Fud Livingston


Joseph Anthony Livingston was an American jazz clarinetist, saxophonist, arranger, and composer. He co-wrote the jazz and pop standard "I'm Thru With Love".

Career

Fud Livingston started out on accordion and piano before settling on saxophone. A brother, Walter, also a saxophonist, recorded in 1923-24 with Ted Weems' orchestra. Fud played with Tal Henry in Greensboro, North Carolina in 1923, then worked with Ben Pollack, the California Ramblers, Jean Goldkette, Nat Shilkret, Don Voorhees, and Jan Garber; he also recorded freelance with musicians such as Joe Venuti, Red Nichols, and Miff Mole. He did some arrangement work for Frankie Trumbauer and Bix Beiderbecke, including the nursery rhyme "Humpty Dumpty". Livingston played on the 1928 Brunswick recording of "Room 1411" as a member of Benny Goodman's group Bennie Goodman and His Boys, which also featured Glenn Miller, Jimmy McPartland, Bud Freeman, and Ben Pollack.
He worked with Fred Elizalde in London in 1929, then returned to New York City to play with Paul Whiteman. His stint with Whiteman, which lasted from 1930 to 1933, was mainly as an arranger, though he played occasionally. Later in the 1930s he worked with Benny Goodman, Jimmy Dorsey, Bob Zurke, and Pinky Tomlin. He essentially stopped writing and arranging at this point, though he occasionally performed in small-time venues in New York in the 1950s. He never recorded as a leader.

Compositions

His compositions included "Feelin' No Pain", recorded by Red Nichols and Lud Gluskin, "Imagination", "Humpty Dumpty", recorded by Frankie Trumbauer with Bix Beiderbecke, "Harlem Twist" with Chauncey Morehouse, "Sax Appeal", recorded by B.A. Rolfe, and the jazz standard "I'm Thru With Love".

Cover Versions of "I'm Thru With Love"

Fud Livingston is especially renowned for his 1931 composition "I'm Thru With Love", written together with Matty Malneck and Gus Kahn.
Bing Crosby recorded the song that same year.
Later renditions were given by Nat King Cole; Lorez Alexandria; Woody Allen; Ray Anthony; Chet Baker; Marjorie Barnes; King Cole Trio; Marlene Cord; Howard Crosby; Lester Deane & the Jazz Masters; Johnny Desmond;
Vic Dickenson; Dion & the Belmonts; Ray Eberle & his Orchestra;
Ziggy Elman & his Orchestra; Eileen Farrell; Ella Fitzgerald; Helen Forrest; Johnny Frigo; Dizzy Gillespie; Genie Grant; Coleman Hawkins & his Orchestra; Lena Horne; Dick Hyman; Keith Jarrett; Etta Jones; Mike Jones; Sammy Kaye; Barney Kessell; Diana Krall; Jack Lemmon; Enoch Light; Magnolia Jazz Band; Govanni Mazzarino; Dave McKenna; Marilyn Monroe; John Pizzarelli; Arthur Prysock; Little Jimmy Scott; Ray Sherman; Dinah Shore;
Maxine Sullivan; Ross Tompkins; Russ Tyrell; Steve Tyrell; Sarah Vaughan; Charlie Ventura; Roseanna Vitro; Per Henrik Walin; Ben Waltzer; George Wein; Joe Williams; and A Head In The Sky. Alfalfa from The Little Rascals.
"I'm Thru With Love" was also used as a leitmotif in Woody Allen's 1996 musical comedy Everyone Says I Love You. It is performed by both Woody Allen and Goldie Hawn in the film.
Marilyn Monroe sings the song in the 1959 film Some Like It Hot.