Eddie Durham

Eddie Durham (born August 19, 1906, San Marcos, Texas, USA - died March 6, 1987, New York City, New York, USA) was an American guitarist, trombonist, composer and arranger.

He played with [a2392043] and the orchestras of [a311057], [a311058] and [a145262]. He was one of the first musicians 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 [i]Band Box Shuffle[/i] (with [a317903], in October 1929), and recorded one of the first amplified guitar tracks in 1935 (on Jimmie Lunceford's cover of [i]Hittin' The Bottle[/i]).

From 1936 to 1938, Durham arranged and composed many pieces for Count Basie's groups and orchestras: [i]John's Idea[/i] (July 1937), [i]Time Out[/i] (August 1937), [i]Topsy[/i] (August 1937), [i]Out The Window[/i] (October 1937), [i]Sent For You Yesterday[/i] (February 1938), [i]Swinging The Blues[/i] (february 1938), [i]Every Tub[/i] (February 1938).

In the 1940's, Durham became musical director of the [a=International Sweethearts Of Rhythm], an all-female jazz band. At the same time, he was leading his own combo, which included some Kansas City swing veterans such as [a=Buster Smith] and [a=Hot Lips Page].

Durham maintained his activity as arranger through the 1960's, and was playing guitar and touring until the 1980's. He appears playing a trombone solo in the documentary film [i]The last of the Blue Devils[/i], directed by [a747455] in 1980.