Elliot Lawrence (born February 14, 1925) is an American jazz pianist and bandleader.
Elliot took on the name Elliot Lawrence to distinguish himself from his family name when he became the music director of WCAU’S House Band in 1945. The band premiered on the radio on January 18, 1945 as The Elliot Lawrence Orchestra in a weekly half-hour broadcast “Listen to Lawrence”. The Eliot Lawrence Band, of which he was the piano player and leader, soon incorporated classical instruments like oboe, French horn, English horn and bassoon. “Listen to Lawrence" became nationally broadcast on CBS radio in 1945 shortly after a rave review in the March 1945 issue of Metronome Magazine by George T. Simon. Elliot's theme song was “Heart to Heart”.
From 1946–1954 The Elliot Lawrence Band became a traveling band performing at dances, concerts, college proms and headline gigs around the United States year round while recording albums for Decca, Columbia, RCA, Fantasy and Vic records. In 1949 the band performed a three-week stint with the Nat King Cole Trio at the Paramount Theatre in New York City, the same during which time it recorded Gerry Mulligan “Elevation”, later named “one of the top 50 best jazz recordings of the 20th century” by the Smithsonian Institution. The Elliot Lawrence Band performed in Philadelphia at the World Series in 1950, playing his original song “The Fightin’ Phils”. By this time, however, the band had become known for their “sweet” commercial sound. From 1947–1949 the band was the “campus choice” in Billboard's most promising new orchestra polls.
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Listen to Elliott Lawrence on Swing City Radio. We are a Big Band Radio Station playing a wide selection of Big Band and Swing music.
Swing City Radio plays Elliott Lawrence - Listen to our station and hear the songs:
You Broke The Only Heart That Ever Loved You
Apple Blossom Time
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