"EDDIE.DURHAMJazz"EDDIE DURHAM (1909-1987) from San Marcos, Texas... notably first with WALTER PAGE'S OKLAHOMA BLUE DEVILS and next, THE BENNIE MOTEN ORCHESTRA, codified the Kansas City swing era, into an organized dancing culture, as a new idiom to Jazz, literally "swinging the blues", He wrote, translated, charted, arranged and co-wrote many seminal 1930's musical arrangements, including One O'Clock Jump, Topsy, Swingin the Blues, Moten's Swing, Jumpin At The Woodside, Sent For You Yesterday Here You Come Today, Every Tub, Lafayette, Lunceford's Special, John's Idea, Glenn Island Special, Sliphorn Jive, Blues In The Groove and Good Morning Blues. Only about 5 big bands were untouched by the talents of Eddie Durham! He CREATED the template (of charts and of stage movements for the brass sections) for the IDIOM of "SWING" with one classic after another and fostered a team who breathed and vastly swung AS ONE, also known as (the best of) the first:
ALL AMERICAN RHYTHM SECTION:
EDDIE DURHAM - Trombone, Banjo, Electric Guitar, Composer, Arranger, Choreographer for Brass, Innovator and Pioneer of Amplified & Electric Guitar & single-line solos;
William "Count" Basie - Piano, co-Composer
Freddie Greene-rhythm Guitar, Walter Page-Tuba & Bass
Lester Young-Tenor Sax
Herschal Evans - Tenor Sax (Eddie's cousin, from Texas)
Papa Jo Jones - Drums (Inventor of the Hi-Hat)
Click for: The BEST SWING MUSIC recordings in History
Eddie’s eldest sibling, JOSEPH DURHAM, JR. was a Musical Director for Teddy Roosevelt’s Homecoming Calvary Band: THE ROUGHRIDERS. JoeJr. subscribed to correspondence music lessons from the U.S. School of Music, a system which taught 2 & 3 part harmony. JoeJr. learned to read and notate music and taught ALL of his siblings everything he learned and formed THE DURHAM BROTHERS ORCHESTRA
L-R: Edgar Battle, Valentine Billington & EDDIE DURHAM played a combined 12 instruments with Maime Smith's 711 SHOW
Mamie Smith's Jazz Hounds 1920. L-R: Ernest Elliot, Dope Andrews, Addington Major, Leroy Parker, Willie "The Lion" Smith (piano)
Eddie Durham's first recordings are in 1929 - first, with the Orchestra of BENNIE MOTEN and later
