Will Osborne

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Will Osborne (born November 25, 1906 in Canada , † October 22, 1981 in Los Angeles ) was a Canadian-born American singer , drummer and big band leader in the field of swing and popular music .

Osborne came from a Scottish noble family; his father was supposedly a Lord Oliphant.

Life

He founded his first dance band in New York City in 1924 , which mainly performed in the whisper bars of the time, the speakeasys . After a few months he got the opportunity for a longer engagement in the Kentucky Club , where the Duke Ellington Orchestra had previously performed. With recordings for Columbia , Banner, Mellotone, Perfect, Decca , Varsity, Black & White and radio recordings of their performances, the Will Osborne Band soon became a national attraction.

In the mid-1930s, Osborne created an idiosyncratic style with four trombones blowing cardboard megaphones, as in “Listen To The Glissin” for Decca from 1936 with Osborne as the singer. Back then they were called Will Osborne & His Slide Music . The band leader, who was often mistakenly mistaken for a trombonist because of his trombone sound, developed a typical crooner style as a band singer .

At the end of the 1930s they went on a tour to the west coast of the USA and made guest appearances. a. at the Palomar Ballroom in Los Angeles. Osborne set up his headquarters there in the mid-1940s and - like many other band leaders - had numerous appearances in films such as the Warner Brothers or Paramount Pictures as well as in the Abbott and Costello radio show . Will Osborne appeared in the musical film Blues in the Night in 1941 , in the Abbott and Costello film In Society in 1944 and in Swing Parade in 1946 .

During this time the style of his orchestra was strongly oriented towards swing; However, changed the character of the band to a smooth style after the war . In 1946 he recorded for Black & White Records ("In the Moon Mist"); In 1947/48 his band consisted of 17 musicians and a band singer; Osborne remained active as a band leader in the music business until the late 1950s. He then became director of Harvey's, a popular casino club in Lake Tahoe , Nevada . He spent his final years in Newport Beach, California .

Osborne has also written numerous titles over the course of his career, such as "Between 18th and 19th On Chestnut Street," which became a hit with Bing Crosby and Connee Boswell , "Pompton Turnpike" for Charlie Barnets Orchestra, "Wouldst Could I But Kiss Thy Hand, Oh Babe, "Will Osborne And His Slide Music" played with singer "Doghouse" Dale Jones in 1940. The title only became a success with the version by Glen Gray and the Casa Loma Orchestra . Osborne wrote these songs with Dick "Stinky Rogers", who also sang in his band and later took them over. Another track by Osborne was On A Blue And Moonless Night, which the Wayne King Orchestra made a hit.

Discographic notes

  • Uncollected Will Osborne & His Orchestra (Hindsight, 1936)

swell

personal data
SURNAME Osborne, Will
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American jazz musician and big band leader
DATE OF BIRTH November 25, 1906
PLACE OF BIRTH Canada
DATE OF DEATH October 22, 1981
Place of death los Angeles