Bobby Byrne

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Bobby Byrne (born October 10, 1918 in Columbus , Ohio , † November 25, 2006 in Irvine , California ) was an American trombonist and big band leader in swing , Dixieland jazz and popular music .

Life

Byrne became known as a trombonist in the orchestras of the Dorsey Brothers , where he began his career at the age of 16; after the separation of the brothers he played with Jimmy Dorsey as a soloist. In 1939 he founded his own orchestra, which was not very successful at first, but then made a breakthrough with his engagement at the Glen Island Casino ; the following radio broadcasts and his recordings for Decca soon made him known. In late April 1940, he had a hit on the Billboard Top 30 with "Easy Does It," written by Sy Oliver and Trummy Young . The band singer was Dorothy Claire, shortly before the end of the band Don Redman worked as an arranger. He had another hit in October with “Maybe” (# 18), which was popular in the Ink Spots version . The last of his hits was "You Walk By" (# 22), which was then in the versions of Eddy Duchin , Blue Barron , Tommy Tucker , Kenny Baker or Wayne King .

The US entry into the war interrupted his career, but he also led an army band; in the fall of 1945 he returned to the music business and in 1946 founded a new orchestra, which also included Les Elgart and Ed Shaughnessy , but soon gave up the leadership of the band; he became a freelance musician in the New York area, working with Billy Bauer and Bobby Hackett . Byrne worked between 1952 and 1960 a. a. starred in recordings of Pearl Bailey , Cannonball Adderley , Ella Fitzgerald , Lena Horne , Della Reese , Cootie Williams , Charlie Barnet , Urbie Green and Lionel Hampton . He also worked for television shows; he had a 1952 to 1954 Dixieland combo , appeared in the Lucky Strike- sponsored Hit Parade and appeared in shows by Milton Berle , Perry Como and Patti Page .

In the late 1960s he published a number of easy listening albums such as B. "Shades of Brass", in which he increasingly used synthesizers , which can be heard particularly clearly in his Hair interpretation "Electric HAIR". He ended his active music career and was active in the management of the record label Command Records , founded by Enoch Light , but still played as a studio musician for the label.

With his romantic but powerful playing, Bobby Byrne was one of the most respected soloists of the time. On the other hand, Byrne was described as a perfectionist who was always dissatisfied with himself and his musicians, which led to considerable frustrations of his band members and ultimately made him less successful as a band leader, as there was always a tense atmosphere in his orchestra.

Discographic notes

  • Jazz, Dixieland - Chicago (Grand Award, 1954)
  • Mukrat Rumble (Grand Award, 1954)
  • The Jazzbone's Connected to the Trombone (Grand Award, 1959)
  • Dance discotheque, Vol. 2 (Command, 1966)

Web links

swell

  • Leo Walker: The Big Band Almanac . Ward Ritchie Press, Pasadena. 1978.
  • George T. Simon: The Big Bands . Foreword by Frank Sinatra. 4th edition. New York: Schirmer Books / London: Collier Macmillan Publishers, 1981, pp. 107-109.

Remarks

  1. ↑ See Gerhard Klußmeier: Jazz in the Charts. Another view on jazz history. Liner notes and booklet for the 100 CD edition. Membrane International GmbH. ISBN 978-3-86735-062-4 .
  2. ↑ Quote from Solid!
  3. ↑ After Solid! and in detail in Leo Watson, p. 64 f.
personal data
SURNAME Byrne, Bobby
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American jazz trombonist and big band leader
DATE OF BIRTH October 10, 1918
PLACE OF BIRTH Columbus , Ohio
DATE OF DEATH November 25, 2006
Place of death Irvine , California