Michael Neely Bryan (August 9, 1916 – August 20, 1972) 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 major ...

guitarist.

Biography

Bryan was a self-taught guitarist born in Byhalia,

Mississippi Mississippi () is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States, bordered to the north by Tennessee; to the east by Alabama; to the south by the Gulf of Mexico; to the southwest by Louisiana; and to the northwest by Arkansas. Miss ...

on August 9, 1916. Bryan is best known for his time playing with

Benny Goodman Benjamin David Goodman (May 30, 1909 – June 13, 1986) was an American clarinetist and bandleader known as the "King of Swing". From 1936 until the mid-1940s, Goodman led one of the most popular swing big bands in the United States. His co ...

and his contribution to a series of television documentaries sponsored by the

Goodyear Tire Company The Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company is an American multinational tire manufacturing company founded in 1898 by Frank Seiberling and based in Akron, Ohio. Goodyear manufactures tires for automobiles, commercial trucks, light trucks, motorcycles, S ...

featuring jazz musicians. He began his career playing in the

Memphis Memphis most commonly refers to: * Memphis, Egypt, a former capital of ancient Egypt * Memphis, Tennessee, a major American city Memphis may also refer to: Places United States * Memphis, Alabama * Memphis, Florida * Memphis, Indiana * Memp ...

area until 1935 when he joined

Red Nichols Ernest Loring "Red" Nichols (May 8, 1905 – June 28, 1965) was an American jazz cornetist, composer, and jazz bandleader. Biography Early life and career Nichols was born in Ogden, Utah, United States. His father was a college music profes ...

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

. After that, he led his own band in Greenwood, Mississippi from 1938 to 1939. From November 1940 until May 1941, Bryan worked with Benny Goodman and played with the

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 an ...

s of

Bob Chester Bob Chester (March 20, 1908 – October 29, 1966) was an American jazz and pop music bandleader and tenor saxophonist. He was born in Detroit, Michigan, United States. Chester's stepfather ran General Motors's Fisher Body Works. He began his ...

Jan Savitt Jan Savitt (born Jacob Savetnick; September 4, 1907 – October 4, 1948), known as "The Stokowski of Swing", from having played violin in Leopold Stokowski's orchestra, was an American bandleader, musical arranger, and violinist. Early life and ...

, and

Artie Shaw Artie Shaw (born Arthur Jacob Arshawsky; May 23, 1910 – December 30, 2004) was an American clarinetist, composer, bandleader, actor and author of both fiction and non-fiction. Widely regarded as "one of jazz's finest clarinetists", Shaw led ...

until he joined the

United States Army The United States Army (USA) is the land service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army of the United States in the U.S. Constitution.Article II, section 2, cla ...

from March 1942 until November 1944. In December 1942, author

Ursula Parrott Ursula Parrott (March 26, 1899Radcliffe College, Yearbook' (1920): 67. via Hathi Trust – September 1957), was a commercially successful American writer of romantic fiction novels. Her first book, ''Ex-Wife'' (1929), was a best seller, and was ad ...

became the subject of national coverage when she was brought up on federal charges of attempting to help Bryan escape from the Miami Beach Army stockade. However, she was acquitted by the jury at her trial."Ursula Parrott Freed of Federal Charges"
''

The Tuscaloosa News The '' Tuscaloosa News '' is a daily newspaper serving Tuscaloosa, Alabama, United States, and the surrounding area in west central Alabama. In 2012, Halifax Media Group acquired the ''Tuscaloosa News''. Prior to that, the paper's owner was Th ...

'' (February 28, 1943) After his time in the military, Bryan worked with some emerging

bebop Bebop or bop is a style of jazz developed in the early-to-mid-1940s in the United States. The style features compositions characterized by a fast tempo, complex chord progressions with rapid chord changes and numerous changes of key, instrumen ...

musicians like

Dizzy Gillespie John Birks "Dizzy" Gillespie (; October 21, 1917 – January 6, 1993) was an American jazz trumpeter, bandleader, composer, educator and singer. He was a trumpet virtuoso and improviser, building on the virtuosic style of Roy Eldridge but addi ...

and

Charlie Parker Charles Parker Jr. (August 29, 1920 – March 12, 1955), nicknamed "Bird" or "Yardbird", was an American jazz saxophonist, band leader and composer. Parker was a highly influential soloist and leading figure in the development of bebop, a form ...

in their small groups. He rejoined Benny Goodman from January 1945 until September 1946 and recorded with both the sextet and the orchestra. Bryan spent several years doing studio work in

California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...

. In addition he produced a series of foreign television documentaries for the Goodyear Tire Company featuring jazz musicians such as

Louis Armstrong Louis Daniel Armstrong (August 4, 1901 – July 6, 1971), nicknamed "Satchmo", "Satch", and "Pops", was an American trumpeter and vocalist. He was among the most influential figures in jazz. His career spanned five decades and several era ...

and

Duke Ellington Edward Kennedy "Duke" Ellington (April 29, 1899 – May 24, 1974) was an American jazz pianist, composer, and leader of his eponymous jazz orchestra from 1923 through the rest of his life. Born and raised in Washington, D.C., Ellington was based ...

. In 1962, he toured Europe as music director of a band also sponsored by Goodyear. In 1966, he toured

Vietnam Vietnam or Viet Nam ( vi, Việt Nam, ), officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam,., group="n" is a country in Southeast Asia, at the eastern edge of mainland Southeast Asia, with an area of and population of 96 million, making i ...

with

Martha Raye Martha Raye (born Margy Reed; August 27, 1916 – October 19, 1994), nicknamed The Big Mouth, was an American comic actress and singer who performed in movies, and later on television. She also acted in plays, including Broadway. She was honored ...

. On 5 May 1957 he married

Lady Iris Mountbatten Lady Iris Kemp ( Mountbatten, formerly O'Malley, later Bryan; 13 January 1920 – 1 September 1982) was an English actress and model, and a member of the Battenberg/ Mountbatten family. She was the youngest great-grandchild of Queen Victoria. ...

, only child of Alexander Mountbatten, 1st Marquess of Carisbrooke and a great-granddaughter of

Queen Victoria Victoria (Alexandrina Victoria; 24 May 1819 – 22 January 1901) was Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland from 20 June 1837 until Death and state funeral of Queen Victoria, her death in 1901. Her reign of 63 years and 21 ...

. They divorced months later. He died of

leukemia Leukemia ( also spelled leukaemia and pronounced ) is a group of blood cancers that usually begin in the bone marrow and result in high numbers of abnormal blood cells. These blood cells are not fully developed and are called ''blasts'' or ' ...

in 1972.

Bibliography

* Chilton, John (1985). ''Who's Who of Jazz: Storyville to Swing Street''. New York NY, Da Capo Press. * Claghorn, Charles Eugene (1982). ''Biographical Dictionary of Jazz''. Englewood Cliffs NJ, Prentice-Hall, Inc: 53. *

Feather, Leonard Leonard Geoffrey Feather (13 September 1914 – 22 September 1994) was a British-born jazz pianist, composer, and producer, who was best known for his music journalism and other writing. Biography Feather was born in London, England, into an u ...

and Gitler, Ira (1999). ''The Biographical Encyclopedia of Jazz''. New York NY, Oxford University Press: 90. * Kernfeld, Barry (2002). ''The New Grove Dictionary of Jazz''. Taunton MA,

Macmillan Publishers Limited Macmillan Publishers (occasionally known as the Macmillan Group; formally Macmillan Publishers Ltd and Macmillan Publishing Group, LLC) is a British publishing company traditionally considered to be one of the 'Big Five' English language publi ...

. 1:336. *

Larkin, Colin Colin Larkin (born 1949) is a British writer and entrepreneur. He founded, and was the editor-in-chief of, the ''Encyclopedia of Popular Music'', described by ''The Times'' as "the standard against which all others must be judged". Along wit ...

(1999). ''The Virgin Encyclopedia of Jazz''. London, Virgin Books: 131–132.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bryan, Mike Swing guitarists American jazz guitarists Deaths from cancer in California Deaths from leukemia 1916 births 1972 deaths 20th-century American guitarists People from Byhalia, Mississippi People from Greenwood, Mississippi Jazz musicians from Mississippi United States Army personnel of World War II