Boyd Raeburn

Genres:	Big Band & Swing • Easy Listening • Jazz
Descriptive "tags":	swing • jazz • bebop • big band • jazz saxophone • bass saxophone • classic swing • anyswing • george handy • under 2000 listeners
Decades Active:	1950s • 1980s • 1990s • 2000s

Biography

Boyd Albert Raden, 27 October 1913, Faith, South Dakota, USA, d. 2 August 1966, Layfayette, Indiana, USA. Raeburn attended the University of Chicago, where he led a campus band, before becoming a professional musician leading a small, light music band, but in the 30s turned his attention to swing. In 1944 he formed a high-class band that featured some fine young musicians including Dizzy Gillespie, Sonny Berman (trumpets), Earl Swope, Tommy Pederson (trombones), Al Cohn, Johnny Bothwell (saxophones), while older stars such as Roy Eldridge and Trummy Young played with the band that recorded for the V Disc label. Raeburn was unlucky - a fire at New Jersey’s Palisades Amusement Park destroyed the band’s library together with many of its instruments.

Undeterred, Raeburn put together an astonishing outfit that seemed, in 1945, years ahead of its time. It played numbers such as ‘Dalvatore Sally’, ‘Yerxa’ and ‘Boyd...

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