Vido Musso

http://web.tiscali.it/djangor-wolit/en/Microsoft/VitoMusso.html

Vido (Vito) Musso was born on January 25, 1913 at Carini (province of Palermo, Sicily), at Via Roma No.27. In 1920, at the age of seven years he migrated to Detroit with his parents, Francesco Musso and Maria Lentini; when the news was known at Carini – his paternal uncle Antonio told me during an interview on the Italian Radio – that the little boy, in America, wanted to study to become a musician, the grand-father, gathered all family, had a collection, went to Palermo, bought a clarinet and shipped it to him in Detroit. The young Musso carried on the study of clarinet, extending it to tenor sax, in Los Angeles, where he moved his family in 1930. He is ingaged by Benny Goodman in 1936, 1939, and 1942, by Gene Krupa (1938), by Harry James (1940 and 1941), by Woody Herman (1942 and 1943), by Tommy Dorsey (1945), pratically by all major orchestras of the swing era. Starting with 1946, for about ten years, he plays for various periods with Stan Kenton, with whom he makes, among other things, one of his most famous parts, “Come Back to Sorrento”, a jazzed version of the famous Neapolitan melody “Torna a Surriento”. Elected for many years at the place of honour in the referendums launched every year among the readers of the two main American jazz magazines “Down Beat” and “Metronome”.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vido_Musso

Vido William Musso (17 January 1913 – 9 January 1982) was an Italian-born jazz tenor saxophonist, clarinetist and bandleader born in Carini, Italy, best known for his many contributions to the big bands of Benny Goodman, Gene Krupa, Tommy Dorsey, Harry James, Stan Kenton and Woody Herman.

His family moved to the United States in 1920. He began on clarinet before switching to tenor sax. He is most associated with Stan Kenton who he first worked with in 1930. He reached his peak of notoriety with Kenton from 1945 to 1947. Perhaps his most notable work with the Kenton orchestra was his "Come Back to Sorrento". His son-in-law is comedian Shecky Greene. Musso died 9 January 1982 in Rancho Mirage, California.