Eddie Duran

Eddie Duran
Birth name	Edward Lozano Duran
Born	(1925-09-06) September 6, 1925 San Francisco
Genres	jazz
Occupation(s)	jazz artist
Instruments	guitar
Years active	1940–present
Labels	Concord Jazz Fantasy Milestone
Associated acts	Mad Duran, Vince Guaraldi, Cal Tjader, Stan Getz, Woody Herman, Tania Maria, Earl Hines

Eddie Duran (né Edward Lozano Duran; born 6 September 1925 San Francisco) is an American virtuoso jazz guitarist based in San Francisco for virtually his entire life. 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-four 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 Records (1996), and Mad and Eddie Duran Records — a private label that he and his wife, Madeleine Duran, launched to produce and distribute their own 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 Stan Noonan, singer.^{[lower-alpha 3][3]} While playing with the CBS Orchestra, Duran met Ree 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 also was a featured performer and recording artist with several notable jazz combos. In 1954, Vince Guaraldi, Eddie's childhood friend, who been performing with Cal Tjader, was fronting his own trio with Duran and bassist Dean Reilly.^[4] Guaraldi introduced Tjader to Eddie and his two brothers, Carlos, a jazz pianist, and Manuel, a bassist. All three Duran brothers were members of Cal Tjaders Mambo Quintet in the mid 1950s. Fifty-nine years ago (1956), Duran played in a trio with Vince Guaraldi. From 1956 to 1964, Duran did six recording sessions with Guaraldi.

In 1958, Duran was the guitarist at a live concert of a sextet co-led by Cal Tjader and Stan Getz, six years before Getz became an international household name. The event was recorded by Fantasy Records in San Francisco at the Marines Memorial Auditorium. In a recent interview, Duran, the sole survivor today, made this observation:

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, Eddie was joined by his brother, Manuel, on Tjader's album, San Francisco Moods. Duran led his own trio from 1960 to 1967. In 1962, Eddie 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 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 up, 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

Growing up

Duran's father, Fernando Duran (1889–1942), born in Mexico, worked in a cigar factory in the Bay Area. Eddie's middle name, "Lozano," was the maiden name of his mother, Emma E. Duran (1893–1977), who in 1940 remarried to Ignacio Torez Maun (1894–1986). Eddie started on piano at age seven, and switched to guitar at 12. After about seven months of lessons, Duran began teaching to himself. Eddie 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. Duran's daughter, Sharman Laura Duran, is a keyboardist and vocalist. Another daughter, Pilar F. Duran, is a guitarist.

Marriages

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, Duran remarried Madeleine ("Mad") M. Askew in Sonoma County, California. Eddie and Mad have been married thirty-one years. Mad Duran, who is twenty-eight years younger than Eddie, was initially a classically trained flutist and saxophonist. And she was a music educator. She has since flourished as a jazz artist in her own right. The two Durans, Eddie and Mad, are co-leaders as performers and have collaborated on five albums, including one they produced in 1996, From Here To The Moon: Mad And Eddie Duran. When Mad Duran performs, she often performs on the flute and saxophone instrument families, i.e., soprano sax, alto sax, tenor sax, alto flute, and c-flute. Mad Duran has performed and recorded with the Montclair Women's Big Band in Marin County, California.

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

External links

• Official website of Mad Duran

www.madduran.com

References

Notes

Inline citations