LARRY ELGART
Genres: Big Band, RnB, Progressive Big Band, Pop, Art Song, Folk, Latin Rock, Soul, Exotica • United States

Lawrence Joseph Elgart (March 20, 1922 – August 29, 2017) was an American jazz bandleader. With his brother Les, he recorded "Bandstand Boogie", the theme to the long-running dance show American Bandstand. Elgart was born in 1922 in New London, Connecticut, four years younger than his brother, Les, and grew up in Pompton Lakes, New Jersey.  Their mother was a concert pianist; their father also played piano, though not professionally. Larry and Les both attended Pompton Lakes High School.  Both brothers began playing in jazz ensembles in their teens, and while young Larry played with jazz musicians such as Charlie Spivak, Woody Herman, Red Norvo, Freddie Slack and Tommy Dorsey. In the mid-1940s, Les and Larry started up their own ensemble, hiring Nelson Riddle, Bill Finegan and Ralph Flanagan to arrange tunes for them. Their ensemble was not successful, and after a few years, they scuttled the band and sold read more...