Biography
Alfred Paolella, 1 March 1905, Oakland, California, USA. As a boy Powell studied violin and music theory privately, then attended the San Francisco Conservatory of Music. In 1927 he was playing guitar and banjo with Abe Lyman’s band, staying with them until 1935 when he became a radio producer for an advertising agency. He also branched out as a songwriter, with hits such as ‘Take Me Back To My Boots And Saddle’, ‘All I Need Is You’, ‘Snake Charmer’ and ‘March Winds And April Showers’. Royalties from these and other songs helped to finance a big band in 1939, which included some key personnel from the Tommy Dorsey and Benny Goodman bands and had Ray Conniff contributing some arrangements. At first recording for Decca Records, some of the band’s tracks appeared in the UK on Brunswick Records (Conniff’s ‘Feather Merchant’s Ball’/‘Teddy Bear Boogie’ by Powell). After a year Powell moved...
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