Jan Savitt (born Jacob Sarvetnick; September 4, 1913– October 4, 1948), was an American bandleader, musical arranger, and violinist. (He was also known as "The Stokowski of Swing", from having played violin in Stokowski's orchestra.), There has been uncertainty with the date of Savitt's birth, typically given as 1913 or 1914.
Jacob Sarvetnick was a child prodigy on the violin, destined to become Jan Savitt, leader of a popular swing band. Of Russian-Jewish ancestry, his father had variously worked as a motor mechanic and as a drummer in Tsar Nicholas II's Imperial Regimental Orchestra. In the U.S. from the age of fifteen, Jan became the youngest musician to play in the Philadelphia Symphony Orchestra, and, from there, he advanced to concert master for the great Leopold Stokowski. In the wake of multiple scholarships and being recipient of the Philharmonic Society's Gold Medal Award, he was soon leading his own string quartet.
In 1935, after graduating from the Curtis Institute of Music with a B.A., Jan suddenly decided to forsake classical for popular music and organise a dance band. He was eventually engaged by Philadelphia radio station KYW as musical director. The resulting national broadcasts proved popular with audiences and 'Jan Savitt & His Top Hatters' (so named, because their ensemble uniform consisted of white tie, tails and top hat) soon became one of the most highly rated big bands in America, playing the swank hotels, theatres and ballrooms. The band featured a unique beat called 'shuffle rhythm' (which may, or may not, have been originated by another bandleader, Henry Busse).
Bon Bon & Jan Savitt
The 'Top Hatters' comprised between fifteen and eighteen musicians, plus vocalists. Famous sidemen included trombonist and future television composer Earle Hagen, drummer Nick Fatool and trombonist Urbie Green. Other musicians who played with the Top Hatters were: Tommy Dorsey, Al Leopold, Charles Jensen, Cutty Cutshall, Ed Clausen, Frank Langone, Gabe Galinas, George White, Harold Kearns, Harry Roberts, Howard Cook, Irv Leshner, Jack Hansen, Jack Pleis, James Schultz, Johnny Austin, Johnny Warrington, Maurice Evans, Morris Rayman, Sam Sachelle.
Among the vocalists were Carlotta Dale, future movie actress Gloria DeHaven and Bon Bon (aka George Tunnell), the first black musician to work long-term in a white orchestra.
His band names include Jan Savitt & His Top Hatters, the Jan Savitt String Orchestra and Jan Savitt & His Orchestra. His groups were throughly practiced and disciplined, with an ensemble sound considered among the finest of the era.
Jan's theme song was "Quaker City Jazz". Other unique compositions for the band included the swinging "720 In the Books" (by arranger Johnny Watson), "Meadowbrook Shuffle", "It's a Wonderful World" and "Now and Forever". Jan also had noteworthy hits with his interpretation of "Tuxedo Junction" and "Make Believe Island".
Jan & his wife Barbara 1940
In 1938, Jan Savitt & His Top Hatters broadcast from 5–5:30 pm every Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday as the KYW staff orchestra at KYW/NBC in Philadelphia. Saturday's weekly broadcast was one hour, coast-to-coast. The group also played at the Earl Theatre and performed with The Andrews Sisters and The Three Stooges. By the early 1940's, he added swing versions of classical compositions (mostly arranged by Jack Pleis), such as "The Sorcerer's Apprentice", "Prelude to Carmen" and Claude Debussy's "Afternoon of a Faun" to his repertoire. The band was featured in several B-movies, released by Warner Brothers and
Columbia.
After World War II, Jan was forced to reduce the size of his band (now based on the West Coast) to eight musicians, due to tax debts. Shortly before arriving in Sacramento, California, with his orchestra on Saturday, October 2, 1948, for a concert scheduled for that evening at Memorial Auditorium, Savitt was stricken with a cerebral haemorrhage and taken to Sacramento County Hospital. His orchestra played the concert without him, and, two days later, he died on October 4, at the age of just thirty-six., with
his wife at his bedside. Frank Sinatra served as one of the pallbearers at his funeral.
Savitt was married to model Barbara Ann Stillwell from 1940 until his death in 1948, and had one daughter with her, Jo Ann, in 1943. Jo Ann was married to Joel Douglas, son of Kirk, from 2004 until her death in 2013.
