Mickey Gravine

Dominick Gravine, lovingly known as Mickey, passed away of natural causes peacefully in his sleep on Friday, June 23, 2023 in Toms River, New Jersey, where he resided with Marie Gravine. He was 90 years old. Mickey was born August 5, 1932 in Archibald, Pennsylvania to Dominick (Mickey) Gravine Sr. (1910-1973), a coal miner, and Mary (Tilly) Gravine (1910-1983), a homemaker.

At the age of three, Mickey was given a trombone that was found in the attic of his grandfather's house, a discovery that would become central to the direction of the rest of his life. At the age of five Mickey began to be recognized as a trombone prodigy, becoming a regular on several local and national radio programs, including a run on Madge Tucker's Coast to Coast on a Bus variety show where he would play a new song every week after being introduced to the audience by his younger sister Mary. At the age of seven Mickey performed a solo concert accompanied by the Scranton Philharmonic.

In 1941 the family moved from the poverty of Pennsylvania's coal country to a bustling Italian neighborhood in Jersey City, NJ. In 1949 after finishing high school, Mickey, then 17, began his professional music career and went on the road for stints with the Johnny Long Band and the Ralph Flannagan Orchestra.

In 1954 Mickey was drafted into the Army and assigned to the Signal Corp in Fort Benning, Georgia. While on leave after completing basic training, he returned to Pennsylvania where he was interviewed on Paul Whiteman's TV Teen Club variety show on ABC TV. Upon discovering that Mickey was not in the Army Band, an incredulous Whiteman quipped, "Well, I guess the Army knows what it's doing?" Immediately upon his returned to Fort Benning, he was ordered by the commanding general of the base to assemble the musicians for a new band, where spent the remainder of his service as the leader of the band entertaining dignitaries and his fellow soldiers.

After his discharge and return to civilian life in 1956, Mickey joined the Jimmy Dorsey Orchestra, while also playing as a studio musician in New York when not on the road. When he returned home full time in 1959 he was hired to join the orchestra for the largest movie theater in the world, NY's 5,900-seat Roxy Theater. His career continued to flourish, and within a year he was simultaneously under contract to the ABC, NBC, and CBS networks, where amongst his credits he played on the Tonight Show with Johnny Carson, and the Merv Griffin Show bands. During the 1960s Mickey also played trombone on countless recordings with some of the biggest names in the music industry including Frank Sinatra, Benny Goodman, Bobby Darrin, Barbara, Streisand, Tony Bennett, Peggy Lee, Carmen McRea, Nina Simone, Burt Bacharach, Frankie Avalon, Sammie David Jr, Paul Anka, Judy Garland, Carol King, The Beatles, and Janis Joplin.

In 1977 Mickey, his wife Marie, and their children moved to Los Angeles, as his career path led him to increase his focus on TV and film. He became the most in-demand trombone player in California by leveraging his rare combination of perfect pitch and the ability to transpose music from any clef and key into whichever key the song required and the bass clef of his chosen instrument in real time. He played for many of the top TV shows of the time, including Happy Days, Laverne and Shirley, Hawaii 5.0, Mork & Mindy, Charlies Angels, and Dallas. Mickey's movie credits included The Godfather, Grease I & II, Rocky I & II, Dead Men Don't Wear Plaid, and Godspell. He also kept busy recording numerous jazz albums and advertising jingles, including Frank Sinatra's 1979 Album Trilogy.

In 1983, he followed Marie and the children back to NJ where he continued playing on movies, television, jingles, and jazz albums until he retired from playing in the early 2000s.

He is survived by his former wife and love of his life, Marie Rose Gravine, daughter Danielle, son in law Tom Todd, sons Louis and Patrick, and sisters Mary, Anita, and Anne.

Memorial services are going to be held on Saturday July 1st, 10:30am at St. Luke's Roman Catholic Church in Toms River, NJ.

In lieu of flowers, donations may be sent to St. Jude Children's Research Hospital. www.StJude.org