Eddie Duran

Edward Lozano "Eddie" Duran (born September 6) in San Francisco) is an American virtuoso jazz guitarist based in San Francisco. His wife, Madaline "Mad" Duran," is a prolific jazz flutist and saxophonist and has been his main musical collaborator since 1983, when they were married. Eddie Duran has performed extensively in Bay Area and rarely tours; though he went out with Red Norvo and Benny Goodman.^[1]

Professional career

Duran has been playing professionally for seventy-six years — since he was fifteen; and he has performed and lived most of his career in the San Francisco Bay Area. He has recorded as leader with Fantasy (1956), Concord Jazz (1979), Milestone (1996), and Mad and Eddie Duran Records, a private label that he and his wife, Madeleine Duran, launched to produce and distribute their works.

Around 1957, Duran was the guitarist in the CBS Radio Orchestra under the direction of Ray Hackett for the Bill Weaver Show,^{[lower-alpha 1][2]} a variety show broadcast by CBS's San Francisco affiliate, KQW, later renamed KCBS, from the Palace Hotel on Jesse Street at New Montgomery Street.^{[lower-alpha 2]} Regular vocalists on the show included Ree Brunell, Bob Callahan, Ellen Connor, Ardene DeCamp (also a violinist), and singer Stan Noonan.^{[lower-alpha 3][3]} 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 the first LP recorded by San Francisco Jazz Records, a short-lived label that had been part of the production of the radio station at the time.

Duran was a featured performer and recording artist with several notable jazz combos. In 1954 his friend Vince Guaraldi, who had been playing with Cal Tjader, started a trio with Duran and bassist Dean Riley.^[4] Guaraldi introduced Tjader to Duran and his two brothers, Carlos, a jazz pianist, and Manuel, a bassist. All three Duran brothers were members of Cal Tjader's Mambo Quintet in the mid 1950s.

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 Records. 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.^[5]

Also in 1958, Duran was joined by his brother, Manuel, on Tjader's album, San Francisco Moods. Duran led his own trio from 1960 to 1967. In 1962, he was joined by his brother Carlos on Benny Velarde's^{[lower-alpha 4]} album, Ay Que Rico.

From 1976 to 1981, Duran was a member of Benny Goodman's orchestras, which included an acclaimed performance with Goodman's octet at Carnegie Hall on June 28, 1976, in connection with the Newport Jazz Festival.^[6]

During his first two years with Goodman, Duran's wife, Arlene, mother, Ellen, and childhood friend, Vince Guaraldi, died. Of his four children, he was still raising two.

Between 1980 and 1982, Duran recorded with Tania Maria.^[7] In 1983, 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.

The list of jazz artist he has performed with extend to Charlie Parker, George Shearing, Red Norvo, and Earl Hines.^[7]

Duran was once a licensed barber.^[8][9]

Family

Duran's father, Fernando Duran (1889–1942) was born in Mexico worked in a cigar factory in the Bay Area. Durant's middle name, Lozano, was the maiden name of his mother, Emma E. Duran (1893–1977), who in 1940 married Ignacio Torez Maun (1894–1986).

Duran started on piano at age seven and switched to guitar at 12. After about seven months of lessons, he began teaching himself. He had five brothers and one sister. His brother, Carlo (1917–1998), was a jazz pianist and his brother, Manuel, (1923–2005) was a jazz bassist. His daughter, Sharman Laura Duran, is a keyboardist and vocalist. Another daughter, Pilar F. Duran, is a guitarist.

Duran's first wife of twenty-five years, Arlene (née Arlene Ruth Wolf), died in 1977 — the same year his mother died. On October 19, 1983, he married Madeleine ("Mad") Askew in Sonoma County, California. Mad Duran, who is twenty-eight years younger than Eddie Duran, is a classically trained flutist and saxophonist and music educator. Duran and his wife have collaborated on five albums, including From Here to the Moon: Mad and Eddie Duran, which they produced in 1996.

Selected discography

As leader

As sideman and ensemble member

Selected videos

• Aurex Jazz Festival", with Benny Goodman, September 3, 1980, Budokan, Tokyo

"Prelude To a Kiss" Video on YouTube

• Fritz Brothers Guitars

Eddie Duram Model Video on YouTube

References

Notes

Inline citations

External links

• Official site of Madaline Duran