Eddie Durham introduced the electric guitar into jazz music. It was a slow
incremental process that started in Kansas City, when Durham was playing in
Bennie Moten's orchestra, and continued in Jimmi Lunceford's band to finally
return to Kansas City, with a combo that was drawn from the Count Basie orchestra: the Kansas City Five, formed in 1938 with trumpeter Buck Clayton, drummer Jo Jones, bassist Walter Page and rhythm guitarist Freddie Green, featured Eddie Durham's electric guitar as a replacement for Count Basie's piano.
The Kansas City Six were augmented by Lester Young on clarinet and tenor sax.
Durham composed for Basie's groups and orchestras:
John's Idea (july 1937),
Time Out (august 1937),
Topsy (august 1937),
Out The Window (october 1937),
Sent For You Yesterday (february 1938),
Swinging The Blues (february 1938),
Every Tub (february 1938).
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