Boom Chicks - Joe Dixion

The Breeze And I

Boom Chicks
Joe Dixion
Golden Crest Records CR 3036

From the back cover: The man who is the moving spirit behind these great songs is Joe Dixon who will be remembered by a lot of people who loved the Tommy Dorsey group when it made the memorable recordings of "Marie" and "Song Of India". Joe was a vital part of the Dorsey organization at that time. However, Dorsey was not the only bandleader who considered him one of the most proficient clarinetists in the business. Prior to TD he played with the great Adrian Rollini group that once held forth in the Tap Room of the President Hotel in New York. Because of the high quality of the music played by that swinging outfit, the President was a favored hang-out for other musicians. One of these was the Sentimental Gentleman of the Trombone himself. Dorsey heard Dixon and lured him into his band. However, while in Hollywood on tour Dixon was offered an even better job with Gus Arnheim and joined that group on the West Coast. From Arnheim he went on to play with what many considered the hottest band in the business at that time – Bunny Berrigan. In the Berrigan band were some of the truly big names in jazz – Ray Conniff, Joe Bushkin, George Auld and the incredible little drummer man, the late Dave Tough. Yet with all that experience in music behind him, Joe Dixion was a mere 20 years of age! Oh, yes, we forgot to say that everyone who knew Joe back in Lynn, Massachusetts, where he was born in 1918, considered him a child prodigy. He was blowing great clarinet at the age of 12.

In 1938, after a great series of dates with Berrigan, Joe Dixon left to join the secure ranks of the Fred Waring organization with whom he stayed for five years. In 1943 he joined the Navy and was assigned to leadership of an 18 piece radio orchestra at the Sampson Naval Base. After the war he played for a time with Eddie Condon and countless programs over CBS and ABC. The endorsements of Joe Dixon fine clarinet style come from a wide variety of professional opinion. Metronome refers to him as one of the most outstanding of clarinetists. And so does Nick Kenny of the Mirror and Robert Sylvester of the News.

I Found A Million Dollar Baby In The Five And Ten Cent Store
It Had To Be You
Cocktails For Two
You're And Old Smoothie
All The Things You Are
Can't We Be Friends?
That Old Feeling
The Breeze And I
Say It Ain't So
Out Of Nowhere
Paradise
How Deep Is The Ocean, How High Is The Sky?