There are no limits to the imagination and daring of the leader and his arrangers. The Raeburn band is by no means a dance organization. The music it plays is designed for listening; it’s modern music, cast in new molds out of classical forms and jazz rhythms and harmonies. This is the way music will be played from now on by the really hip and talented and musically healthy.
- Barry Ulanov
Recently, while digging for records at Dusty Groove in Chicago’s Wicker Park, I came across three Savoy 10” Boyd Raeburn albums: Innovations By Boyd Raeburn Volumes 1 thru 3. Interestingly, these were originally purchased at the fabled Seymour’s Record Mart, the pre-curser to Bob Koester’s Jazz Record Mart - you can read more about Seymour’s Record Mart here:
I hold these small gems now, but it’s interesting to think that back in 1951 someone walked into Seymour’s and decided to buy these progressive recordings.
The songs collected on these 10” records are actually 1951 reissues of Raeburn Orchestra sides recorded in 1945 and 1946 on Ben Pollack’s Jewel record label, created in Hollywood in 1945. Savoy had purchased Jewel as part of their move toward presenting the more avant-garde in Jazz.
So the story of the Boyd Raeburn Orchestra really starts with the legendary Ben Pollack….
The first time I saw and heard about Ben Pollack was many years ago while watching Universal’s 1956 movie The Benny Goodman Story:
In the movie, a young Benny Goodman begins his professional career by joining a traveling band led by Ben Pollack, played by himself.
Ben Pollack was the drummer for the New Orleans Rhythm Kings, a top jazz band in the early 1920s. By the mid-1930s, he had led several different-named bands and recorded on Victor, Decca, and other record labels. He’s perhaps most famous for introducing the world to Benny Goodman in 1927 and later hiring other great musicians like Glenn Miller, Jack Teagarden, Jimmy McPartland, and Harry James. In 1942, he served as the personal manager to Chico Marx, when Marx fronted a short-lived big band for a series of theater dates.
In the fall of 1942, a 17-year old Mel Torme joined Chico Marx’s band as a drummer, singer, and arranger. His band The Mel-Tones would also go on to record on Pollack’s Jewel label.
Another artist Pollack recorded on Jewel was Boyd Raeburn.
Boyd Raeburn was a curious figure in Jazz history. Although mostly forgotten today, Raeburn’s bands had been critically acclaimed as ahead of its time in the 1940s. His bands were well respected by musicians; however, they remained commercially unsuccessful. He was known for wanting only the best arrangements and the best players he could find. Around 1943, he acquired an enthusiasm for bebop and for four years led a consistently innovative and experimental orchestra, combining a taste for contemporary European concert music with his interest in modern jazz. In 1944, he scrapped his dance orchestra completely and formed a progressive jazz band with top flight musicians.
His most ambitious venture was in 1947, when he rivaled Stan Kenton with a twenty-two piece orchestra. However, I prefer his earlier 1944 orchestra, which was equally unusual and included several rising stars, both black and white, including Dizzy Gillespie, Trummy Young, Benny Harris, Oscar Pettiford, Al Cohn, Serge Chaloff, Dodo Marmarosa, and Shelly Manne.
Recorded in 1945 and released the following year, here is one of the earlier band’s more popular songs, featuring Ginnie Powell singing Rip Van Winkle:
Before Dizzy Gillespie put together the classic quintet with Charlie Parker that made history at the Three Deuces nightclub on 52nd street, he worked in Boyd Raeburn’s big band. In 1945, Raeburn’s star-studded orchestra recorded Interlude for the Guild label, with Dizzy on trumpet:
Here’s a great video of Interlude that identifies the musicians as they play on the track:
Of course, this song would go on to jazz fame known only as Night in Tunisia.
Here’s another great Raeburn song, Duck Waddle, recorded in Los Angeles on September 14, 1946:
While Boyd Raeburn’s band was innovative and musically hip, unfortunately it couldn’t earn the money to support the big orchestra. Even with the support of a West Coast real-estate man and band “angel” named Stillman Pond and later help from Duke Ellington, Raeburn couldn’t make up the difference. Eventually, when the funds dried up, the band folded in 1948.
In 1958, Raeburn gave up his musical career. He and his wife, singer Ginnie Powell, moved to Nassau in the Bahamas to manage a hotel. However, in July of 1959, sadly his wife passed away from meningitis. She was only 33 years old.
Soon after his wife’s death, Raeburn moved to New Orleans and ran a furniture store. In relative obscurity, he died of a heart attack in 1966. He was 52 years old.
Here’s one more for the road, Blue Prelude, recorded in 1945 in New York City:
Although the Raeburn Orchestra remains the forgotten orchestra, well in the shadows of the Ellington, Basie, Herman and Kenton bands, Boyd Raeburn’s contribution to Jazz may be small, but it is important and worthy of more appreciation.
Next week, on that Big River called Jazz, we’ll stay with the big band theme and journey through the waters of my favorite Stan Kenton arrangers, Pete Rugolo and Bill Holman.
If you like what you’ve been reading and hearing so far on our journey and would like to share this with someone you think might be interested in learning more about our great American art form: Jazz, just hit the “Share” button at the bottom of the page. Also, if you feel so inclined, become a subscriber to my journey by hitting the “Subscribe” button here:
Also, find my playlist on Spotify: From Fred Astaire to Sun Ra.
Feel free to contact me at any time to talk shop. I welcome and encourage that.
Until then, keep on walking….