Charlie Spivak

Charlie Spivak
Background information
Genres	Jazz, Big band
Occupation(s)	Bandleader, Musician
Instruments	Trumpet
Associated acts	Johnny Cavallaro Paul Specht Ben Pollack The Dorsey Brothers Bob Crosby
Notable instruments
Trumpet

Charlie Spivak (February 17, 1905 or 1907 – March 1, 1982) was an American trumpeter and bandleader, best known for his big band in the 1940s.

The details of Spivak's birth are unclear. Some sources place it in Ukraine in 1907, and that his family emigrated to settle in New Haven, Connecticut while he was a child. Others place his birth in New Haven two years earlier, in 1905. He learned to play trumpet when he was ten years old and played in his high school band, going on to work with local groups before joining Johnny Cavallaro's orchestra.

He played with Paul Specht's band for most of 1924 to 1930, then spent time with Ben Pollack (1931–1934), the brothers Tommy and Jimmy Dorsey (1934–1935), and Ray Noble (1935–1936). He played on "Solo Hop" in 1935 by Glenn Miller and the Glenn Miller Orchestra. He spent 1936 and 1937 mostly working as a studio musician with Gus Arnheim, Glenn Miller, Raymond Scott's radio orchestra, and others, followed by periods with Bob Crosby (1938), Tommy Dorsey (1938–1939), and Jack Teagarden (1939).

Finally, with the encouragement and financial backing of Glenn Miller, he formed his own band in November 1939. Though it failed within a year, he tried again shortly afterwards, this time taking over the existing band of Bill Downer and making a success of it. Spivak's band was one of the most successful in the 1940s, and survived until 1959. He scouted top trumpeter Paul Fredricks (formerly of Alvino Rey's Orchestra) just as Fredricks left the service at the end of World War II, in 1946. Fredricks was instrumental in the band's success in the coming years as it reached its peak.

...
Wikipedia