Eddie Durham (August 19, 1906 – March 6, 1987) was an American jazz guitarist who was one of the pioneers of the electric guitar in jazz. He was a guitarist, trombonist, composer, and arranger for the orchestras of Bennie Moten, Jimmie Lunceford, and Count Basie. With Edgar Battle he composed "Topsy", which was recorded by Count Basie and became a hit for Benny Goodman.
Eduard “Eddie” Durham was born in San Marcos, Texas. His father, who “played the fiddle at square dances,” taught him to both read and notate. By just age 10, Eddie was already performing in public. Circa 1920, Eddie, his brother Roosevelt, along with cousins Allen and Clyde Durham, formed the Durham Brothers Band. Circa 1924, Eddie was a member of The 101 Ranch Brass Band playing in circuses throughout the Southwest. The band even reached New York City, where they performed in Yankee Stadium. By his 20th birthday he was a member of perhaps the seminal Southwestern jazz band of the era, Walter Page’s Blue Devils. Durham serves as guitarist/trombonist/arranger not only for the Blue Devils, but also for their next incarnation, Bennie Moten’s orchestra, and their next incarnation, the Count Basie band. In 1934, Eddie relocated to New York City. Eddie (who was proficient on both Guitar and Trombone) became one of the most important composer-arrangers of the entire Swing era.
Among the well-known titles he either arranged or composed were “Moten Swing,” “Topsy,” “Lunceford Special,” “Harlem Shout,” “Swingin’ the Blues,” “Lafayette,” “Good Morning Blues,” “One O’Clock Jump,” “Jumpin’ at the Woodside,” and “In The Mood.”
From 1929, Durham started experimenting to enhance the sound of his guitar using resonators and megaphones. In 1935, he was the first to record an electrically amplified guitar with Jimmie Lunceford in "Hittin' the Bottle" that was recorded in New York for Decca.
It’s fair to say that without Eddie Durham, there would be no Charlie Christian. According to Eddie himself, when he met banjo and ukulele-player Floyd Smith on the 1937 Basie tour, “He wanted to play like me, but he didn’t have a guitar, and his mama wouldn’t buy him one… he came to me and asked me to say to his mother,
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‘Mrs. Smith, this boy could be a genius on the guitar if you’d just buy him one.’ After I did that, he got his first guitar.” Two years later, when Smith was precluded from joining Benny Goodman’s band by his contract with Andy Kirk, he recommended Christian in his place.
‘Mrs. Smith, this boy could be a genius on the guitar if you’d just buy him one.’ After I did that, he got his first guitar.” Two years later, when Smith was precluded from joining Benny Goodman’s band by his contract with Andy Kirk, he recommended Christian in his place.In 1938, Durham recorded single string electric guitar solos with the Kansas City Five (or Six), which were both smallish groups that included members of Count Basie's rhythm section alongside with the tenor saxophone playing of Lester Young. Also that year Durham wrote "I Don't Want to Set the World on
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Fire" with Bennie Benjamin, Sol Marcus, and Eddie Seiler. During the 1940s, Durham created Eddie Durham's All-Star Girl Orchestra, an African-American all female swing band that toured the United States and Canada.
Here is the key to Durham’s guitar style: He was trying to duplicate the phrasing of a trombone, both by amplifying it (widening its tone and enhancing its sustain) and playing with uncharacteristic intervals and attack. In these respects he is remarkably similar to another overlooked great from
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the same era, Bob Dunn, who played amplified steel guitar for Milton Brown.
the same era, Bob Dunn, who played amplified steel guitar for Milton Brown.He continued writing and occasionally leading his own small groups throughout the 50’s and 60’s until he joined the Harlem Blues and Jazz Band in the late 1970's and by the 1980s, he had toured Europe with the band. He had been scheduled to appear with the band at a shopping mall in Wayne, N.J. but he died on March 6th 1987, as a result of a fall at his daughter's house in Brooklyn He was 80 years old and lived in Manhattan.
(Edited from Wikipedia, The new York Times & The Brooklyn Rail)