Biography
Teddy McRae stood out equally for his tenor saxophone work and his skills behind the scenes as an arranger, delivering key contributions to multiple ensembles, above all Chick Webb’s. He began with neighborhood outfits that included a family band, joined June Clark in 1926, and relocated to New York the following year, where he started by fronting his own unit. Throughout the ensuing ten years his affiliations included Charlie Johnson, Elmer Snowden in 1932, Stuff Smith in 1934, Lil Armstrong in 1935, and, most significantly, Chick Webb from 1936 to 1939, for whom McRae supplied both solos and charts. After the drummer’s passing he stayed on with the orchestra, serving briefly as musical director while Ella Fitzgerald fronted the group from 1939 to 1941. Subsequent engagements took him through the ranks of Cab Calloway’s band in 1941–42, Jimmie Lunceford’s in 1942, Lionel Hampton’s in 1943, and Louis Armstrong’s, where he acted as musical director from 1944 to 1945. In the 1930s he appeared on small-group sessions led by Benny Morton, Teddy Wilson, and Henry “Red” Allen; composed “Back Bay Shuffle” for Artie Shaw; and headed his own orchestra in 1945. With Eddie Wilcox he launched the short-lived Raecox label, on which he never recorded, and afterward concentrated chiefly on freelance arranging. His own discography as a leader remained sparse, consisting of a pair of titles for King in 1945, six sides for Groove in 1955 on which he sang on most tracks, and two R&B-styled vocal numbers for Moonshine in 1958, though he also cut material with Champion Jack Dupree between 1955 and 1956.