Biography
Clyde McCoy earned his lasting reputation as a bandleader and trumpet player through a signature piece called “Sugar Blues,” which dominated his profile throughout the 1930s, although his professional life spanned far more decades. Born into the Kentucky McCoys whose bitter, generations-long conflict with the Hatfields became part of American folklore, he left the state at age nine when his family settled in Portsmouth, Ohio. There he first picked up both the trumpet and the trombone; the latter instrument carried him into the Loyal Temperance Legion Band at nine years old. Before reaching his teens he had shifted focus to the trumpet, performing at school and church functions, and at fourteen he began working the riverboats that still navigated the rural waterways of the Midwest, South, and border states.
In 1920, at sixteen, McCoy formed his first ensemble for a scheduled two-week run at a well-known Knoxville resort. Despite never having played together before opening night, the group drew strong crowds, prompting an extension to two months. Still in his teens, he then steered the band toward New York City, yet several lean years followed without a decisive breakthrough. Seeking a new beginning, McCoy relocated everyone to California in 1924; for the next few seasons they worked steadily around Los Angeles. While on the road he began applying a mute to his trumpet, producing the distinctive “wah-wah” sound that became his trademark.
Lightning struck in 1930 during an engagement at Chicago’s Drake Hotel. After McCoy featured “Sugar Blues,” listeners responded enthusiastically, the number reached radio audiences, and Columbia Records offered a contract late that year. The resulting 78 rpm release sold millions of copies in early 1931 despite the deepening Great Depression. Additional successes included “In the Cool of the Night,” “The Goona Goo,” and “Wah Wah Blues,” while a version of “Smoke Rings” also fared well, a song already famous as Glen Gray’s theme song.
McCoy kept Chicago as his headquarters through the middle of the decade, appearing regularly at the Drake Hotel and on the vaudeville circuit. The band cultivated a Dixieland-inflected brand of swing that thrived amid the big-band era and occasionally staged popular musical competitions against rival orchestras. Switching to Decca in 1935, they continued moving substantial numbers of discs, among them a fresh recording of “Sugar Blues” said to have sold another million copies. McCoy also helped establish Downbeat magazine. When World War II began he and his musicians enlisted in the United States Navy, where authorities permitted the unit to stay intact and perform for sailors, other service members, and naval-hospital patients throughout the conflict.
After returning to civilian life in 1945, McCoy reassembled a big band that still found listeners and produced notable sides, notably an expansive treatment of “Basin Street Blues” that enlarged on his earlier Columbia version. Public taste nevertheless shifted, and in 1955—the year rock & roll seized the charts—he dissolved the orchestra. With his wife, Maxine Means, formerly one of the Bennett Sisters who sang with the band in the late 1930s, he opened a club in Denver where they often appeared, but the venture proved unprofitable. McCoy therefore resumed touring, this time leading a septet. In the late 1970s he retired to Memphis, where he taught music and gave occasional performances. He continued appearing with local Dixieland ensembles until declining health curtailed his activities in the 1980s.
In 1920, at sixteen, McCoy formed his first ensemble for a scheduled two-week run at a well-known Knoxville resort. Despite never having played together before opening night, the group drew strong crowds, prompting an extension to two months. Still in his teens, he then steered the band toward New York City, yet several lean years followed without a decisive breakthrough. Seeking a new beginning, McCoy relocated everyone to California in 1924; for the next few seasons they worked steadily around Los Angeles. While on the road he began applying a mute to his trumpet, producing the distinctive “wah-wah” sound that became his trademark.
Lightning struck in 1930 during an engagement at Chicago’s Drake Hotel. After McCoy featured “Sugar Blues,” listeners responded enthusiastically, the number reached radio audiences, and Columbia Records offered a contract late that year. The resulting 78 rpm release sold millions of copies in early 1931 despite the deepening Great Depression. Additional successes included “In the Cool of the Night,” “The Goona Goo,” and “Wah Wah Blues,” while a version of “Smoke Rings” also fared well, a song already famous as Glen Gray’s theme song.
McCoy kept Chicago as his headquarters through the middle of the decade, appearing regularly at the Drake Hotel and on the vaudeville circuit. The band cultivated a Dixieland-inflected brand of swing that thrived amid the big-band era and occasionally staged popular musical competitions against rival orchestras. Switching to Decca in 1935, they continued moving substantial numbers of discs, among them a fresh recording of “Sugar Blues” said to have sold another million copies. McCoy also helped establish Downbeat magazine. When World War II began he and his musicians enlisted in the United States Navy, where authorities permitted the unit to stay intact and perform for sailors, other service members, and naval-hospital patients throughout the conflict.
After returning to civilian life in 1945, McCoy reassembled a big band that still found listeners and produced notable sides, notably an expansive treatment of “Basin Street Blues” that enlarged on his earlier Columbia version. Public taste nevertheless shifted, and in 1955—the year rock & roll seized the charts—he dissolved the orchestra. With his wife, Maxine Means, formerly one of the Bennett Sisters who sang with the band in the late 1930s, he opened a club in Denver where they often appeared, but the venture proved unprofitable. McCoy therefore resumed touring, this time leading a septet. In the late 1970s he retired to Memphis, where he taught music and gave occasional performances. He continued appearing with local Dixieland ensembles until declining health curtailed his activities in the 1980s.
Albums
