Charlie Spivak

Charlie Spivak (* February 17, 1907 Kiev, Ukraine; † March 1, 1982 in Greenville, South Carolina) was an American big band leader and trumpeter of swing and dance music -oriented mind.

Life and work

Spivak was born in Ukraine, but came as a child with his parents to the United States and grew up in New Haven, Connecticut. Aged 10, he began learning trumpet and played in his youth in local bands and in the band of Don Cavallaro. 1924 to 1930 he played in the big band of Paul Specht and thereafter until 1934, by Ben Pollack, 1934/1935 at the Dorsey brothers and Ray Noble until 1936. Until the following year he worked as a studio musician for example, Glenn Miller, was 1938 Bob Crosby, 1938/1939 with Tommy Dorsey and Jack Teagarden in 1939. With the support of Glenn Miller, he made his first attempt in late 1939, its own big band in Washington DC to found, but only succeeded after he took over the band of another ( Bill Downer ).

Spivak's band had their first major engagement at the Glen Iceland Casion ( here briefly played Sid Caesar in Spivak's band). She was in the 1940s one of the most popular dance bands: She also appeared in the Hollywood Palladium and New York's Pennsylvania Hotel, and existed until 1959 in her playing, among others, Les Elgart, Urbie Green, Peanuts Hucko, Willie Smith, Dave Tough, Rolf. Ericson and trombonist Nelson Riddle, who arranged for the band. Spivak took on a number of records for Okeh, Victor, London and Columbia. During the war years she performed regularly at the Kate Smith Show and sponsored by Coca -Cola radio program Parade of Spotlight Bands and has appeared in several Hollywood films such as Pin Up Girl or follow the Girls.

Feather and Gitler, according to Spivak himself, who was well versed as a studio musician, was less a jazz musician, but played to the audience taste accommodating. In the 1950s he lived in Florida, Las Vegas and South Carolina, where he still occasionally ran until the 1960s band, with which he, inter alia, occurred in Las Vegas. In the early 1970s he played regularly with a five -piece band to Ye Olde Fire Place, a club where he lives Greenville in South Carolina.

He was with the singer Irene Daye (1918-1971) who married first sang with Gene Krupa and later also in the bands of Spivak.

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