorsey, whose soaring trombone play and hit tunes influenced popular music for a generation.

Tommy Dorsey led a rich and complex life. Beginning with his childhood in the coal mining towns of Pennsylvania, this biography follows the young trombonist's journey to fame and fortune during the Jazz Age. Tommy, with his brother Jimmy, created one of the most popular bands of the era and played with such giants as Bing Crosby and Glenn Miller. They also launched the career of a skinny young singer named Frank Sinatra. But Tommy's volcanic personality eventually split the band and Tommy went off on his own.

Drawing on exhaustive new research and scores of interviews with the musicians who knew him best, Levinson delves into Dorsey's famously eccentric lifestyle and his oversize appetite for drink, women, and perfection. Tommy Dorsey is a dazzling portrait of the Big Band's brightest star—his tumultuous life, his turbulent times, and the unforgettable music that made him a legend.

“This well-researched biography encompasses nearly every aspect of the life of one of the greatest Big Band era leaders in depth and makes extensive use of interviews with the musicians who knew him.” —JazzTimes