Biography
Eddie Durham remains a rather overlooked figure in jazz annals, yet he became the first major soloist to record on electric guitar in 1938 as a member of the Kansas City Five, a full year before Charlie Christian emerged. Throughout the bulk of his professional life he also performed on trombone and earned recognition as a skilled arranger during the swing period. He began his musical journey on both guitar and trombone alongside six siblings in the Durham Brothers band, later touring Midwest territory ensembles, joining Walter Page’s Blue Devils, and then serving with Bennie Moten from 1929 to 1933, the period that marked his first appearance on record. After relocating to New York in 1934 he supplied arrangements for Willie Bryant, performed with Jimmie Lunceford between 1935 and 1937, and continued with Count Basie from 1937 to 1938. Durham additionally prepared charts for Artie Shaw and Glenn Miller; in 1940 he briefly fronted his own big band, and from 1941 to 1943 he acted as musical director for the International Sweethearts of Rhythm. He subsequently led an otherwise all-female ensemble and otherwise worked primarily as a freelance arranger. In 1969 he resumed regular performing alongside Buddy Tate, and in subsequent years he appeared with the Countsmen, a group that documented his playing on record, as well as with the Harlem Blues and Jazz Band. Among the most enduring arrangements he created across the decades are “Moten Swing” for Bennie Moten, Jimmie Lunceford’s “Lunceford Special,” several notable Basie charts including “Topsy,” “Swinging the Blues,” and “Jumpin’ at the Woodside,” and Glenn Miller’s “In the Mood.”
Albums
