Siddhesh Joshi (Editor)

Clyde Hurley

Updated on
Edit
Like
Comment
Share on FacebookTweet on TwitterShare on LinkedInShare on Reddit
Occupation(s)
  
Musician

Instruments
  
Trumpet


Years active
  
c. 1937–1955

Name
  
Clyde Hurley

Clyde Hurley

Born
  
September 3, 1916Fort Worth, Texas, U.S. (
1916-09-03
)

Associated acts
  
Died
  
August 15, 1963, Fort Worth, Texas, United States

Music group
  
Glenn Miller Orchestra (1939 – 1940)

Genres
  
Big band, Jazz, Swing music

Similar People
  
Maurice Purtill, Chummy MacGregor, Hal McIntyre, Matty Matlock, Bill Finegan

Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea (feat. Clyde Hurley, Edmond Hall, Walter Page, Charlie...


Clyde Lanham Hurley, Jr. (September 3, 1916 – August 14, 1963) was a trumpeter during the big band era. He was born in Fort Worth, Texas to Clyde Lanham Hurley and Esther Brown. Scott Yanow describes Hurley as "a fine trumpeter with a fat tone and a hard-driving style". He died of a coronary occlusion in Fort Worth leaving two sons and a former wife.

Contents

I Found a New Baby (feat. Clyde Hurley, Edmond Hall, Walter Page, Charlie Lodice)


Career

Self-taught, he learned to play the trumpet by playing along with Louis Armstrong records. He studied music at the Texas Christian University in Fort Worth from 1932 to 1936 where he participated in the school's jazz band. He began his career working with territory bands. In 1937, while drummer/band-leader Ben Pollack was touring through Texas he heard Hurley and invited him to join his orchestra where Hurley soloed on "So Unexpectedly". After a year with Pollack, while on tour in Los Angeles, Hurley left to become studio musician. Hurley was playing with Paul Whiteman when Glenn Miller sent for him to join the Miller band on its Glen Island Casino opening in May 1939, the year following fellow Fort Worthian Tex Beneke joining Miller's band.

During the time he was with Miller, Hurley was one of the key soloists. He appeared on the bands studio recordings and live performances throughout America, including Carnegie Hall, Cafe Rouge in Hotel Pennsylvania and the Paramount Theatre, New York. He shared trumpet solo honors with John Best - Hurley taking the "hot" solos - Best taking the rest. Hurley played the trumpet solo on Glenn Miller’s "In The Mood", "Slip Horn Jive" and "Tuxedo Junction." After a difference of opinion with Miller over the style of music the band was playing, Hurley left Miller in May 1940 to work with Tommy Dorsey and then joined Artie Shaw in 1941.

After his stint with Shaw, he did freelance work for the movie studios. He worked for MGM from 1944 to 1949 and for NBC from 1950 to 1955. During the late 1950s, Hurley played in Dixieland groups, recording with Matty Matlock's Rampart Street Paraders. In 1954, he recorded live with Ralph Sutton and Edmond Hall at the Club Hangover. His studio work in the 1950s included sessions with Paul Weston. He played solo on "Memories of You" on Weston's "Solo Flight" album.

Family

On April 20, 1940, Hurley was listed in the census as living with his then wife, Katherine Ann Foster (b. June 7, 1917, d. September 3, 1994) at 4114 Prescott Ave., Dallas, Texas, the house of his in-laws.

References

Clyde Hurley Wikipedia