Vincent LeRoy Beyer (March 14, 1918, Denver, Colorado – December 19, 2008 in

Las Cruces, New Mexico Las Cruces (; "the crosses") is the second-largest city in the U.S. state of New Mexico and the seat of Doña Ana County. As of the 2020 census the population was 111,385. Las Cruces is the largest city in both Doña Ana County and southern New ...

), known professionally as Verne Byers or Vern Byers, was an American jazz bandleader, double bass player, promoter, and nightclub owner. He brought

The Beatles The Beatles were an English Rock music, rock band, formed in Liverpool in 1960, that comprised John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr. They are regarded as the Cultural impact of the Beatles, most influential band of al ...

to Denver when they performed at

Red Rocks Amphitheatre Red Rocks Amphitheatre (also colloquially as simply Red Rocks) is an open-air amphitheatre built into a rock structure in the Western United States, western United States, near Morrison, Colorado, west of Denver. There is a large, tilted, flyi ...

on August 26, 1964.

Early years

Born and raised in Denver, Beyer started playing piano at age nine but switched to double bass in middle school because there was more demand for it. He graduated from South High School, then attended the

University of Denver The University of Denver (DU) is a private university, private research university in Denver, Colorado. Founded in 1864, it is the oldest independent private university in the Mountain States, Rocky Mountain Region of the United States. It is ...

for two years from 1937 to 1939. His transcripts under the name "Vernon LeRoy Beyer" show that he was a liberal arts major who enrolled in several journalism classes. At the age of 19, he joined the Denver Musicians' Union. Before graduating from college, he joined the Merchant Marines (around 1939) and was a member of the Navy Concert Band during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

Career

Bandleader

Verne Byers and His Orchestra played compositions of World War II dance bands, including

Glenn Miller Alton Glen Miller (March 1, 1904 – December 15, 1944) was an American big band founder, owner, conductor, composer, arranger, trombone player and recording artist before and during World War II, when he was an officer in the United States Arm ...

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 ...

, and

Tommy Dorsey Thomas Francis Dorsey Jr. (November 19, 1905 – November 26, 1956) was an American jazz trombonist, composer, conductor and bandleader of the big band era. He was known as the "Sentimental Gentleman of Swing" because of his smooth-toned trombo ...

. The band toured the Midwest and Rocky Mountains area in the 1940s and 1950s as one of many territory bands, playing in dance halls, ballrooms and hotels mostly in Colorado, New Mexico, Iowa, and Minnesota. The band often played at

Elitch Gardens Elitch Gardens was a family-owned seasonal amusement park, theater, and botanic garden in the West Highland neighborhood in northwest Denver, Colorado, United States, at 38th and Tennyson streets. For more than a century Elitch's was one of the m ...

and once opened for

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 ...

there. The band had twelve players. During the 1950s, bookings for the band were handled by the Omaha office of National Orchestra Service. At Danceland and at the Pagosa Springs Lions Club, the band was billed as "Verne Byers and His CBS Orchestra – The Most Danceable Band in the Land." Byers worked with

Ted Fio Rito Theodore Salvatore Fiorito (December 20, 1900 – July 22, 1971),DeLong, Thomas A. (1996). ''Radio Stars: An Illustrated Biographical Dictionary of 953 Performers, 1920 through 1960''. McFarland & Company, Inc. . P. 95. known professionally a ...

for a year and then toured with Herb Miller, Glenn's brother. He also played with Tommy Tucker, Teddy Powell, and

Jan Garber Jan Garber (born Jacob Charles Garber, November 5, 1894 – October 5, 1977) was an American violinist and jazz bandleader. Biography Garber was born in Indianapolis, Indiana. He had his own band by the time he was 21. He became known as "The ...

Concert promoter

Byers produced a Beatles concert at the Red Rocks Amphitheatre on August 26, 1964 — a 32-minute affair that was the group's only Denver appearance. As head of Lookout Mountain Attractions, Byers said he had never heard of the Beatles before booking them. He also booked and promoted concerts by

Peter, Paul & Mary Peter, Paul and Mary was an American folk group formed in New York City in 1961 during the American folk music revival phenomenon. The trio consisted of tenor Peter Yarrow, baritone Paul Stookey, and contralto Mary Travers. The group's reperto ...

Otis Redding Otis Ray Redding Jr. (September 9, 1941 – December 10, 1967) was an American singer and songwriter. He is considered one of the greatest singers in the history of American popular music and a seminal artist in soul music and rhythm and blues. ...

Count Basie William James "Count" Basie (; August 21, 1904 – April 26, 1984) was an American jazz pianist, organist, bandleader, and composer. In 1935, he formed the Count Basie Orchestra, and in 1936 took them to Chicago for a long engagement and the ...

James Brown James Joseph Brown (May 3, 1933 – December 25, 2006) was an American singer, dancer, musician, record producer and bandleader. The central progenitor of funk music and a major figure of 20th century music, he is often referred to by the honor ...

, and

Glen Campbell Glen Travis Campbell (April 22, 1936 – August 8, 2017) was an American guitarist, singer, songwriter, actor and television host. He was best known for a series of hit songs in the 1960s and 1970s, and for hosting ''The Glen Campbell Goodt ...

Nightclub owner

His father and a business partner purchased

The Rainbow Ballroom The Rainbow Ballroom, at 38 E 5th Avenue (at N Lincoln Street), Denver, was a dance hall that was one of the best known dance halls west of the Mississippi, according to a 1946 ''Billboard'' article. Its capacity of 3,000 made it the largest indoor ...

which Byers took over booking in 1947. He continued the policy of booking territory bands and name bands. Byers owned Club Baja from 1960 to 1969. He operated the Thunderbird, a jazz dinner club on

Lookout Mountain Lookout Mountain is a mountain ridge located at the northwest corner of the U.S. state of Georgia, the northeast corner of Alabama, and along the southeastern Tennessee state line in Chattanooga. Lookout Mountain was the scene of the 18th-centu ...

. He and a partner owned and operated the jazz club The Robin's Nest from 1957 to 1977.

Kenny Burrell Kenneth Earl Burrell (born July 31, 1931) is an American jazz guitarist known for his work on numerous top jazz labels: Prestige, Blue Note, Verve, CTI, Muse, and Concord. His collaborations with Jimmy Smith were notable, and produced the 1965 ...

played there in 1972;

Stanley Turrentine Stanley William Turrentine (April 5, 1934 – September 12, 2000) was an American jazz tenor saxophonist. He began his career playing R&B for Earl Bostic and later soul jazz recording for the Blue Note label from 1960, touched on jazz fusion dur ...

in 1973. Other performers included

Sarah Vaughan Sarah Lois Vaughan (March 27, 1924 – April 3, 1990) was an American jazz singer. Nicknamed "Sassy" and "Jazz royalty, The Divine One", she won two Grammy Awards, including the Lifetime Achievement Award, and was nominated for a total of nine ...

Stan Getz Stanley Getz (February 2, 1927 – June 6, 1991) was an American jazz saxophonist. Playing primarily the tenor saxophone, Getz was known as "The Sound" because of his warm, lyrical tone, with his prime influence being the wispy, mellow timbre of ...

Hank Crawford Bennie Ross "Hank" Crawford, Jr. (December 21, 1934 – January 29, 2009) was an American Alto saxophone, alto saxophonist, arranger and songwriter whose genres ranged from Rhythm and blues, R&B, hard bop, jazz-funk, and soul jazz. Crawford was ...

McCoy Tyner Alfred McCoy Tyner (December 11, 1938March 6, 2020) was an American jazz piano, jazz pianist and composer known for his work with the John Coltrane Quartet (from 1960 to 1965) and his long solo career afterwards. He was an NEA Jazz Masters, NEA ...

Herbie Mann Herbert Jay Solomon (April 16, 1930 – July 1, 2003), known by his stage name Herbie Mann, was an American jazz flute player and important early practitioner of world music. Early in his career, he also played tenor saxophone and clarinet (incl ...

, and

Dave Dave may refer to: Film, television, and theater * ''Dave'' (film), a 1993 film starring Kevin Kline and Sigourney Weaver * ''Dave'' (musical), a 2018 stage musical adaptation of the film * Dave (TV channel), a digital television channel in the ...

and

Don Grusin Don Grusin (born April 22, 1941) is an American jazz keyboardist, composer, and record producer. He is the younger brother of Dave Grusin. Career Don Grusin grew up in Littleton, Colorado. His father, a native of Latvia, was a classical violinis ...

. Byers and his wife, Jeanne, moved to Las Vegas in 1983. In Las Vegas, he hired high quality musicians willing to travel with his territory band. The swing band era was at a low, and major casinos were switching from live bands to taped music, which resulted in a musicians' strike. Interest in swing bands was waning. When traveling for territory bands waned, his band played regularly in Las Vegas until his retirement.

Final years

Byers retired in 2002 and moved to

Columbus, New Mexico Columbus is a village in Luna County, New Mexico, United States, about north of the Mexico–United States border, Mexican border. It is considered a place of historical interest, as the scene of Battle of Columbus (1916), a 1916 attack by Mexico, ...

. He died in Las Cruces, New Mexico, on December 19, 2008, at the age of 90. At the time of his death, he had been married to Jeanne Byers for 58 years.

Bands and personnel

* Verne Byers and His Bermuda Brass (1938) * Verne Byers and His Bermuda Brass (1972) * Verne Byers' Glenn Miller Revival (1980s) * Verne Byers and His Orchestra

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Byers, Verne 1918 births 2008 deaths 20th-century American musicians American jazz bandleaders Musicians from Colorado Musicians from Las Vegas People from Luna County, New Mexico University of Denver alumni