The Eddie Durham Jazz Celebration was held over the weekend at the Evan's Auditorium at Texas State University. Above, a Tenor sax duetwith Doug Lawrence and Russell Haight. Top right, On Alto Sax are Mike Smith and Charlie Young. Bottom right, Utah Hamrick plays the upright bass.
Photos by Linda Kelsey-Jones
JAZZED UP
Annual Eddie Durham Jazz Celebration held at Texas State University
“Eddie Durham is perhaps the least recognized, but perhaps the most important, Texas jazz musician in the past 100 years,” Hank Hehmsoth, professor of Jazz Piano and Composition at the school of Music at Texas State University, said.
Durham created a sound unlike any other and that sound originated in San Marcos around a century ago. Born in 1906, Durham’s career began in San Marcos with the Durham Brothers Orchestra.
“He is unknown, and yet he is a writer and arranger for the Count Basie Orchestra, one of the two most famous big bands,“ Hehmsoth said. “He did arrangements that everyone knows. He arranged the tune “In the Mood.” He was one of the original creators of the electric guitar. He is the first jazz musician to have ever made a recording. He is such an interesting fellow who was born and raised in San Marcos.”
Durham took those talents and headed for the Big Apple, where he made his mark.
“He brought with him to New York City the Kansas City Jazz style,” Hehmsoth said. “He influenced big band jazz in quite a unique way.”
Now, Texas State University honors Durham every year with the Eddie Durham Jazz Celebration during the Hill Country Jazz Festival weekend, which was held last week. Performing both at the Evan’s Auditorium at Texas State University and in Austin at the Parker Jazz Club, the event, which began in 1989, went off without a hitch.
Jazz musicians from around the nation gathered for performances including the Eddie Durham Tribute Big Band with director Doug Lawrence with a lecture by Loren Schoenberg, who played in Durham’s band and traveled the country with him.
“The whole thing went terrifically,” Hehmsoth said. “Every year we have more and more audiences and even after the freeze we had a big turnout.”
For more information on Eddie Durham, visit media.music.txst. edu/durham.html.
'(Eddie Durham) did arrangements that everyone knows. He arranged the tune 'In the Mood.' He was one of the original creators of the electric guitar. He is the first jazz musician to have ever made a recording. He is such an interesting fellow who was born and raised in San Marcos.”
Hank Hehmsoth, Professor of Jazz Piano and Composition at Texas State University
