Biography
Frederick Alfred Martin (December 9, 1906 – September 30, 1983) was an American bandleader and tenor saxophonist. He was known for leading a sweet-style dance band and was often associated with the smoother, more melodic sound popular in hotel and ballroom settings during the big band era.
Martin was nicknamed "Mr. Silvertone" by fellow saxophonist Johnny Hodges. His playing was admired by several notable musicians, including Chu Berry, who cited him as a favourite saxophonist, and Eddie Miller, among others. Despite this recognition from figures in the jazz community, Martin did not identify as a jazz musician and maintained a focus on the sweet band tradition throughout his career.
His band was recognised for its musical and melodic qualities, setting it apart from other sweet bands of the time. Music critic George T. Simon described Martin's ensemble as a particularly pleasant and relaxed dance band. Martin adopted the promotional slogan "Music In The Martin Manner" for his performances. A similar phrase, "Music In The Morgan Manner", was later used by Russ Morgan when he began his own radio series in 1936. Morgan had previously played in Martin's band, and the two maintained a long-standing friendship. Morgan is known to have used some of Martin’s arrangements in the early years of leading his own band.
Artist descriptions on Last.fm are editable by everyone. Feel free to contribute!
All user-contributed text on this page is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License; additional terms may apply.
