{{short description|American jazz saxophonist, trumpeter, and arranger}} {{Use mdy dates|date=January 2021}} {{Infobox musical artist | name = Sam Donahue | image = Sam Donahue, Aquarium NYC, ca December 1946 (Gottlieb).jpg | caption = At the Aquarium in New York City, c. December 1946 | birth_name = Samuel Koontz Donahue | birth_date = {{Birth date|1918|3|18}} | birth_place = Detroit, Michigan, U.S. | death_date = {{Death date and age|1974|3|22|1918|3|18}} | death_place = Reno, Nevada, U.S. | genre = Jazz | occupation = Musician | instrument = Saxophone, trumpet | years_active = }}
'''Samuel Koontz Donahue''' (March 18, 1918 – March 22, 1974)<ref name="LarkinGE">{{cite book |title=The Guinness Encyclopedia of Popular Music |editor-link=Colin Larkin (writer) |editor-first=Colin |editor-last=Larkin |publisher=Guinness Publishing |year=1992 |edition=First |isbn=0-85112-939-0 |pages=715/6}}</ref> was an American jazz saxophonist, trumpeter, and musical arranger. He performed with Gene Krupa, Tommy Dorsey, Benny Goodman, Billy May, Woody Herman, and Stan Kenton.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Carr |first1=Ian |author1-link=Ian Carr |first2=Digby |last2=Fairweather |author2-link=Digby Fairweather |first3=Brian |last3=Priestley |author3-link=Brian Priestley |title=Jazz: The Rough Guide |publisher=The Rough Guides |year=1995 |pages=175–176 |isbn=1-85828-137-7}}</ref>
==Biography== Donahue was born in Detroit, Michigan, United States. He put together his first band when he was only 15 years old.<ref>{{cite web |title=Biography of Sam Donahue |url=https://www.allmusic.com/artist/sam-donahue-mn0000288575/biography |website=AllMusic |access-date=27 July 2022}}</ref> Donahue played in the bands of Gene Krupa, Harry James, and Benny Goodman.<ref name="LarkinGE"/> During World War II, Donahue took over the US Navy band of Artie Shaw. Marc Myers of ''JazzWax'' stated that “Donahue's Navy Band was easily one of the most swinging bands of the war.”<ref>{{cite web |last=Myers |first=Marc |title=Sam Donahue's Navy Band |url=https://www.jazzwax.com/2014/06/sam-donahues-navy-band.html |website=JazzWax |access-date=19 March 2024}}</ref><ref name="AAJ">{{cite web |last=Myers |first=Marc |title=Sam Donahue's Navy Band |url=https://www.allaboutjazz.com/news/sam-donahues-navy-band/ |website=All About Jazz |date=June 18, 2014 |access-date=6 June 2023}}</ref> After the war, he assembled and led a group that recorded “extensively” for Capitol Records.<ref name="AAJ"/><ref name=vera>{{cite AV media notes |title=From the Vaults Vol. 3: Capitol Jumps |year=2000 |first=Billy |last=Vera |page=6 |type=CD |publisher=Capitol Records |location=Hollywood}}</ref> Trumpeters Harry Gozzard and Doc Severinsen, Wayne Herdell, arranger Leo Reisman and vocalists Frances Wayne and Jo Stafford were some of the members included in the new band. It dissolved in 1951 when Donahue re-enlisted in the Navy to serve in the Korean War.<ref>{{cite web |title=IMDB |website=IMDb |url=https://www.imdb.com/name/nm3839319/bio}}</ref>{{Unreliable source|date=April 2024}}
It is mentioned in Donahue’s IMDb bio and also in an UPROXX article that Frank Sinatra Jr. was a vocalist for Donahue.<ref>{{cite web |last=Roberts |first=Andrew |date=March 17, 2016 |title=Frank Sinatra Jr. Has Died At The Age Of 72 |url=https://uproxx.com/music/rest-in-peace-frank-sinatra-jr/}}</ref> According to a DownBeat article, “he began performing in his mid-teens for the Sam Donahue band.”<ref>{{cite news |last=Zimmerman |first=Brian |title=Frank Sinatra Jr. Dies at 72 |url=https://downbeat.com/?/news/detail/frank-sinatra-jr.-dies-at-72 |access-date=30 July 2022 |agency=DownBeat Magazine |date=March 28, 2016}}</ref> Sinatra later mentioned that the majority of what he learned about singing was learned through the time he spent with Donahue and the other musicians in the band.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.capitolint.com/03htm/newsinatrajr03.htm|title=FRANK SINATRA JR. BIO|website=Capitolint.com|access-date=May 2, 2026}}</ref> Sinatra Jr. was kidnapped in Lake Tahoe while on tour with Donahue. His father Frank Sinatra paid the $240,000 ransom which ultimately led to his son’s release from the kidnappers.<ref>{{cite news |last=Williams |first=Richard |date=March 17, 2016 |title=Frank Sinatra Jr Obituary |website=TheGuardian.com |url=https://www.theguardian.com/music/2016/mar/17/frank-sinatra-jr-obituary}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |title=It Was A Very Bad Year |date=November 29, 2023 |isbn=9780727881915 |url=https://archive.org/details/itwasverybadyear0000rand |last=Randisi |first=Robert J. |publisher=Severn House |via=Internet Archive}}</ref>
Donahue was married to actress Patricia Donahue and was the father of rock guitarist Jerry Donahue known for his work with Fairport Convention and Fotheringay. Donahue featured alongside his son on the album, ''Fotheringay 2'' released in 2008 some years after that group's disbandment.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.allmusic.com/album/2-mw0000801142 |title=2 - Fotheringay | Songs, Reviews, Credits |website=AllMusic |access-date=August 24, 2021}}</ref>
His compositions included "Quiet and Roll 'Em" with Gene Krupa, "Convoy" released as V-Disc No. 610B, "LST Party" released as V-Disc No. 573A in January, 1946, with the Navy Dance Band, "Scuttlin'", "Love Scene", "Please Get Us Out", "Root Toot", "Constellation", "Conversation at Lindy's", "Saxa-Boogie", and "Saxophone Sam".
[[File:(Portrait of Sam Donahue, Stan Kenton, Nick Callonus, and Hep, Aquarium, New York, N.Y., ca. Dec. 1946) (LOC) (5269521138).jpg|thumb|left|Donahue, left, talking with Stan Kenton at the Aquarium in NYC, 1946. He later worked with Kenton, performing in two album recordings that won Grammy Awards.]] "I’ll Never Tire of You" is a 1941 song written by Richard Kollmar, Cy Walter and Jimmy Dobson. It was recorded in New York City on November 12, 1941, by Donahue and his orchestra as a RCA Victor - Bluebird 78 rpm single. Andy Blaine was the sole vocalist. The song is featured in ''The Sam Donahue Collection 1940-48''<ref>{{cite web |title=Sam Donahue - The Sam Donahue Collection 1940-48 (2021) |url=https://www.isrbx.net/3137865632-sam-donahue-the-sam-donahue-collection-1940-48-2021.html |website=IsraBox - Music is Life |access-date=22 July 2022}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |last=Ansell |first=Derek |title=SAM DONAHUE - Collection 1940 - 1948 |url=https://www.jazzviews.net/sam-donahue---collection-1940---1948.html |website=Jazz Views |access-date=22 July 2022 |archive-date=July 22, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220722211948/https://www.jazzviews.net/sam-donahue---collection-1940---1948.html |url-status=dead }}</ref> on Acrobat Records. Marketing and distribution for the album was handled by Arista Records.<ref>{{cite web |title=Acrobat Records |url=https://www.discogs.com/label/80942-Acrobat-Records |website=Discogs |access-date=23 July 2022}}</ref> An article in Jazz Journal featured that reissue album; which has a majority of Donahue’s songs from the 1940s.<ref>{{cite news |last=Jack |first=Gordon |title=Sam Donahue: Collection 1940-48 |url=https://jazzjournal.co.uk/2021/06/04/sam-donahue-collection-1940-48/ |access-date=22 July 2022 |agency=Jazz Journal |date=June 4, 2021}}</ref> Online music database AllMusic also highlighted that album on their website.<ref>{{cite web |title=Sam Donahue Collection: 1940-48 |url=https://www.allmusic.com/album/the-sam-donahue-collection-1940-48-mw0003472718 |website=AllMusic |access-date=22 July 2022}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=I'll Never Tire of You |url=https://www.allmusic.com/song/ill-never-tire-of-you-mt0058720938 |website=AllMusic |access-date=22 July 2022}}</ref> ''Trapeze Music & Entertainment Limited'', an independent label and distributor with a loyal customer base in the UK, US and throughout mainland Europe, highlighted a quote in their reviews (borrowed from ''Jazzviews'' March 2021) by Derek Ansell, a regular contributor to Jazz Journal, stating, “Although these pieces vary tremendously from track to track the music is all well played and shines a spotlight on a musician who really deserved to be much better known than he was.”<ref>{{cite web |last=Ansell |first=Derek |title=Sam Donahue - The Collection 1940-48 |url=https://www.trapezemusic.com/sam-donahue---the-collection-1940-48-61047-p.asp |website=Trapeze Music |access-date=29 July 2022}}</ref> In an article in ''The Syncopated Times'', Scott Yanow, who has written for ''DownBeat'', ''JazzTimes'', AllMusic, ''Cadence'', ''Coda'' and the ''Los Angeles Times'', stated, regarding the collection of Donahue’s songs, that “it is a pity that it could not have been a three-CD set that included everything” that he recorded during 1940-48. Yanow also voiced his opinion in that article regarding the musical skills of Donahue and his band members, stating that “the musicianship is consistently excellent.”<ref>{{cite news |last=Yanow |first=Scott |author-link=Scott Yanow |title=Sam Donahue Collection 1940-48 |url=https://syncopatedtimes.com/sam-donahue-collection-1940-48/ |access-date=31 July 2022 |agency=The Syncopated Times |date=May 27, 2021}}</ref> The songs from that album are listed in the Spotify and Apple Music listening databases.<ref>{{cite web |title=Sam Donahue Collection 1940-48 |url=https://open.spotify.com/album/38QqwuVHcPE363tGFCsXWA |website=Spotify |access-date=22 July 2022}}</ref>
Donahue died from pancreatic cancer on March 22, 1974.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.bigbandlibrary.com/samdonahue.html |website=Big Band Library |last=Popa |first=Christopher |title=Sam Donahue: "No Other Life of Which I'm Fonder" |date=April 2009 |access-date=April 5, 2024}}</ref>
==Discography== ===As leader=== * ''For Young Moderns in Love'' (Capitol, 1954) * ''Classics in Jazz'' (Capitol, 1955) * ''Dance Date With Sam Donahue'' (Remington, 1957) * ''Stop Look Go And Listen To Sam Donahue'' (Prescott, 1958) * ''Convoy'' (Hep, 1994) * ''LST Party'' (Hep, 1994) * ''Hollywood Hop'' (Hep, 2000) * ''Take Five'' (Hep, 2002) * ''The Sam Donahue Collection 1940-48'' (Acrobat, 2021)
===As sideman=== '''With Stan Kenton''' * ''Cuban Fire!'' (Capitol, 1956; CD: 1991) * ''Adventures in Jazz'' (Capitol, 1961) * ''Kenton's West Side Story'' (Capitol, 1961) * ''The Romantic Approach'' (Capitol, 1961) * ''Sophisticated Approach'' (Capitol, 1962) * ''Adventures in Blues'' (Capitol, 1963) * ''Together Again'' (First Heard, 1982) * ''Mellophonium Magic'' (Status, 1989)
'''With others''' * Will Bradley/Johnny Guarnieri, ''Live Echoes of the Best in Big Band Boogie'' (RCA Camden, 1974) * Cab Calloway, ''Hi De Hi De Ho'' (RCA, 1960) * Woody Herman, ''The Herd Rides Again'' (Everest, 1958) * Gene Krupa, ''Gene Krupa's Sidekicks'' (Columbia, 1955) * Vic Lewis, ''Volume 1: The War Years'' (Harlequin, 1986)
==References== {{reflist}}
== External links == {{Commons}} * {{IMDb name|3839319}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Donahue, Sam}} Category:1918 births Category:1974 deaths Category:20th-century American male musicians Category:20th-century American saxophonists Category:20th-century American trumpeters Category:American jazz tenor saxophonists Category:American jazz trumpeters Category:American male jazz musicians Category:American male saxophonists Category:American male trumpeters Category:American jazz bandleaders Category:American big band bandleaders Category:Capitol Records artists Category:Deaths from pancreatic cancer in Nevada Category:Hep Records artists Category:Progressive big band bandleaders Category:Swing saxophonists Category:Swing trumpeters Category:United States Navy personnel of World War II