Bobby Byrne

The jazz critic George T. Simon described Byrne in a 1940 review as a "brilliant young trombonist" and his band as "one of the finest...to pop over the dance band horizon in a long time". Byrne was indeed something of a child prodigy and by the age of 16 was a fully fledged member of The Dorsey Brothers Orchestra. When Tommy Dorsey left to form his own band, Byrne remained to fill his now vacant chair as lead trombonist with Jimmy Dorsey's outfit. His jazz solos won him such a following that (with Jimmy's blessing) he formed his own big band in 1939. Several top notch signings made this band an instant success, particularly Don Redman as arranger, bassist Abe Siegel, pianist Gabriel Julian, vocalist Dorothy Claire and drummer Shelly Manne. Byrne hit the big time in mid-1941, when Michael DeZutter got him a summer spot at the famous Glen Island Casino in New York, preceded by a stint at Frank Dailey's Meadowbrook. A recording contract with Decca, radio broadcasts and Hollywood followed. A change of arranger, with Sid Brantley replacing Redman,actually suited the changing style of the band. In early 1943, Byrne, an experienced pilot, accepted an Air Force commission and disbanded the orchestra. After the war, he put together another short-lived outfit which included saxophonist Larry Elgart and arranger Charles Albertine. The band was good, but George Simon observed, as he had with Byrne's previous group, that a noticeable amount of tension existed among the sidemen which he put down to the leader's heavy hand in demanding musical perfection and which he thought "was the only apparent reason for the Bobby Byrne band not being one of the country's leading crews". In the 1950's, leading a Dixieland-style orchestra, Byrne became musical director for The Steve Allen Plymouth Show (1956). He subsequently appeared on The Lucky Strike Hit Parade, The Milton Berle Show (1958) and (for 11 years) on Perry Como's Kraft Music Hall (1948), before ending his career as a senior executive with Command Records.