Swingin' The Blues - Eddie Durham & The Ladies of Jazz

Swingin The Blues Eddie Durham and The Ladies of Jazz

By: Topsy Durham

Narrated by: Virtual Voice

Length: 4 hrs and 39 mins

Publisher's summary

Dear Jazz Enthusiasts, Musicians, Music Students, and art lovers (and your Jazz loving Aunts and Uncles...)

The Swingin' The Blues Series is an authorized biography by the daughter of Eddie Durham (1906-1987). It is the most significant historical chronicle of Eddie Durham and his musical family. In addition, boasting book cover artwork by Brian Kramer (v4) and Chuck Frazier (v1 & v2), their designs present as impressively as the information inside! The Durhams are of Mohawk, Cherokee, Irish, and African-American descent.

In Volume 2 of the Swingin' The Blues Series "Eddie Durham & the Ladies of Jazz," Topsy pays homage to ALL respective females, girls, and women who performed with the Durham Brothers over half of a Century. The 1940s were the pinnacle of Eddie's fortune/publicity fame when he was musical director of all-girl orchestras.

World War II ripped apart male orchestras, and female musicians received an exclusive spotlight! You will be amazed at the extensive, spectacle-like publicity garnered worldwide due to their exhibition throughout the 1940s. This Book highlights Eddie's massive and usually omitted contribution to their success. The Book contains 100+ pictures.

In 1943 Ella Fitzgerald's management teamed her with The Eddie Durham All-Stars Orchestra, who was previously musical director, mentor, and arranger to Ina Ray Hutton and her Melodears, International Sweethearts of Rhythm, Darlings of Rhythm, & Eddie Durham's All-Star-Girl Orchestra (a merger of the best of the Sweethearts and the Harlem Playgirls). Eddie also traveled for two decades with his vocal and brass quartet, The Durhamettes.

Eddie relayed his adventures firsthand to his children and his close circle of friends. To corroborate his stories, the timeline of his pursuits with female orchestras, the personnel, and the venues are chronicled in News Articles included in this Book. In the mid-1950s, Eddie worked with Thelma Baxter, Annie Laurie, Dinah Washington, etc. Eddie was the Musical Director and arranger for Sarah McLawler and the Synchoettes at the Astoria Ballroom, where headliners were booked for ten days, and they backed up artists such as Billie Holiday.

2021: Volume 1-"The Virtuosity of Eddie Durham" reveals his childhood, his extraordinary seminal musical career from 1906-1940, and the debut of a discography of The Durham Brothers Orchestra, respectively.

In 1927, The Durham Brothers Orchestra traveled with the Mamie Smith 7-11 vaudeville stage extravaganza. Eddie recorded with Laura Henton in 1929, only a few months after his iconic recordings with Bennie Moten's Kansas City Orchestra.

In the 1930s, he recorded with Count Basie and Jimmie Lunceford, wrote & and arranged for Glenn Miller, Billie Holiday, Helen Forrest, Helen Humes, June Richmond, Marion Hutton, Kay Starr, Myra Taylor, and mentored Mary Lou Williams and Charlie Christian.

2022: Volume 4-"The Harlem Blues & Jazz Band," Eddie's Manager, Al Vollmer's diary and 10-year itinerary of Eddie touring the world with this historical band.100 tour pictures courtesy of Al Vollmer.

2025: Volume 3-"A Century of Secrets" forthcoming.

Thank you for your continued support of self-published quality books. Please write your review on Amazon.

SEPTEMBER 2023: PBS Documentary titled "WHAM REBOP BOOM BAM - The Swing Jazz Music of Eddie Durham."

Mid-October: Eddie Durham Festival in San Marcos, Texas, USA 78667.

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