Freddy Martin

Frederick Alfred Martin (December 9, 1906 – September 30, 1983) was an American bandleader and tenor saxophonist.

Freddy Martin was born in Cleveland, Ohio, United States.

Raised largely in an orphanage and by various relatives, Martin started out playing drums, then switched to C melody saxophone and subsequently tenor saxophone, the latter the one with which he would be identified.

Early on, he had intended to become a journalist.

He had hoped that he would earn enough money from his musical work to enter Ohio State University, but instead, he wound up becoming an accomplished musician.

Martin led his own band while he was in high school, then played in various local bands.

Martin spent his spare time selling musical instruments, which also gave him an excuse to listen to the Lombardos play at the "Music Box".

After working on a ship's band, Martin joined the Mason-Dixon band, then joined Arnold Johnson and Jack Albin.

It was with Albin's "Hotel Pennsylvania Music" that he made his first recordings for Columbia's Harmony, Velvet Tone, and Clarion 50-cent labels in 1930.

After a couple of years, his skill began attracting other musicians.

One was Guy Lombardo, who remained friends with Martin throughout his life.

After graduation from high school, Martin accepted a job at the H.N. White musical instrument company.

When Lombardo was playing in Cleveland, Martin tried giving Lombardo some saxophones, which proved unsuccessful.

However, Lombardo got to hear Martin's band.

One night, when Lombardo could not do a certain date, he suggested that Martin's band could fill in for him.

The band did very well and Martin's career got started.

The band also recorded pseudonymously in the early 1930s, backing singers such as Will Osborne.

However, the band broke up, and he did not form a permanent band until 1931 at the Bossert Hotel in Brooklyn.

At the Bossert Marine Roof, a nautical-themed restaurant positioned on the roof of the hotel, Martin pioneered the "Tenor Band" style that swept the sweet-music industry.

With his own tenor sax as melodic lead, Martin fronted an all-tenor sax section with just two brasses and a violin trio plus rhythm.

The rich, lilting style quickly spawned imitators in hotels and ballrooms nationwide.

The Martin band recorded first for Columbia Records in 1932.

From 1932 to 1938, the band's primary vocalists were saxophonist Elmer Feldkamp and pianist Terry Shand.

The former primarily sang romantic ballads, while the latter was used mostly for 'hot' dance tunes.

Martin took his band into many prestigious hotels, including the Roosevelt Grill in New York City and the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles.

A fixture on radio, his sponsored shows included NBC's Maybelline Penthouse Serenade of 1937.

As the company was broke and signing no new contracts, the band switched to Brunswick Records after one session and remained with that label till 1938.

During his tenure at Brunswick/ARC, half of his recordings were issued on ARC's stable of budget-priced labels (Banner, Conqueror, Melotone, Oriole, Perfect, Romeo, and Vocalion) as well as scores of non-vocal takes issued on ARC's special theater use label, sold only to movie theaters as background music.

In 1938, he signed with RCA Victor and was assigned to Bluebird.

Martin's real success came in 1941 with an arrangement from the first movement of Tchaikovsky's Piano Concerto No. 1 in B minor.

Martin recorded the piece instrumentally, but soon lyrics were added by Ray Austin, and it was re-cut as "Tonight We Love" with Clyde Rogers' vocal – becoming his biggest hit.

It sold over one million copies by 1946 and was awarded a gold disc by the RIAA.

The success of "Tonight We Love" prompted Martin to adopt several other classical themes (of Rachmaninoff, Grieg, and others), which featured the band's pianists Jack Fina, Murray Arnold, and Barclay Allen.

In 1946, he recorded "Dingbat the Singing Cat", adapted from Prokofiev's "Peter and the Wolf", and later recorded "A Lover's Concerto", adapted from baroque composer Christian Petzold's "Minuet in G major", two decades before pop group The Toys released it.

At this time, Martin enlarged the orchestra to a strength of six violins, four brasses, and a like number of saxes.

His band's first hits included "Intermezzo" and "the Hut-Sut Song".

Martin was nicknamed "Mr. Silvertone" by saxophonist Johnny Hodges.

Chu Berry named Martin his favorite saxophonist.

He has also been idolized by many other saxophonists, including Eddie Miller.

"Tenor bands", usually with just the three tenors and one trumpet, could occasionally be found playing for older dancers well into the 1980s.