Boyd Albert Raeburn (October 27, 1913 – August 2, 1966) was an American

jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with its roots in blues and ragtime. Since the 1920s Jazz Age, it has been recognized as a m ...

bandleader and bass saxophonist.

Career

He was born in

Faith, South Dakota Faith is a city in the northeastern corner of Meade County, South Dakota, United States. The population was 367 at the 2020 census. The most complete ''Tyrannosaurus rex'' skeleton known, Sue, was discovered approximately 15 miles northeas ...

, United States. Raeburn attended the

University of Chicago The University of Chicago (UChicago, Chicago, U of C, or UChi) is a private university, private research university in Chicago, Illinois. Its main campus is located in Chicago's Hyde Park, Chicago, Hyde Park neighborhood. The University of Chic ...

, where he led a campus band. He gained his earliest experience as a commercial bandleader at Chicago's World Fair (1933–1934). For the rest of the decade, he worked in dance bands, sometimes leading them. In the next decade, the group passed through swing before becoming identified with the bop school. His later

big band A big band or jazz orchestra is a type of musical ensemble of jazz music that usually consists of ten or more musicians with four sections: saxophones, trumpets, trombones, and a rhythm section. Big bands originated during the early 1910s ...

, which was active c. 1944-1947, performed arrangements that were often comparable to those used by

Woody Herman Woodrow Charles Herman (May 16, 1913 – October 29, 1987) was an American jazz clarinetist, saxophonist, singer, and big band leader. Leading groups called "The Herd", Herman came to prominence in the late 1930s and was active until his dea ...

and the "progressive jazz" of

Stan Kenton Stanley Newcomb Kenton (December 15, 1911 – August 25, 1979) was an American popular music and jazz artist. As a pianist, composer, arranger and band leader, he led an innovative and influential jazz orchestra for almost four decades. Though K ...

during the same period. The compositions arranged by

George Handy George Handy (born George Joseph Hendleman) (January 17, 1920 – January 8, 1997) was an American jazz arranger, composer and pianist whose musical beginnings were fostered under the tutelage of composer Aaron Copland. While he had an impressiv ...

were the most contemporary, utilizing dissonance somewhat in the manner of Igor Stravinsky.

Johnny Richards Johnny Richards (born Juan Manuel Cascales, November 2, 1911 – October 7, 1968) was an American jazz arranger and composer. He was a pivotal arranger for some of the more adventurous performances by Stan Kenton's big band in the 1950s and e ...

joined in 1947, following Handy and stayed for a year writing 50 compsoitions.

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, had two children. As well as singing with her husband's group, Powell also sang with

Harry James Harry Haag James (March 15, 1916 – July 5, 1983) was an American musician who is best known as a trumpet-playing band leader who led a big band from 1939 to 1946. He broke up his band for a short period in 1947 but shortly after he reorganized ...

and

Gene Krupa Eugene Bertram Krupa (January 15, 1909 – October 16, 1973), known as Gene Krupa, was an American jazz drummer, bandleader and composer who performed with energy and showmanship. His drum solo on Benny Goodman's 1937 recording of " Sing, Sing, ...

. Raeburn left music in the mid-1950s. Powell died in Nassau in the Bahamas in 1959 from meningitis; the couple had moved there. He settled in New Orleans and ran a furniture store. Raeburn died from a heart attack in 1966 in Lafayette, Louisiana, aged 52. 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 of New Orleans, was the curator of the William Ransom Hogan Archive of New Orleans Jazz at the

Tulane University Tulane University, officially the Tulane University of Louisiana, is a private research university in New Orleans, Louisiana. Founded as the Medical College of Louisiana in 1834 by seven young medical doctors, it turned into a comprehensive pub ...

New Orleans New Orleans ( , ,New Orleans

until December 2017.

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

External links

"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 The Institute of Jazz Studies (IJS) is the largest and most comprehensive library and archives of jazz and jazz-related materials in the world. It is located on the fourth floor of the John Cotton Dana Library at Rutgers University–Newark in Newa ...

, Rutgers University
"A Band leader you'd be?"
by Boyd Raeburn, Band Leaders, November, 1945 (Starts on page 24). 1913 births 1966 deaths Jazz bandleaders Jazz bass saxophonists People from Faith, South Dakota Savoy Records artists 20th-century saxophonists Columbia Records artists Musicraft Records artists Hep Records artists {{US-jazz-musician-stub Jazz musicians from South Dakota