Charles Daly Barnet (October 26, 1913 – September 4, 1991) was an American jazz musician who played the saxophone, wrote music, and led a band.

His most important recordings include "Nagasaki," "Skyliner," Cherokee, "The Wrong Idea," "Scotch and Soda," "In a Mizz," and "Southland Shuffle."

Early life

Barnet was born in New York City, the son of Charline (née Daly) and Willard Barnet. His parents divorced when he was two years old, and he lived with his mother and her grandparents. His grandfather was Charles Frederick Daly, who worked as a vice president for the New York Central Railroad, a banker, and a businessman.

Barnet attended boarding schools in both the New York and Chicago areas. As a child, he learned to play the piano and saxophone. He often skipped school to listen to music and look for work as a musician. Although his family wanted him to become a lawyer, he decided to become a musician instead.

Career

At sixteen, Barnet performed on tours with Jean Goldkette's satellite band and moved to New York, where he joined Frank Winegar's Pennsylvania Boys on tenor sax. He was always eager to move, and by 1931, he had moved to Hollywood and worked as a film extra while trying to interest local bandleaders in hot music, which was becoming less popular because of the Great Depression. Late in 1932, at eighteen, he returned to the East and persuaded a contact at CBS's artist bureau to test him as an orchestra leader.

Barnet began recording in October 1933 during a performance at New York's Park Central Hotel, but he was not very successful for most of the 1930s, often breaking up his band and changing its style. In early 1935, he tried to introduce swing music at New Orleans' Hotel Roosevelt, where Louisiana's colorful Governor, Huey Long, disliked the new sound and had the band removed from town by tricking them into a brothel, which was then raided.

Barnet arranged with Joe Haymes to take several of his now-jobless sidemen, while he himself went on a trip to Havana as an escort for wealthy older women. In 1936, a new version of Barnet's band, which included the rising vocal quartet The Modernaires, briefly gained attention.

Barnet's greatest popularity and his first permanent band came between 1939 and 1941, a time that began with his hit version of "Cherokee," written by Ray Noble and arranged by Billy May. In 1944, Barnet had another big hit with "Skyliner."

In 1947, he began switching from swing music to bebop. During his swing years, his band included Buddy DeFranco, Neal Hefti, Lena Horne, Barney Kessel, Dodo Marmarosa, Oscar Pettiford, Wes Dean, and Art House. Later versions of the band included Maynard Ferguson, Doc Severinsen, Jimmy Knepper, and Clark Terry. Trumpeter Billy May worked as an arranger in the Charlie Barnet Orchestra before joining Glenn Miller in 1940.

Barnet was one of the first bandleaders to include Black musicians in his band, with more Black musicians working for him than most other popular white bandleaders. Trumpeters Roy Eldridge and Frankie Newton and bassist John Kirby joined in 1937. Lena Horne was one of Barnet's vocalists. Unusually for a mainly white group, Barnet was booked to perform at the Apollo Theater in Harlem and set a new attendance record. He admired Count Basie and Duke Ellington. Ellington recorded the Charlie Barnet composition "In a Mizz." In 1939, after Barnet's instruments, notes, and arrangements were destroyed in a fire at the Palomar Ballroom in Los Angeles on October 2, 1939, Count Basie (who was scheduled to perform two days later) lent Barnet some of his charts to help him continue.

Throughout his career, Barnet opposed overly sentimental arrangements. In the song "The Wrong Idea," he mocked the "sweet" big band sound of the time. The song was written by Billy May, who later used a similar satirical style in his work with Stan Freberg on Capitol Records, including the Lawrence Welk satire "Wunnerful! Wunnerful!" Barnet's band was known for its lively and sometimes disorderly behavior, with drinking and vandalism not uncommon. While Glenn Miller enforced strict rules about appearance and behavior, Barnet focused more on having fun, as described in his autobiography, Those Swinging Years: The Autobiography of Charlie Barnet.

In 1949, Barnet retired, likely because he had lost interest in music. He was able to retire because he was one of the few heirs in a very wealthy family. He occasionally returned from retirement for short tours but never returned to music full-time. In 1956, he released an album, Dance Bash, which was recorded over five years from 1947 to 1952.

Known for a unique sound and a strong, swinging style on tenor saxophone, Barnet added the alto saxophone to his playing in the late 1930s, followed by the soprano saxophone, an instrument that had become less popular after the 1920s and was rarely used in big bands.

In September 1964, Barnet arranged a private party for his musical hero, Duke Ellington, and his orchestra to perform at Palm Springs' San Jacinto country club. At the entrance, a small sign painted by Barnet read, "Any complaints about loud music or requests for excessive use of mutes will be grounds for instant expulsion (to a table in the parking lot). Any requests for folk music, twist, watusi, or rock and roll will result in instant execution by golf balls at 20 paces." Barnet did not perform at the event.

Barnet's theme song was "Redskin Rhumba." His autobiography, Those Swinging Years: The Autobiography of Charlie Barnet, written with Stanley Dance, was published in 1984.

Personal life

Barnet was married eleven times. His autobiography explains, "I experienced several more marriages that did not work out, but most were in Mexico and were quickly ended legally because they were not allowed in the first place." His last marriage, to Betty Thompson, lasted 33 years. He had one son, Charles D. Barnet Jr., and two grandchildren from a previous marriage: Jennifer Ann Barnet and Darren Charles Barnet. After retiring, Barnet lived in homes in Palm Springs and San Diego, California. He owned a 46-foot boat in San Diego.

Death

Barnet died from complications caused by Alzheimer's disease and pneumonia at San Diego's Hillside Hospital on September 4, 1991, at the age of 77.

Compositions

Charlie Barnet wrote many songs, including "Skyliner," "Southland Shuffle," "Swing Street Strut," "The Right Idea," "The Wrong Idea" (co-written with Billy May), "Growlin’," "Scotch and Soda," "Midweek Function," "Oh, What You Said (Are We Burnt Up?)", "I Kinda Like You," "Tappin’ at the Tappa," "The Last Jump," "Knocking at the Famous Door," "Lazy Bug" (co-written with Juan Tizol), "Ogoun Badagris (Voodoo War God)," and "In a Mizz," which was also recorded by Duke Ellington.

The song "Skyliner," arranged by Neal Hefti, was used as the theme music for the late 1940s US Armed Forces Network program Midnight In Munich, which was broadcast from the AFN station in Munich, Germany, and hosted by Ralph Moffat. The station had very strong transmitters that allowed its signal to be heard as far away as the United Kingdom. The popularity of Moffat’s show and the station’s powerful signal helped "Skyliner" and other American swing songs become widely popular in Europe and achieve success in the UK. The title "Skyliner" (originally written as "Sky Liner") may refer to the practice of American pilots flying into Munich who used the station’s strong signal to find their way to the city.

Discography

Charlie Barnet recorded music on 78s, 45s, and 10-inch/12-inch LPs from 1935 until his later years. He recorded for several labels, including Bluebird (RCA Victor), Decca, Apollo, Capitol, Columbia, Mercury, Clef, Verve, Everest, Crown, Vault, Joyce, Ajax, and Calliope.

• The Best of Charlie Barnet (1942–1946) [The Decca Years] (MCA #2-4069, released in 1975)
• The Complete Charlie Barnet, Volume 1 (1935–1937) (Bluebird #AXM2-5526, released in 1977)
• The Complete Charlie Barnet, Volume II (1939) (Bluebird #AXM2-5577, released in 1981)
• The Complete Charlie Barnet, Volume 3 (1939–1940) (Bluebird #AXM2-5581, released in 1981)
• The Complete Charlie Barnet, Volume IV (1940) (Bluebird #AXM2-5585, released in 1982)
• The Complete Charlie Barnet, Volume V (1940–1941) (Bluebird #AXM2-5587, released in 1982)
• The Complete Charlie Barnet, Volume VI (1941–1942) (Bluebird #AXM2-5590, released in 1982)