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Donald's Encyclopedia of Popular MusicA B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y ZELGART, Les and LarryDance band leaders. Les (b 3 August 1918, New Haven CN; d 29 July 1995, Dallas) played lead trumpet; brother Larry (b 20 March 1922, New London CN; d 29 August 2017, Sarasota FL) lead alto sax, later lead soprano. Both had extensive Swing Era experience; Larry was hired at age 17 to play with Charlie Spivak. Les led a band with Larry in it '45-6, but it failed, despite arrangements by Nelson Riddle, Bill Finegan and Ralph Flanagan. They sold the arraangements to Tommy Dorsey, led separate bands and freelanced. Larry made an album called Impressions of Outer Space with arranger Charles Albertine on Brunswick '53 which didn't sell but caught the attention of John Hammond, who brought them to Columbia. The brothers then reunited under Les until '58 when Larry took over, then were together again from '63 often billed as Les and Larry Elgart. The emphasis was on smooth sound and ensemble. Records on Decca and MGM but mainly (mid-'50s and after '63) on Columbia; Les's The Elgart Touch '56, For Dancers Also '57 made top 15 in Billboard chart; Larry's LPs on MGM early '60s included The City and Legends, written by Bobby Scott. Sophisticated Swing '53, Prom Date and Campus Hop '54 on Columbia had been the kind of albums young married couples danced to in their post-war basement rec rooms. 'Bandstand Boogie' '54 became the theme of Bandstand, a Philadelphia record hop on TV, which later became American Bandstand with Dick Clark. Inevitably in the next decade there were dance band arrangements of pop hits: Big Band Hootenanny '63, Les And Larry Play The Great Dance Hits '64, Elgart au Go-Go '65, GIrl Watchers '67. Then Larry Elgart and His Manhattan Swing Orchestra charted on RCA '82-3 with Hooked On Swing albums, playing Swing Era classics from decades earlier but with a disco beat. |