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Boyd Raeburn

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Boyd Raeburn
Boyd Raeburn, c. June 1946 Photograph by William P. Gottlieb
Boyd Raeburn, c. June 1946
Photograph by William P. Gottlieb
Background information
Birth nameBoyd Albert Raeburn
Born(1913-10-27)October 27, 1913
Faith, South Dakota, U.S.
Died2 August 1966(1966-08-02) (aged 52)
Lafayette, Louisiana, U.S.
GenresJazz
OccupationMusician
InstrumentSaxophone

Boyd Albert Raeburn (October 27, 1913 – August 2, 1966)[1] was an American jazz bandleader and bass saxophonist.

Career

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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

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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

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  • 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

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  1. ^ 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.
  2. ^ 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.
  3. ^ a b c d Stokes, W. Royal (April 22, 1979). "Swinging Back to a '40s Sound". The Washington Post. Retrieved May 22, 2021.
  4. ^ a b c d e Shaw, Lew (January 1, 2018). "Bruce Boyd Raeburn Retires From Hogan Jazz Archive". Syncopatedtimes.com. Retrieved May 23, 2021.
  5. ^ Jordan, Steve; Scanlan, Tom (1993) [1991]. "Rhythm Man: Fifty Years in Jazz". Ann Arbor: University of Micghigan Press. p. 58. ISBN 0472082027.
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