Member Number: 99
Date Put Through: 26 April 1966
"Trombonist Si Zentner was born just a little bit late. He is best remembered for leading a quality big band, beginning in the late 50's long after the big band era had ended, when many of the nation's ballrooms were closing down.
Zentner began on violin at age 4 and later switched to trombone. In the early part of his professional career he worked with Les Brown from 1940-’42, Harry James in ’43, and Jimmy Dorsey in ’44, most notably. Zentner then free-lanced in LA until 1949 when he joined the staff of MGM studios where he remained until 1957. Zentner was very successful as a studio musician and did quite well for himself financially. However his dream was to lead his own big band. Bucking the odds and with a lot of determination, he proceeded to do just that.
From 1957 to 1959 the Zentner studio Big Band recorded for the Bel Canto label. Many of the Bel Canto outings are now available on CD from Fresh Sound in Spain. Although the band's output was generally geared toward a dance crowd (his recordings rarely ran longer than three minutes) Zentner employed many fine Jazz soloists during this period. Among them, Bob Enevoldson, Frankie Capp, Jackie Mills, and Don Fagerquist. On his first release Zentner used the arranging skills of Billy May.
Si began recording for Liberty in 1959, and after assembling a large touring swing outfit, toured steadily. A great PR man and promoter, Zentner's bands won an amazing 13 straight Down Beat polls for “Best Big Band.” Perhaps the most important among the regular members of the bands Zentner formed was pianist Bob Florence, whose 1961 arrangement of a ”twist” version of Hoagy Carmichael's "Up a Lazy River," crossed over into the top 50 pop charts, winning a Grammy for Best Instrumental, and gave Zentner his biggest hit.
In 1965 Zentner moved to Las Vegas and opened the Tropicana Hotel's lounge called the Blue Room, accompanying Mel Tormé. Three years later, he was named musical director for one of Las Vegas' longest-running floorshows, “Les Folies Bergere.”
Bookings came less frequently in his later years because Zentner refused to perform with less than a 15-piece band or downscale his arrangements.
Si Zentner died in Las Vegas from luekemia at 82 in 2000."
Taken from http://www.swingmusic.net/Zentner_Si.html