Trotter, John Scott

John Scott Trotter was born in Charlotte, North Carolina, in 1908. At the age of seven, using his sister’s piano lesson books and the family piano, he taught himself to play the instrument. His parents then sent him for formal music lessons. He attended the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill to study architecture. However, he and Hal Kemp, a childhood friend and fellow student at UNC, started a college band in 1925. Together they had musically entertained folks at home and once the Hal Kemp Orchestra began receiving recording contracts and international bookings, they traded their college education for music careers. In 1933, Kemp and Trotter made music history when the orchestra played at the Black Hawk Restaurant in Chicago for a national radio audience. The orchestra sound heard that night was largely the results of Trotter’s music arranging and thereafter became known as “The Hal Kemp Style.”

Trotter teamed with Bing Crosby in 1937 after they worked together in the motion picture “Pennies from Heaven” in 1936. Already an original in popular music, Crosby wanted a new music arranger and looked to Trotter to help enhance the Crosby style. They combined their talents for the next 17 years, Trotter most frequently directing and arranging Crosby’s music for radio, motion picture, and his Decca recordings. One of their most successful collaborations was Irving Berlin’s “White Christmas,” from the motion picture “Holiday Inn.” Trotter was also the music arranger and director in 1946 for the screenplay of “Abie’s Irish Rose,” music arranger and conductor for “Kiss the Boys Goodbye” in 1941, “Rhythm on the River” in 1940, and orchestrator for “Dr. Rhythm” in 1938, appearing as himself in the film with Bing Crosby.

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