Melvin James "Sy" Oliver (December 17, 1910 – May 28, 1988)[1] was an American jazz arranger, trumpeter, composer, singer and bandleader.

[2] His mother was a piano teacher, and his father was a multi-instrumentalist, who demonstrated saxophones at a time when instrument was seldom played other than by marching bands.

(Fletcher Henderson, another African American composer/arranger, had joined the Benny Goodman orchestra as the arranger a few years earlier.)

[1] Oliver left Dorsey after seven years, in 1946, and began working as a freelance arranger and as music director for Decca.

[7] On June 26, 1950, Sy Oliver and his Orchestra recorded the first American version of "C'est si bon" (Henri Betti, André Hornez, Jerry Seelen) and "La Vie en rose" (Louiguy, Édith Piaf, Mack David) for Louis Armstrong.

One of his more successful efforts as an arranger was the 1961 Frank Sinatra album, I Remember Tommy, a combined tribute to their former boss.

He continued that gig until 1984, with occasionally time off to make festival or other dates, including at the Roseland Ballroom in New York.