Murray McEachern or Otto Alburn? 1941 Casa Loma
- PanicSlim
- Posts: 21
- Joined: Apr 06, 2022
There’s a clip of the Casa Loma band, 1941, tune not id’d but is No Name Jive. Pepped up tempo likely by bad transfer - makes it Db instead of C. Terrific trombone solo that one commenter identifies as one Otto Alburn. Can find nothing on him. At 2:00 in. Could it be a 26 y.o. Murray McEachern instead? Or is it Hoyt Bohannon? <YOUTUBE id="hdvw3ijpZQo">https://youtu.be/hdvw3ijpZQo?si=jgbQS8Q57x4yEBLI</YOUTUBE>
- ithinknot
- Posts: 1339
- Joined: Jul 24, 2020
I'm guessing the commenter is correct... every photo I've seen of Murray McEachern suggests he was a downstream embouchure, likely IIIB, whereas the player in the video looks pretty typically upstream. Doesn't really sound like what I'd expect from him either.
MMcE[url=https://adpprod1.library.ucsb.edu/index.php/matrix/detail/2000295457/67344-No_name_jive_part_1]played on the studio recording, but there's no trombone solo in that version so nothing to compare.
MMcE
- PanicSlim
- Posts: 21
- Joined: Apr 06, 2022
Thank you - in further studying photos, and looking around, I’m thinking this young man looks most like Hoyt Bohannon. Amazing player, and was with Harry James just after this, and maybe in the Army Air Force band contemporaneously. <LINK_TEXT text="http://www.alankaplan.org/wp-content/up ... 2/Hoyt.png">http://www.alankaplan.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/Hoyt.png</LINK_TEXT>
- dembones
- Posts: 90
- Joined: Mar 23, 2018
Right, that's not Murray on the trombone solo. I'm pretty sure that's Murry playing second alto sax on this, with the clarinet solo at 1:16. I think he his credited as "A2" in some sources.
I played in the first reincarnation of the Tommy Dorsey Orchestra, Murray leading, in 1974-76. (With John Clayton on bass, and Jeff Hamilton on drums! Band was swinging!) It was uncanny how Murry would break your heart on a Dorsey ballad, then pick up the alto and sound *exactly* like Johnny Hodges.
I played in the first reincarnation of the Tommy Dorsey Orchestra, Murray leading, in 1974-76. (With John Clayton on bass, and Jeff Hamilton on drums! Band was swinging!) It was uncanny how Murry would break your heart on a Dorsey ballad, then pick up the alto and sound *exactly* like Johnny Hodges.