Jack Jenney

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Truman Eliot "Jack" Jenney (born May 12, 1910 in Mason City (Iowa) , † December 16, 1945 in Los Angeles ) was an American trombonist , trumpeter , big band leader and composer in the field of swing and popular music .

Live and act

Jack Jenney first learned the trumpet at the age of eight and played in his father's band, a musician and music teacher, at the age of eleven. He switched to the trombone as the main instrument during high school at Cedar Rapids ; he had his first professional appearance in 1928 with Austin Wylie , a band that Artie Shaw was a member of at the time . In the early 1930s he went to New York City and worked as a studio musician, a. a. for Victor Young and Freddie Rich; He also played in the bands of Isham Jones , Red Norvo , Artie Shaw, Mal Hallett , Shep Fields and Fred Waring's Pennsylvanians , he also appeared in the films Syncopation and Manhattan Merry-Go-Round (1937).

He was considered one of the most respected trombonists of the big band era and won the Down Beat Reader’s Poll in 1940 on his instrument . After he had put together a studio band in 1938, he led his own band in 1939/40, in which u. a. Peanuts Hucko , Arnold Ross and Hugo Winterhalter played. Although Jenney's orchestra received good reviews, the company was a financial failure. His most famous recordings for Columbia Records , which were made during this time, include the two instrumental versions of the jazz standard " Stardust ".

Jack Jenney was married to singer Kay Thompson in the 1930s ; In 1937 he led a recording session for her. In the early 1940s the couple divorced without children.

Jenney quit the band and played with Artie Shaw; In 1943 he moved to Bobby Byrnes Orchestra, whose direction he took over when Byrne was drafted when the United States entered the war . Jenney performed with the band, which existed only a few months, mostly in Florida and also went on tour in the Midwest, with an engagement at the Chase Hotel in St. Louis . Eventually he was drafted into the US Navy, where he played in a military band, but had to retire from service in 1944 due to illness. He moved to the west coast and worked there as a studio musician, where he played mostly on radio shows, such as for Dick Haymes ' Something for the Boys program. At the end of 1945 he planned to found a larger orchestra with strings; however, he died of complications from appendicitis in a Hollywood hospital.

Shortly before his death, he wrote the song "Man With A Horn" with his wife Bonnie Lake and Edgar De Lange ; he also wrote "City Night" with Alec Wilder and "What More Can I Give You?" with Kay Thompson.

Appreciation

The critic Scott Yanow praises the wrongly forgotten musician as one of the top trombonists of the swing era; Jenney had a beautiful tone in his opinion and was one of the most tech-savvy trombonists of his day. His recordings, 18 tracks under his own name, which he recorded with his orchestra from 1938 to 1940, appeared on Hep Records under the title Stardust . Jenney took on three other songs in a smaller line-up with drummer Johnny Williams , trumpeter Charlie Spivak and tenor saxophonist Babe Russin . Jenney is remembered for his solo in Artie Shaw's famous version of "Stardust," as well as for his own version of the standard with his Big band, with the first recording of the drummer Gene Krupa .

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personal data
SURNAME Jenney, Jack
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Jenney, Truman Eliot
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American jazz trombonist and big band leader
DATE OF BIRTH May 12, 1910
PLACE OF BIRTH Mason City, Iowa
DATE OF DEATH December 16, 1945
Place of death los Angeles