Dick Stabile (May 29, 1909 – September 18, 1980) was an American jazz saxophonist, clarinetist, and bandleader. He was one of the great alto sax player of his time.
The son of a band leader and violinist, Stabile learned piano and violin at an early age. His father got a job with band leader Vincent Lopez on the condition that he learn saxophone. Seeing his father play, Stabile started playing saxophone, too, and was hired by Jules Ansel at the Brunswick Hotel in Newark. At the age of 15, he then went on tour with band leader Ben Bernie, Ansel's cousin, and remained with Bernie from 1928–1935, appearing on Bernie's weekly radio show as lead alto saxophonist and soloist.
In 1935 Stabile started his own ensemble, the All-America "Swing" Band, which featured Bunny Berigan, Dave Barbour, Frank Signorelli, and Stan King. Introduced by his own composition, "Blue Nocturne", Stabile enjoyed a lengthy engagement at the Lincoln Hotel in New York, before going on an extended tour of ballrooms and hotels across the United States.
At this time, he featured a predominant reed sextet and several good musicians, including composer/arranger Chauncey Gray. Vocalists included Evelyn Oaks who sang with the band in 1939, Paula Kelly sang with him prior to joining the Glenn Miller Orchestra in 1941, Gracie Barrie who wound up becoming Mrs.
Stabile and not forgetting Burt Shaw. During World War II Stabile led a band while serving in the Coast Guard; Gracie Barrie led his ensemble in his absence.
After World War II, Stabile divorced Grace Barrie and had a quick succession of marriages with Mary Kirk and, Trudy Ewan in the 40’s, ending with Mimi Gendal in the 60’s. Stabile formed a new band which worked in L.A.-area nightclubs, including Slapsie Maxie's (owned by the champion light heavyweight boxer-actor Max "Slapsie Maxie" Rosenbloom) on Wilshire Blvd.
Stabile also played at Ciro's, on Sunset Blvd., where, in 1949, a young singer and his comic sidekick, Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis, were part of the show. Martin and Lewis soon graduated from clubs to national television (such as NBC's "Colgate Comedy Hour") and hired Stabile as their musical director and, often, made him a target of their antics. Stabile also conducted for Martin and Lewis when they recorded, together and separately, at Capitol, including on two of Martin's hit singles, That's Amore and Memories Are Made of This; a 1953 10-inch LP, "Dean Martin Sings" (Capitol H-401); and his 1956 12-inch album, "Swingin' Down Yonder" (Capitol T-576). After Martin and Lewis broke up in 1956, Stabile remained friends with both. He also recorded with Della Reese.
In addition to his theme song “Blue Nocturne”, Stabile composed several other popular tunes, such as "Cloudburst", "Raindrops on the River" and "That's How I Need You". During its heyday, his band had lucrative recording contracts with Decca, Bluebird, Victor and Vocalion. At one time, Dick Stabile was also featured in "Ripley's Believe It or Not" for his ability to blow the highest note possible on the saxophone. Healso designed a line of saxophones and clarinets that carried his name.
When Jimmy Dorsey lay dying of cancer in the hospital in 1957, he chose Stabile to play his saxophone parts at a Fraternity recording session with The Dorsey Orchestra, conducted by Lee Castle, held that June 17th. Stabile also made several albums under his own name during this period, including "Dick Stabile Plays For You" (Bethlehem BCP-5003, 1955), "Dick Stabile at the Statler" (Tops L1590, 1958), and "This Cat Really Blows" (Dot DLP 3286, 1960). His band worked often in hotels in New York City and was chosen to play at the New York World's Fair in 1959–60. He led the house band at the Cocoanut Grove of the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles for seven years, from around 1961 to 1968.
When that job ended, he continued to perform at various venues, including, in 1969, at the newly-opened Circus Lounge of the Sheraton-Universal Hotel in Los Angeles, where critic Leonard Feather reviewed Stabile's performance as "traditional, though this a tradition too noble to have become antiquated."
By the mid-1970s, Stabile had relocated to New Orleans, and his band became the featured attraction in the Blue Room of the Fairmont Hotel (which had formerly been known as The Hotel Roosevelt) for a number of years. Though he suffered a stroke which paralyzed his left side, following recuperation he was able to return to work at the Fairmont. Stabile's last national appearance was with Lewis on the 1980 Labour Day muscular dystrophy telethon from Las Vegas.
He died from a heart attack in New Orleans, Louisiana. September 18, 1980 (Aged 71)
