“Pussy Willow”
Composed and arranged by Bill Finegan.
Recorded by Tommy Dorsey and His Orchestra for RCA Victor on March 16, 1949 in New York.
Tommy Dorsey, first trombone, directing: Vern Arslan, Jack Dougherty, Chuck Peterson and Charlie Shavers, trumpets; Nick De Maio, Dick Noel, trombones; Sid Cooper, first alto saxophone; Billy Ainsworth, alto saxophone; Livio “Babe” Fresk and Abraham “Boomie” Richman, tenor saxophones; Marty Berman, baritone saxophone; Paul Smith, piano; Allen Hanlon, guitar; Norman Seelig, bass; Louis Bellson (Luigi Balassoni), drums.
The story:
At the end of 1946, after eleven years of the most intense work possible as a bandleader, Tommy Dorsey broke up his band. Major changes to the market in which TD worked as a bandleader had begun in 1946, and they accelerated as 1947 progressed. Millions of military veterans had returned home at the end of World War II, and they were trying to resume their lives as civilians. There were record numbers of marriages in those years, and soon after began the so-called “baby boom” in postwar America. People in their twenties and early thirties were trying to get jobs to support their growing families, and were buying homes in which to live. They were not going out to ballrooms and road houses to dance, and they were going to big movie theaters less because they simply did not have extra money for these kinds of amusements. The entry of commercial television onto the entertainment scene as the 1940s were ending further reduced “going out” for a lot of people. The postwar years were a time of entertainment transition.
Tommy Dorsey kept busy in the first four and a half months of 1947 with various activities including promoting the feature film The Fabulous Dorseys, in which he and his brother Jimmy were prominently featured. (Production for that film started on July 15, 1946; it was released on February 26, 1947.) He also hosted an hour-long weekly radio show on the Mutual network. He bought a 98-foot yacht in Miami, and enjoyed sailing it for a time. He attempted reconciliation with his then-wife, Pat Dane, who had separated from him in early 1947. But it was obvious to everyone who had anything to do with Tommy Dorsey that he was bored, and that he wanted to get back into the band business. He had invested a huge amount of his time, effort, and work into building his reputation as a top-grade bandleader, and he didn’t want to give that up, at least not without trying new approaches to deal with the new challenges.
Tommy had retained various personal managers through this time, and had frequent discussions with them about how he could advance his career. (He was 41 years old in 1947.) In 1946, he bought-out his brother Jimmy’s and bandleader Harry James’s ownership interest in the Casino Gardens Ballroom in Santa Monica, California. In early 1947, he began devising various promotional activities for the ballroom to lure customers in. His thinking was that he could use the ballroom as the base of operations for his band, thus minimizing costly travel to venues that were offering him less and less money. The new Tommy Dorsey orchestra debuted at Casino Gardens on May 16, 1947, amid fanfare and many different promotional gimmicks, including the introduction of pizza, then a novelty in the United States, at the ballroom. Before long, Tommy was grossing $15,000.00 a week at Casino Gardens.
One of many promotional activities at Casino Gardens Ballroom – the “Beautiful Legs Contest “- September 2, 1949.
Although the swing era was winding down in the late 1940s, those years were in many ways successful ones for Tommy Dorsey and His Orchestra. As always, Tommy was playing brilliantly. To show off his virtuosity on trombone, he collaborated with arranger and lead alto saxophonist, Sid Cooper, a member of his band, on a special composition/arrangement called “Trombonology.”(1) The TD band itself was in excellent condition musically then as well. Tommy was able to attract many very talented young musicians to join him, despite a general downturn in the band business. In fact, since there were fewer bands on the scene then, TD had the pick of more and more musicians who were looking for work. It was a buyer’s market, and after more than a decade as a bandleader, Tommy knew how to buy talent.
In addition, Tommy was taking on an ever-larger role in running the business side of his band. This process would reach a climax of sorts in 1950 when he separated himself from both Music Corporation of America (MCA), his long-time booking agent, and Victor Records, after a tremendously successful 15-year association.
Unlike most other bandleaders, Tommy studied the ever-changing trends in popular music, show business, and especially the music business. Rather than simply reacting to those trends, TD made whatever moves he could to put himself in front of those trends. Eventually, this is what caused him to begin working in the new mass medium television, and record his band as an independent producer in the mid-1950s. After his accidental and premature death at the end of 1956, others very successfully followed his lead, most notably Lawrence Welk on television, and Frank Sinatra on records. (Above right: an ad TD put in a music trade paper in 1950 after he separated from MCA. He also had vanity license plates made for his black Cadillac which read: “4Q-MCA.”)
The term “narcisist” has gained a great deal of currency in recent years. In many ways, Tommy Dorsey was a narcissist. His ego was mammoth; he was a control freak; he could treat other people carelessly, indeed, even sadistically. But however maddening his egocentric behavior was, flashes of less selfish behavior nevertheless occurred. A classic example of this was in his interactions with the clarinetist Buddy De Franco. De Franco was in and out of the TD band at least three times through the 1940s. He was a great musician, and Tommy was well aware of that. After De Franco left the Dorsey band the first time, Tommy, through his network of friends and associates in the music business, had De Franco blackballed, so he would find it very difficult to find work as a free-lance musician. He wanted De Franco to come back into his band. Buddy eventually did. Like many musicians who worked for TD, De Franco had a love-hate relationship with him. When Buddy, who was severely asthmatic in those years, had a particularly bad asthma attack, Tommy allowed him to take time off to deal with it, and did not dock his salary. But again, Tommy wanted Buddy in his band, and ever the calculating bandleader that he was, he undoubtedly understood that indulging De Franco in this way was simply another cost of having him in his band. (2) (Above left: Buddy De Franco in an uncomfortable position. TD liked it when he was uncomfortable because he could always be more comfortable as a member of Tommy’s band.)
Nevertheless, by the time the recordings presented with this post were made, De Franco had moved on, and his chair was taken by the talented clarinetist Billy Ainesworth.
The music:
This tune is not to be confused with another one also titled “Pussy Willow,” which was composed by Duke Ellington in late 1938, and recorded by Duke for Brunswick/Columbia on March 20, 1939. This “Pussy Willow” was composed by Bill Finegan in the early spring of 1946. He later mused: “I named this one myself. It was spring and there’s a theme in the introduction that says ‘pussy willow.'”(3)
In addition, Finegan noted that this tune is a study in thirds (4), which I found to be interesting both musically and historically. Finegan’s feelings for Glenn Miller, his boss from 1939 through most of 1942, were ambivalent. He later recalled this musical interaction with Miller: “Glenn loved Delius and Ravel, especially Delius’s ‘On Hearing the First Cukoo in Spring,’ and Ravel’s ‘Introduction and Allegro,’ and ‘String Quartet in F.’ Once when we were at the Meadowbrook and I was down in the dumps, he and Helen brought me back to their hotel room in Paterson, and Glenn played (on the piano) Ravel for me. He liked to play everything in thirds. 
I’d imitate Glenn for Jerry Gray. Finally, I got so brazen, I imitated Glenn for Glenn, …and he laughed.”(5) Was Bill Finegan thinking of Glenn Miller when he composed “Pussy Willow”?
Finegan’s “Pussy Willow” entered the repertoire of Tommy Dorsey’s band soon after it was composed, and he played it regularly on jobs until he recorded it on March 16, 1949. (At left: Bill Finegan.)
This recording, in addition to showcasing Bill Finegan’s masterful arrangement, also shows-off the impeccable ensemble performance capabilities of the late-1940s Dorsey band. By the time these performances were recorded, Tommy had been a bandleader for well over a decade. In that time, his bands went from good ensembles giving good performances, to great ensembles delivering superb performances. That did not happen by accident. TD was a master at rehearsal. He communicated what he wanted very clearly to his musicians, and he expected them to give him at least 100% of their attention and skill at all times. Anything less was grounds for peremptory removal. And as mentioned above, the level of talent in the Dorsey band in the late 1940s was very high. Despite these rather exacting requirements, almost all of the musicians who worked with TD accepted and complied with them because they knew superb performances would be the result.
Tommy Dorsey and his band make a remote radio broadcast from the Chase Hotel in St. Louis – August 1948.
The descending introduction (8 bars) is an early example of Bill Finegan’s use of the various sections of a big band in kaleidoscopic fashion. He would do this often in coming years.
A burst of brass brings on the saxophone quintet, which is featured throughout this arrangement, playing the main melody in two eight-bar tracts. (This is a 32-bar tune AABA.) Finegan swathes the saxophone sonority in contrasting velvety open trombone sounds, with open trumpet bursts to add yet more color. On the bridge (B), he deploys the reeds in flowing fashion, with only a couple of brass punctuations. The last eight bars (A) of the first chorus return the music to the sounds of the first 16.
Tommy Dorsey with his saxophone section – late 1940s. Marty Berman is hidden behind TD; then L-R: Billy Ainesworth, Sid Cooper, Boomie Richman and Babe Fresk. The face behind Fresk is Jack Dougherty.)
There follows a delightfully rhythmic and brassy eight-bar interlude during which the open trombones and open trumpets play hide-and-seek.
The next chorus has the saxophones, in particularly singing fashion, in front with the main melody, but this time the trumpets and trombones add emphases as a unit. (16 bars) The next sequence has the saxophones ascending both dynamically and in register. This is followed by the four trombones (with TD leading) descending into a brief solo by tenor saxophonist Boomie Richman, with the descending trombones reappearing briefly before Richman finishes. The blasting ensemble then takes the descending melody through the last eight bars of the chorus.
The saxophones with open brass chirps then return taking the music into the quiet finale where the Harmon-muted trumpets play a tasty chord to apply the final bit of sonoric punctuation. (Above right: TD’s trumpets in 1949. L-R: Vern Arslan, Charlie Shavers, Chuck Peterson and Jack Dougherty.)
“Pussy Willow”
Composed and arranged by Bill Finegan.
Recorded live in performance by Tommy Dorsey and His Orchestra from a radio broadcast emanating from the Cafe’ Rouge of Hotel Pennsylvania on November 8, 1948 in New York.
Tommy Dorsey, first trombone, directing: Vern Arslan, Jack Dougherty, Chuck Peterson and Charlie Shavers, trumpets; Nick De Maio, Dick Noel, trombones; Sid Cooper, first alto saxophone; Billy Ainsworth, alto saxophone; Livio “Babe” Fresk and Abraham “Boomie” Richman, tenor saxophones; Marty Berman, baritone saxophone; Paul Smith, piano; Allen Hanlon, guitar; Norman Seelig, bass; Louis Bellson, drums.
A bit more story:
The brief introductory exchange between the radio announcer and TD reminds us that in the late 1940s, Tommy was expressing various negative opinions about bebop which created some controversy in the music trade papers. Certain writers, sensing that controversy is always a good thing for circulation, piled onto this. The opinions of other musicians were sought out and added fuel to the controversy. This controversy did not help either bebop, which was not dance music, or swing, which was. Tommy Dorsey was in the business of leading a dance band. Regardless of his opinions about bop, that musical idiom was actually irrelevant to what he was doing in leading his dance band. After this manufactured controversy died down, Tommy continued doing what he always did: lead a great band, and play his trombone at virtuoso levels.
It should be noted that this arrangement has no trombone solo by Tommy Dorsey. Bill Finegan well understood that Tommy’s great ability on trombone definitely extended to him playing lead. Finegan and Dorsey had an understanding that if a chart had no solo in it for Tommy, Bill would write him some distinctive lead parts to play. That is exactly what happened in this arrangement.
It should also be noted that Louis (which he pronounced Louie) Bellson, a drummer who could and did play solos in the extroverted pyrotechnic Buddy Rich manner when that was required (6), plays in this performance in a way that demonstrates that he was also a master at playing for the band. Throughout this performance (and the commercial recording above) he does the right things at the right times, with taste and distinction. (Louis Bellson is shown at left.)
The recordings presented with this post were digitally remastered by Mike Zirpolo.
Notes and links:
(1) Tommy Dorsey and His orchestra recorded “Trombonology” for RCA Victor on July 1, 1947. Here is a link to that recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QIbeaDOEEJk
(2) See: Tommy Dorsey …Livin’ in a Great Big Way (2005), by Peter J. Levinson, 220.
(3) The Swing Era – Into the 50s (1971), notes on the music by Joseph Kastner, 60.
(4) Liner notes for Tommy Dorsey and His Orchestra – The Post-War Years (1993) BMG 07863-66156-2, liner notes by Loren Schoenberg (8).
(5) Glenn Miller and His Orchestra (1974), by George T. Simon, 153.
6) A great showcase for Louis Bellson’s virtuosity as a drummer is “Drumology,” which he recorded with Tommy Dorsey on March 11, 1949. Here is a link to that performance: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=um8fiJ7u0dM
Here are links to some other great Tommy Dorsey recordings from the late 1940s and early 1950s:
https://swingandbeyond.com/2020/10/21/cheek-to-cheek-1953-tommy-dorsey-bill-finegan/
Nice arrangement!