Harry James’s soaring, searing trumpet playing is thought by many to be one of the most distinctive sounds there is in swing music. From the unabashed romanticism of his “You Made Me Love You” (a tribute to Judy GARLAND), to the flashy virtuosity of his “Flight of the Bumble Bee,” James combined a rich tone, exquisite taste, and often breathtaking technique that made him popular for five decades. “The Horn,” as he was nicknamed, was a triple threat among big-bandleaders : a superb soloist, a polished showman, and a shrewd businessman. According to jazz historian Gunther Schuller, James was “undoubtedly the most technically assured and prodigiously talented white trumpet player of the late Swing Era.”
Harry Haag James was born on March 15, 1916, in Albany, Georgia. His parents were both circus performers. At age seven, James started playing the drums, taking up the trumpet soon after. Settling in Beaumont, Texas, the 12-year-old Harry played trumpet in the circus band and then with various dance bands around the southwest.
In 1935 James joined Ben Pollack’s big band, leaving two years later to lead Benny GOODMAN’S brass section. Here he blazed his way through Goodman classics such as “Sing Sing Sing,” and “Ridin’ High,” and in 1938 recorded a million-seller, “One O’clock Jump.” The following year James borrowed $40,000 from Goodman to start his own big band, originally called the Music Makers. James’s ensemble mixed sweet-sounding pop songs and swinging dance tunes (inspired by Duke ELLINGTON and Count BASIE) with special material showcasing Harry’s masterful trumpet playing. The band racked up several hits in the early 1940s, including “Strictly Instrumental,” and its signature tune, “Ciribiribin.”
In 1939, James discovered a young singing waiter named Frank SINATRA performing in a New Jersey roadhouse. According to James, Sinatra was “a very serious singer [even] then…. When he sang, he sang.” James hired Sinatra, and their first big hit together, “All or Nothing at All,” was recorded in 1940 but failed to make the charts until three years later when, somewhat ironically, it was reissued during a musicians’ strike. James acquired talented wartime crooners such as Dick HAYMES (“I’ll Get By”), Helen Forrest (“I Had the Craziest Dream,” “I’ve Heard That Song Before”), and Kitty Kallen (“I’m Beginning to See the Light,” “It’s Been a Long, Long Time”), and brilliant musicians such as drummer Buddy Rich and alto saxophonist Willie Smith.
In the 1940s and 1950s, James appeared in nearly 20 movies, most prominently Springtime in the Rockies of 1943 (starring Betty Grable, whom he married the following year); Best Foot Forward (also 1943); Two Girls and a Sailor (1944); and Carnegie Hall (1947). In Young Man with a Horn, a 1950 musical loosely based on the life of doomed jazzman Bix BEIDERBECKE, James dubbed the trumpet playing of star Kirk Douglas.
With the decline of big bands in the early 1950s, James disbanded his ensemble. He soon formed another band, and went on to tour and record successfully into the 1980s, dividing much of his time between residencies at major hotel and casino venues.
Harry James died of lymphatic cancer in Las Vegas, Nevada, on July 5, 1983, just a week after playing his final gig. He never lost his wit and enthusiasm, even at the end of his life; on his deathbed he quipped: “May it be simply said of me, ‘He’s on the road to do one-nighters with Gabriel.’”
Michael R. Ross
SEE ALSO:
BIG BAND JAZZ; DORSEY, TOMMY; FILM MUSICALS; JAZZ; POPULAR MUSIC; SWING.
FURTHER READING
Garrod, Charles, and Peter Johnston. Harry James and His Orchestra (Zephyrhills, FL: Joyce Record Club. 1996);
Schuller, Gunther. The Swing Era: The Development of Jazz, 1930–45 (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1989).
SUGGESTED LISTENING
Bandstand Memories 1938–48; The Best of the Big Bands: Harry James and His Great Vocalists; Best of Harry James and His Orchestra.