Sonny Burke
Sonny Burke ( born March 22, 1914 in Scranton (Pennsylvania ) and Joseph Francis Burke, † 31 May 1980, Santa Monica ) was an American jazz pianist, keyboardist, bandleader, arranger and composer.
Life and work
Sonny Burke graduated in 1937 from Duke University, where he headed a campus band. After his studies, he worked with an ensemble on an ocean liner. He worked then as an arranger for various orchestras including the Xavier Cugat for, Buddy Rogers and Joe Venuti. In 1938 he took over in New York City, the band of Sam Donahue, was the 1939 and 1940 on tour; in the 1940s he had several different big bands. He also worked as an arranger for Charlie Spivak, Sam Donahue Jimmy Dorsey ( 1942-1945 ).
The mid-1940s he moved to Hollywood, where he worked as a manager for Decca Records. It originated there also recordings with his own band, which also appeared in the Hollywood Palladium. He had a hit success in California with Mambo Jambo. In his orchestras played and Others musicians such as Milt Bernhart Pete Candoli, Ray Conniff, Sam Donahue, Charlie Shavers and Si Zentner; his band was singer Jo Ann Greer.
In 1953 he wrote for Peggy Lee with Paul Francis Webster, the title track of their album Black Coffee; In 1955 he wrote the songs with Peggy Lee for the Disney movie Lady and the Tramp. He also contributed to the composition of the Lionel Hampton - title "Midnight Sun " for the Johnny Mercer wrote the lyrics. In the 1950s he worked as an arranger and bandleader for many studio recordings of Decca, among others, Louis Armstrong and Ella Fitzgerald. Burke was then musical director of the label Reprise Records, and as such responsible for numerous albums by Frank Sinatra. He was also the orchestra director at recordings of Ella Fitzgerald and Mel Tormé.
Sonny Burke is not to be confused with keyboardist Reginald " Sonny " Burke, who participated in the 1970s photographs by Stanley Turrentine, John Handy, and Dizzy Gillespie.
Disco Graphical Notes
- Sonny Burke plays Mambo (1951 )
- Sonny Burke and his Orchestra I & II ( 1951)
- The Sonny Burke Don Elliott Six ( 1960 )