Saxie dowell biography of barack

Dowell was born in Raleigh, North Carolina, and attended the University of North Carolina - Chapel Hill, where he met Hal Kemp. and Three Little Fishes.

Bing Crosby was popular with those who liked Crooners. The majority of the crew were also in their teens or twenties. For me, it was what is now known as Classic Rock. And several would lose their lives. Vergil “Drew” Widener, a Mus2/c, was one of the 56 killed during the kamikaze attack on 30 October 1944.

When the band's style changed in the early 1930s to that of a dance band, Dowell became the group's comedic vocalist. Dowell was somewhat famous in the 1930s and early ’40s for several arrangements, notably Three Little Fishes and Playmates.Franklin’s band, known as “The Flattoppers,” most likely played Swing, Jazz, and songs such as Anchors Aweigh and The Star-Spangled Banner.

The Flattoppers Come Aboard

Several versions are floating around about how the band came to be on Franklin, but one thing we know is that Saxie knew many musicians in many different bands.

Someone contributed a penny whistle, Stan Slejko found a gallon jug to use instead of his bass, drums were made out of galley tubs and pie pans became cymbals.

Saxie’s sense of humor emerged again as the ship pulled into Ulithi. Around 1946 he led a naval air station band, with the then 14-year-old Keely Smith as a singer. When the band"s style changed in the early 1930s to that of a dance band, Dowell became the group"s comedic vocalist.

Three Little Fishies" became a smash hit in 1939 and Dowell was embroiled in a legal dispute with the uncredited lyricists Josephine Carringer and Bernice Idins.

Due to the success of the song Dowell left Kemp that same year and organized his own band.

For days afterward, as they managed to open flooded compartments, dozens of bodies were discovered and had to be buried at sea.

Even though busy, the band found time to scrounge up some instruments. After the explosions subsided, I came out topside and manned water hoses. Many other Flattoppers continued to their final destination at the Brooklyn Naval Yard.

*My thanks to Dean Slejko, son of Flattopper Stan Slejko and nephew to Ed, who provided me with these pictures, his father’s unpublished biography, and much more information.

conductorbandleadersongwriterjazz musician

Horace Kirby "Saxie" Dowell was an American jazz and popular music bandleader and singer and songwriter.

Back home Frank Sinatra was adored by young women known as Bobby-soxers.

During World War II, more than 6800 musicians served in the US Navy playing in around 285 bands. Until that is, Shoemaker was transferred to Naval Air Station Norfolk and then to USS Franklin.

Career

He joined Kemp"s orchestra as a reed player (tenor saxophone, clarinet, and flute) and vocalist in the fall of 1925.

One version is that Captain Shoemaker, Franklin’s first commanding officer, knew Saxie and promised him a cushy life at Great Lakes Naval Training Station near Chicago. Most of them had been lost in the fire or explosions but they found several trumpets, a clarinet, and an ocarina. Stan Slejko left the ship at Pearl Harbor.

During World War II he served heroically in the navy aboard the ill-fated aircraft carrier USS Franklin (CV13). No sooner did I sack out when something rocked the ship, throwing me off my bunk. Some would serve near the sick bay; others at various stations around the ship.