System Mechanic - Clean, repair, protect, and speed up your PC!Harry James, Bandleader/trumpet player
March 15, 1916 - July 05, 1983
Harry James was born March 15, 1916, in Albany, Georgia. James' father played trumpet in a touring circus band. At first Harry played the drums, but then he, too, took up the trumpet and at the age of nine was also playing in the circus band. He showed such enormous promise that his father had soon taught him everything he knew.
Harry left the circus and played with various bands in Texas before joining Ben Pollack in 1935. Early in 1937, James was hired by Benny Goodman, an engagement that gave him maximum exposure to swing era audiences. Heavily featured with Goodman and, with Ziggy Elman and Chris Griffin, forming part of a powerful and exciting trumpet section, James quickly became a household name. He remained with Goodman a little under two years, leaving to form his own big band.
James' progress was spotty until scoring a hit with the old standby "You Made Me Love You." His popularity increased and his public image, aided by his marriage to film star Betty Grable, reached remarkable heights for a musician. The band's popularity was achieved largely through James own solos, but a small part of its success may be attributed to his singers, Louise Tobin, to whom James was briefly married before Grable, Frank Sinatra, who soon left to join Tommy Dorsey, Helen Forrest, Dick Haymes and Kitty Kallen.
James maintained his band throughout the 40s and into the early 50s, establishing a solid reputation thanks to distinguished sidemen such as Willie Smith, Buddy Rich, Corky Corcoran and Juan Tizol. Owing chiefly to the recorded repertoire, much of which featured James playing florid trumpet solos on tunes such as "The Flight Of The Bumble Bee", "The Carnival Of Venice", "I Cried For You" and "You Made Me Love You', his band was at times less than popular with hardcore jazz fans. In the mid-50s, after a period of re-evaluation, James formed a band to play charts by Ernie Wilkins and Neal Hefti. James continued leading into the 60s and 70s, dividing his time between extended residencies at major hotel and casino venues, mostly in Las Vegas, Nevada, and touring internationally.
Over the years James appeared in several movies - with his band in Springtime In The Rockies, Best Foot Forward, Two Girls And A Sailor, Bathing Beauty, If I'm Lucky, Do You Love Me, Carnegie Hall, and I'll Get By - and as a solo artist in Syncopation and The Benny Goodman Story. He also played trumpet on the soundtrack of Young Man With A Horn.
James remained popular into the 80s and never lost his enthusiasm, despite suffering from cancer, which eventually claimed him. He died on July 5, 1983, Las Vegas, Nevada.
