(August 19th 1906 - March 6th 1987)

Born in San Marcos, Texas in 1906 Eddie Durham started playing the guitar and trombone with his six brothers in the "Durham Brothers". He went on to tour with territory bands including "Walter Page's Blue Devils" and was a member of "Bennie Moten's Kansas City Orchestra" from 1929 to 1933. During this period he tremendous talents as a composer/arranger became apparent and Durham later went on to play and arrange for Jimmie Lunceford and Count Basie. Also writing for popular musicians of the Swing era including Artie Shaw and Glenn Miller, in 1940 Eddie Durham briefly led a band of his own and from 1941 to 1943 became the musical director for the "International Sweethearts of Rhythm". The most famous examples of his arranging skills can be heard in Bennie Moten's "Moten Swing", Jimmy Lunceford's "Lunceford Special", and his co-composition with Edgar Battle "Topsy", first recorded by the "Count Basie Orchestra".