EDDIE DURHAM

Trombonist-arranger Eddie Durham, who appeared with Walter Page's "Blue Devils", Bennie Moten, Count Basie and Jimmie Lunceford, was also a convincing guitarist, and one of the first to adopt the electric guitar (just invented in 1931) after using instruments with a resonator. He experimented with proto-amplifiers as early as 1929, for example in the solo of Band Box Shuffle (with Bennie Moten's Kansas City Orchestra, in October 1929), and recorded one of the first amplified guitar tracks in 1935 (on Jimmie Lunceford's cover of Hittin' The Bottle). From 1936 to 1938, Durham arranged and composed many pieces for Count Basie's groups and orchestras: John's Idea (July 1937), Time Out (August 1937), Topsy (August 1937), Out The Window (October 1937), Sent For You Yesterday (February 1938), Swinging The Blues (february 1938), Every Tub (February 1938). In the '40s, Durham became musical director of the International Sweethearts Of Rhythm, an all-female jazzband. At the read more...