Boyd Albert Raeburn (October 27, 1913 – August 2, 1966)[1] was an American jazz bandleader and bass saxophonist.
Career
He was born in Faith, South Dakota, United States.[1] Raeburn attended the University of Chicago, where he led a campus band.[1] He gained his earliest experience as a commercial bandleader at Chicago's World Fair (1933–1934).[2] For the rest of the decade, he worked in dance bands, sometimes leading them.[3]
In the next decade, the group passed through swing before becoming identified with the bop school.[2] His later big band, which was active c. 1944-1947, performed arrangements that were often comparable to those used by Woody Herman and the "progressive jazz" of Stan Kenton during the same period.[3] The compositions arranged by George Handy were the most contemporary, utilizing dissonance somewhat in the manner of Igor Stravinsky.[citation needed] Johnny Richards joined in 1947, following Handy and stayed for a year writing 50 compositions.[3]
Later life and death
Raeburn's second wife was the singer Ginny Powell, for whom he wrote "Rip Van Winkle". The couple married in 1946,[2] had two children.[4] As well as singing with her husband's group, Powell also sang with Harry James and Gene Krupa.[4] Raeburn left music in the mid-1950s.[3] Powell died in Nassau in the Bahamas in 1959 from meningitis; the couple had moved there.[4] He settled in New Orleans and ran a furniture store.[5]
Raeburn died from a heart attack in 1966 in Lafayette, Louisiana, aged 52.[1] Boyd Raeburn's first wife was Lorraine Anderson, with whom he had one child; the union ended in divorce. His son with Powell, Bruce Boyd Raeburn[4] of New Orleans, was the curator of the William Ransom Hogan Archive of New Orleans Jazz at the Tulane University in New Orleans until December 2017.[4]
Discography
- Boyd Meets Stravinski (Savoy, 1955)
- Man with the Horns (Savoy, 1955)
- Dance Spectacular (Columbia, 1956)
- Fraternity Rush (Columbia, 1957)
- On the Air Vol. 1 (Hep, 1974)
- Rhythms by Raeburn (Aircheck, 1977)
- Experiments in Big Band Jazz 1945 (Musicraft, 1980)
References
- ^ a b c d Colin Larkin, ed. (1992). The Guinness Encyclopedia of Popular Music (First ed.). Guinness Publishing. p. 2031. ISBN 0-85112-939-0.
- ^ a b c "Boyd Raeburn, 52, Band Leader, Dies; His Orchestra's Bop Style Influenced Postwar Jazz". The New York Times. August 4, 1966. p. 32. Retrieved May 23, 2021.
- ^ a b c d Stokes, W. Royal (April 22, 1979). "Swinging Back to a '40s Sound". The Washington Post. Retrieved May 22, 2021.
- ^ a b c d e Shaw, Lew (January 1, 2018). "Bruce Boyd Raeburn Retires From Hogan Jazz Archive". Syncopatedtimes.com. Retrieved May 23, 2021.
- ^ Jordan, Steve; Scanlan, Tom (1993) [1991]. "Rhythm Man: Fifty Years in Jazz". Ann Arbor: University of Micghigan Press. p. 58. ISBN 0472082027.
External links
Media related to Boyd Raeburn at Wikimedia Commons
- "Changing Personalities: Eastman Chamber Jazz Explores the Music of Boyd Raeburn", November 8, 2016.
- Boyd Raeburn biography, parabrisas.com; accessed February 8, 2018.
- Boyd Raeburn music collection, Institute of Jazz Studies, Rutgers University
- "A Band leader you'd be?", by Boyd Raeburn, Band Leaders, November, 1945 (Starts on page 24).
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