Eddie Duran (September 6, 1925 – November 22, 2019) was an American jazz guitarist who spent nearly 80 years as the standard bearer of jazz guitar in the San Francisco Bay Area. He recorded often with Vince Guaraldi and was a member of the Benny Goodman orchestra during the 1970s.
Edward Lozano Duran was born to Fernando, a cigar roller,
and Emma, a housewife, both immigrants from Veracruz, Mexico. He was the
youngest of six children growing up together in San Francisco’s Mission
District. The family was extremely poor, and the children made the decision on
their own to learn instruments and try to bring in some extra pay. At seven
years old, with his brother Carlos already playing guitar, Edward was assigned
to piano. However, his personal preference was for guitar, and he began picking
out the tunes he heard Django Reinhardt play on the family record player. He
officially switched instruments at 12 and took lessons for about seven months
before returning to teaching himself. The family band played Mexican music and
won several talent contests; however, by the time he was 15, Edward had quit
high school and was working behind touring jazz musicians who came to town,
continuing until he joined the Navy at 18.
Returning to San Francisco at World War II’s end, Duran and
his brothers, pianist Manny and bassist Carlos, formed a trio inspired by Nat
King Cole’s star band. The youngest Duran also became a licensed barber;
married a singer, Arlene Wolf; and continued freelancing with travelling
musicians, including Charlie Parker, Chet Baker, Shearing, and Getz. From 1948
to 1952 Eddie was in a trio with his brothers, Carlos Duran and Manny Duran.
They became the house band at a new club, the hungry i, in San Francisco’s
North Beach neighbourhood, opening for the headlining comedians.
Soon, however, Duran was asked by his childhood friend,
pianist Vince Guaraldi, to join Guaraldi’s own trio with bassist Dean Reilly,
and in 1954 they became the Hungry I’s house band—with the Duran Brothers as
their opening act. The following year, Guaraldi introduced the Durans to his
previous employer, vibraphonist Cal Tjader, and they joined his mambo quintet
as well.
Duran quickly became the predominant guitarist on San
Francisco’s bebop scene, a ubiquitous presence at the clubs in the city’s
Fillmore, Tenderloin, and North Beach districts. Along with Guaraldi, Reilly,
and Tjader, he also became a regular session musician for San Francisco’s
Fantasy Records, and later for Concord Jazz.he worked with Chet Baker, Charlie
Parker, Red Norvo, George Shearing, and Flip Phillips.
Around 1957, Duran was the guitarist in the CBS Radio Orchestra
under the direction of Ray Hackett for the Bill Weaver Show, a variety show
broadcast by CBS's San Francisco affiliate, KQW, later renamed KCBS, from the
Palace Hotel. While playing with the CBS Orchestra, Duran met Brunell and
performed on her debut album, Intro to Jazz of the Italian-American. The album
was recorded by San Francisco Jazz Records, a short-lived label that was part
of the production of the radio station.
In 1958, Duran played a concert at the Marines Memorial
Auditorium with Tjader and Stan Getz six years before Getz became famous. The
concert was recorded by Fantasy. In an interview, Duran said, "There was
no rehearsal before the date, no alternates, no second takes. It went very
smoothly. It just kind of fell into place. The feeling was happy and
relaxed." Also in 1958, Duran was joined by Manny Duran on Tjader's album
San Francisco Moods. Duran led a trio from 1960 to 1967.
Here's "Skyliner" from Eddies debut album.
Here's "Skyliner" from Eddies debut album.
He spent several years in the early 1970s touring with Pearl
Bailey and her husband Louie Bellson, including a State Department tour of the
Middle East. Benny Goodman had called Duran in 1945 with an offer to join his
band, though the guitarist had then declined; when Goodman called again in
1976, shortly after the death of Duran’s first wife from cancer, Duran joined
the band, working in Goodman’s small group as well and continuing with them
through 1981.
Between 1980 and
1982, Duran recorded with Tania Maria. In1983, Duran remarried to Madeleine
("Mad") Askew. In the late 1980s, after his last two children had
grown, Duran moved to New York City and performed in a quartet that he
organized. Duran crossed paths with Getz again in 1983 while recording the Dee
Bell studio album, Let There Be Love. On October 19, 1983, he married Madeleine
("Mad") Askew in Sonoma County, California who is a classically
trained clarinetist and saxophonist and music educator. In the late 1980s, they
built a career in New York (though they returned after a few years to the Bay
Area). Duran and his wife have
collaborated on five albums, including From Here to the Moon: Mad and Eddie
Duran, which they produced in 1996.
Duran also performed
frequently in duos and trios with his daughters Sharman, a pianist, and Pilar,
a fellow guitarist. He remained a busy freelancer and solo performer well into
his nineties. He died at his home in Sonoma, California in the company of his
three favourite guitars on November 22, 2019 at the age of 94. (Edited from Wikipedia & Jazz Times)
