Si Zentner, Date of Birth, Place of Birth, Date of Death

    

Si Zentner

American jazzband leader

Date of Birth: 13-Jun-1917

Place of Birth: New York City, New York, United States

Date of Death: 31-Jan-2000

Profession: composer, conductor, bandleader, jazz musician

Nationality: United States

Zodiac Sign: Gemini


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About Si Zentner

  • Simon Hugh "Si" Zentner (June 13, 1917 in New York City, United States – January 31, 2000 in Las Vegas, Nevada) was an American trombonist and jazz big-band leader.Zentner played violin from age four and picked up trombone a few years later.
  • As a teenager, he was awarded the Guggenheim Foundation Philharmonic Scholarship.
  • He attended college for music and had intended to pursue a career in classical music, but became more interested in pop music after recording with Andre Kostelanetz.
  • Zentner played in the bands of Les Brown, Harry James, and Jimmy Dorsey in the 1940s, then moved to Los Angeles, where he worked as a studio musician.
  • He also landed a job with MGM from 1949 to the mid-50s, and was involved in the music for films such as Singin' in the Rain and A Star Is Born.In the late 1950s, Zentner put together his own studio big band and signed with Bel Canto Records.
  • The Zentner band began recording for Liberty Records in 1959 releasing numerous successful pop/jazz albums during the 1960s and touring steadily with a large well-rehearsed outfit.
  • He also briefly recorded for RCA Victor.
  • Zentner was a tireless promoter and claimed to have played 178 consecutive one-night performances when the band was at its peak.
  • His ensemble was voted "Best Big Band" for 13 straight years by Down Beat, and Zentner himself was voted Best Trombonist in Playboy Jazz Readers' Poll.
  • Zentner was known for his bold, brash and bright playing with great breath control and distinctive vibrato.
  • In 1962, his album Up a Lazy River (Big Band Plays the Big Hits, Vol.
  • 2) (arranged by Bob Florence) won a Grammy Award for Best Pop Instrumental Performance.Zentner's success was thoroughly unusual; he had a thriving big band going at a time when big band music was, for the most part, on the wane.
  • The general downturn in interest eventually caught up to him, and by mid-decade the orchestra performed only on a limited basis despite recording through the late 1960s.
  • He then moved to Las Vegas and accompanied Mel Tormé at the Blue Room of the Tropicana Hotel.
  • In 1968, he became musical director of the long-running Vegas show Folies Bergere.
  • It was not until the 1990s that Zentner returned to big band performance, assembling a new group and releasing several more albums. He suffered from leukemia late in life, though he continued performing into 1999; he died of the disease in early 2000.

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